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Ivan Zhakata Herald Correspondent
ZIMBABWE Parks and Wildlife (ZimParks) through the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) have donated 90 bicycles to students at Hwange National Park who walked long distances through wildlife corridors to get to school.
Riding for Conservation and Education, a joint initiative between IFAW and ZimParks, aims to break the poverty cycle while fostering positive attitudes towards wildlife.
Most students traverse wildlife corridors on their way to and from school, exposing them to the risk of being attacked by elephants, lions and other wildlife.
To mitigate that risk, 90 bicycles were delivered to less privileged students attending schools in buffer communities around Hwange National Park.
Hwange NP is part of the Hwange-Matetsi-Zambezi landscape where IFAW implements its Room to Roam initiative, to secure and connect habitats for elephants and other wildlife.
It supports local communities to develop strategies for them to live successfully with wildlife.
The bikes are supplied as part of a wider Environmental Stewards Programme being implemented in these schools, which aims to improve access to education and help mitigate human-wildlife conflict.
Dr Fulton Mangwanya, ZimParks director general said on their experience, conservation efforts work better when local communities are actively engaged and when their expectations and desires are not ignored.
“Through this intervention, we hope to create a peaceful coexistence between people and wildlife and, most importantly, make a lasting impact in the lives of these children who will become future conservation champions,” he said.
IFAW landscape conservation director Mr Phillip Kuvawoga said education played a pivotal role in breaking the poverty cycle and in fostering positive attitudes towards wildlife.
“Children are the wildlife heroes of the future. By investing in their education now we hope to create a better future for communities and the wildlife that live amongst them, one ride at a time,” he said.
In addition to the bicycles, IFAW and ZimParks also handed over 500 textbooks to 10 schools from the Hwange and Tshlolotshlo Districts.
About 1 600 students will benefit, which will also improve the textbook-to-student ratio, which currently stands at 1:5.
The Environmental Stewardship Programme (ESP), supports 21 primary schools located in the buffer communities of Hwange, Lupane, and Tsholotsho districts since its inception in 2019.
The IFAW and ZimParks initiative seeks to develop and instil conservation and sustainable practices, values, and principles in children aged 8 to 15 years.
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