Poacher turns village scout following tragedy
By LINDA NYONDO
Zambia Daily Mail

A SELF-CONFESSED former poacher, Evans Mwampe watched hopelessly as a fellow poacher was trampled to death by a wounded buffalo.

Mr Mwampe, a resident of Nampundwe on the outskirts of Lusaka, managed to seek refuge in a tree but his colleague was not so fortunate. The buffalo the duo had just tried to kill caught up with Mr Mwampe’s companion.

“I spent the rest of the night in a tree and at the crack of dawn, I started off for the village to inform my community about what had happened to my friend.

“The days that followed were a nightmare. I could not sleep. I kept dreaming about my friend being attacked by the buffalo,” a distraught Mr Mwampe recalls.

After his friend’s burial, Mr Mwampe immediately quit poaching and switched to farming to sustain his family. Memories of his colleague’s tragic death kept haunting him. He had no choice but to turn his back on poaching.

Before the incident, it was difficult for Mr Mwampe to stop poaching because it had become part of his life. He started poaching when he was only 10 years old, in the company of his elder brother.

Poaching was a reliable survival strategy, but this one incident was so horrifying for Mr Mwampe that it became a turning point. He has never looked back.

When the Zambia Wild Life Authority (ZAWA) community resource boards (CRBs) called for a meeting of all poachers, Mr Mwampe made it a point to attend.

At the well attended meeting, the audience was sensitised about the dangers of poaching and how conserving wildlife could contribute to improving the living standards of the community.

Money realised from wildlife conservation is mostly pumped into the construction of community schools, maintenance of roads and other community projects.
During the meeting, Mr Mwampe was overcome with emotion surrendered his hunting kit to ZAWA and volunteered to become a game scout.

It was a hard choice for him because he suddenly had to start protecting animals. It was a major irony for him to look after animals, one of which was responsible for his friend’s death.

“I am happy ZAWA recruited me as a game scout. I will use this opportunity to educate some members of my community who are still engaged in poaching. They have to know the dangers of the illegal practice and the importance of conserving wildlife,” Mr Mwampe said.

He was among 80 village game scouts who recently graduated from Chunga Wildlife College in Kafue National Park after a 6-month course on Game Management.

The 80 village scouts are expected to reinforce the operations of ZAWA and CRBs in strategic areas to effectively patrol and cover Zambia’s wildlife estates.

ZAWA currently has 1,740 officers supported by 950 village scouts. ZAWA has to continue recruiting officers to meet the establishment of officers, numbering 4,967.

“Remember that the wildlife resource you are charged to protect is not only important for the development of nature-based tourism but also for financing community development projects and providing opportunities for employment in respective areas where wildlife is being conserved,” ZAWA director general Lewis Saiwana said.

Dr Saiwana said operating in Game Management Areas (GMA’s) posed numerous challenges and poaching was the major one. Wildfires, human settlements and agriculture expansion also affect the animal habitat.

GMAs in Zambia are reported to be facing increasing human-wildlife conflicts due to multi-purpose land use including mining, timber logging, and fishing.
Safari hunting is partly owned by local communities through shared revenue resources.

The industry is dependant on the availability of optimum population levels of wildlife, particularly good animal trophy.

Maintenance of a healthy habitat is also essential for sustaining the wildlife and safari hunting industry.

Dr Saiwana said GMAs are an important source of revenue to finance conservation programmes and community development projects through proceeds realised from tourism activities.

Between 2001 and 2008, ZAWA provided more than K20 billion to local communities for various rural development projects as an incentive for co- managing wildlife.

Under the current model of community-based natural resources management, ZAWA shares 50 per cent revenue from tourism with local communities as an incentive for co-managing wildlife in GMAs.

“Despite the conservation efforts and support from Government and co-operating partners, our wildlife heritage has continued to come under renewed risk of extermination through various threats such as poaching and wildlife cropping,” Dr Saiwana said.

Dr Saiwana said human encroachment on wildlife territory has led to increased wildlife-human conflicts, causing a reciprocal increase in the number of wildlife destroyed under the animal control programme.

ZAWA has continued to enhance the overall bio-diversity conservation of wildlife resources in National Parks and GMAs to promote tourism prospects and contribute to the enhancement of the socio-economic development of Zambia.

The organisation’s long term priority is to ensure that the necessary capacity and competences are enhanced in local communities to promote the effective management of wildlife resources.

ZAWA also provides technical training to CRBs in various fields centred on effective conservation and management of natural resources in GMAs.

“The wildlife resource is important as the entire nation is undertaking to use it for social and economic development,” Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources permanent secretary Teddy Kasonso.

Mr Kasonso said the World Bank and the Royal Norwegian Government had been supportive of the Kafue National park programme which is due to be phased out by 2011.

He said internally generated financial resources would sustain various operations and programmes for the National Park and surrounding areas.

ZAWA manages a network of protected areas encompassing 19 National Parks, one wildlife sanctuary, two bird sanctuaries and 36 GMAs, all of which cover a third of the total surface area of the country.

Although not directly related to the article this information below might help the guests understand how difficult it is to sustain the wildlife in the Kafue National Park ...

As an aside our privately owned/operated (Dendro Park Ranch) borders on the boundary of the Southern KNP.

Regards> Peter
------------------------------------

The KNP Project between Norway & World Bank

Mid term review of the programme of the development of Kafue National Park as a model of sustainable economic use and biodiversity conservation in a management extensive environment: Kafue National Park Project

The Kafue National Park (KNP) is the largest national park in Zambia, but after years of neglect the park’s infrastructure and natural resources had deteriorated to a point where significant investments were required to restore the protection and management of its biodiversity. In 2004 Norway and the World Bank agreed to join forces to support Zambia Wildlife Authority and KNP through a project with the purpose of securing critical habitat and species through improved management, infrastructure and tourism development. The total budget is approx. US$ 22mill., whereof the Norwegian contribution is almost US$ 13 mill.

Interesting Findings

• After two years, only 49.5% of the planned expenditure has been disbursed.

• The annual work plans were overambitious, and implementation has fallen far short of targets.

• To date the outputs have been limited and hence the overall efficiency has been rather low. The major shortcomings in the two first years are primarily related to the non-performance in the components “Infrastructure Development” and “Community Based Natural Resource Management”. Nonetheless, there is clear that the project, despite its shortcomings, has improved the capacity of the Zambia Wildlife Authority to manage the park.

• The project does not have a clearly defined leader who is ultimately accountable for all matters pertaining to the planning, implementation and overall management of the project, something which has been to the detriment of project implementation and financial management.

• Budget planning and production processes are adequate, but there are problems regarding overestimation of quantities and associated unit costs, in addition to the inclusion of activities that are not related to the project.

• There have been serious cases of misappropriations of funds resulting in staff being dismissed. However, compared to the initial stages of the project, there has been a general improvement in the financial management and control of funds. Nonetheless, there is a need to maintain and even strengthen vigilance to prevent the reoccurrence of any financial misdemeanour.

• The capacity of staff to implement the project varies between components, and the lack of motivation at different levels is a major concern.