Chronicle EditorRobin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
ZIMBABWE is home to the second largest African elephant population in Africa after Botswana. It is going close to a herd of 100 000 but it is falling short of resources to manage the jumbos, protect their habitat and that of other wildlife as well as mitigate human-wildlife conflict that are rampant.
Ideally, the elephants were supposed to take care of themselves and their habitat but the ban on trade in ivory and sale of live elephants by the international community has choked the ecological balance that should exist.
The argument by Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is that the African elephant is an endangered species that needs to be protected but the blanket ban has been largely seen illogical and meant to punish those countries that have more than what they require.
Range States including Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Tanzania met in Hwange recently to deliberate on how they could tell the African story to the world and get a buy-in to trade in ivory and be able to undertake wildlife management and conservation activities that will benefit communities around national parks.
Zimbabwe is currently sitting on a stockpile of over US$600 million which is costing them thousands to maintain, protect and preserve. Range States resolved that they needed to speak with one voice as they prepare for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Flora and Fauna 19th Conference of the Parties to be held in Panama in November.
Director General of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Dr Fulton Mangwanya told delegates to the African Elephant Conference that communities around national parks continue to be the centre of contention as they bear the biggest brunt in terms of human and wildlife conflict but are not given a voice at international platforms to tell their story.
Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Hon Mangaliso Ndlovu stressed the need for Africa to make use of data regarding its wildlife as they go to CITES.
“The main countries involved are Range States where there are very large populations of elephants. There was an overwhelming convergence of how we see ourselves going forward, more importantly, the need to continue to share notes on conservation and the need to own our own data, intensify research efforts and the need to look into how our communities who on a daily basis interact with, live with or adjacent to wildlife are empowered.
“When we are going to international platforms like CITES in Panama this year, we want to push as far as we possibly can. So, as Africa we need to go there with one voice. As key range states it is important to engage our African brothers and sisters, share notes, get to understand their views, concerns and also to make sure we consolidate and come up with one objective,” he said.
Minister Ndlovu said African Range States hold significant populations of elephants and stressed the need for ideas and proposals they are taking to CITES be taken seriously.
Dr Emmanuel Fundira chairman of the Zimbabwe Safari Operators Association said the country and many others were faced with a contest of limited resources regarding wildlife as the non-human element always suffers.
“Our resources are suffering and less is allocated to communities that actually live with the animals. Traditional leaders speak passionately about the human-wildlife conflict and how we can galvanise funding for the purposes of making sure we can tell a true story of how we can attract the funding available. Our Government and national parks are battling as there is no real funding that comes to them. They are actually competing with funding for other departments,” he said.
Dr Fundira said the cost of wildlife management continues to increase with the increase in magnitude and frequency of severe droughts, weather conditions which are linked to climate change. He said there was a need to tap into the environment fund and various papers have been produced in that regard.
He stressed the need to have a conscious way of maintaining an equilibrium on the political narrative, saying decisions at CITES were no longer based on science but on other considerations that were difficult to understand.
The European Union Head of Delegation Ambassador Timo Olkkonen said they were obliging with previous decisions that had been taken by CITES in previous conferences which includes the listing of the African elephant as an endangered species.
“These decisions (banning ivory trade and sale of live elephants) are taken in a multilateral context at CITES. But I do recognise that countries such as Zimbabwe have been doing a good job of fighting poaching of elephants and that you have had a growing number of elephants and that needs to be appreciated,” said Amb Olkkonen.
He said issues of land-use changes were to be looked into while the question of how to mitigate the issue of human-wildlife conflict was essential saying the EU was supporting conservation projects that were community-based in Zimbabwe.
He said he was well aware of the issues that need to be tackled in Zimbabwe ahead of COP19.
Other African states like Zambia that are in solidarity with Zimbabwe and have had issues around human-wildlife conflict, lack of resources and an untouched ivory stockpile said Range States needed to be self-funding in order to manage their wildlife and tourism.
“The key issue is to say, can we become self-sustainable and self-sustaining? We have imaginary borders as Africa but today because of those borders that we have started creating, it has become increasingly difficult for Africa to trade and then, making it also difficult for us to even agree on small little fundamentals that will actually benefit the continent. It is important to look at an opportunity that will take us to speaking as one. The elephant population in the region is stable but, in its stability, it’s causing havoc in our general geographic locations. It is also putting pressure on the lives that we have,” said Zambia’s Minister of Tourism Rodney Sikumba.
“The need for long term funding for wildlife is very key. It is important that we start engaging with the various statutory organisations to help us harmonise the policies that we have that speak to wildlife and wildlife trade, look at the legislative processes that speak to wildlife trade and conservation,” he added.
He also stressed the need to have local data on wildlife in African states than to rely on data from the international communities.
“The various institutions that we have should be able to own information about the science around elephants without bringing politics in making decisions, yes science is good but also science needs to be owned by us, we should be listening to experts from our own countries speaking about this science in our sovereign states. Let’s start owning our data so that when we go out there to lobby, we go with our own facts. Africa needs to have its own information and seriously introspect to say what it is that we seriously want and that in itself will get us somewhere,” he said.
He lamented the discord that was being sounded regarding elephant population in Zimbabwe.
“Look at the issues of game counts in Zimbabwe, someone said 40 000, another said 60 000, the government talks about 80 000 elephants, all these numbers, who amongst ourselves collects these numbers so that we will be able to understand. Even when we get to the time when we say we can start culling these elephants, what framework are we going to use, who is going to count,” he said.
Minister Sikumba also stressed the need for clear and accurate communication saying the media was a key stakeholder in the matter. He argued that trade and not aid will save African wildlife.
“If there is any way to disseminate the information to the rest of the world to tell them what we want to achieve and they are more than welcome. The media needs to take time to research and understand what we are trying to do as governments. We want the private sector to be in the driving seat of these economies and as such it is important that when the media come in to talk about what it is that we are trying to achieve in wildlife conservation the media has to go to the private sector and get a buy-in,” he added.
Zimbabwe could make a turnaround in assisting human-wildlife conflict victims, start community development initiatives and undertake conservation initiatives for the communities in the path of danger if they are given the nod by the international community to unlock value in their ivory stockpiles. @NyembeziMu
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