CAMPFIRE, once regarded as the model for wildlife management in Africa, seems to have diminished in importance over the past decade or so, almost certainly due to USAID abandoning it.

For one thing, the CAMPFIRE website seems not to have been updated in quite awhile.

I expect a lot of people around here will just point at Mugabe with some snide comment. Fair enough; but save it for the political forum. I'm looking for answers, not entertainment.

With all the talk about communities and hunting, combined with the recent focus on Zimbabwe, CAMPFIRE could have made a huge difference if it had the resources to step up and be heard, which I expect it doesn't.

What's happening with CAMPFIRE these days? Does anyone even care?

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I don't know, but I am interested to see an answer.

The elephant ban does not help things.

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What's happening with CAMPFIRE these days? Does anyone even care?

I don't know what is happening, but I do care and I have the directors phone number and email, I will contact him and see if I can get an update from him.
Might take a few days, though.

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Originally posted by K Evans:

quote:

What's happening with CAMPFIRE these days? Does anyone even care?

I don't know what is happening, but I do care and I have the directors phone number and email, I will contact him and see if I can get an update from him. Might take a few days, though.

Sounds good. The reason I brought this up, Karl, is that I contacted them myself a couple of weeks ago, more-or-less on a whim, asking if they needed help with their website, and much to my surprise, I got a response indicating that they did.

It wasn't much of a response - and I'd be happy to pass the email on to you - but maybe it'll lead to something. One never knows.

There's at least one fairly important website that I know of, (begins with a Z and ends with an A) which is financed (as I understand it) by someone who posts here regularly.

But there are certainly other options - crowd-funding and things like that - and if the hunting community is really serious about spreading its message, CAMPFIRE might be a good place to start.

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CAMPFIRE.. Is/was a great concept , however unless it is managed properly is open to abuse.

All too many times the bulk of funds raised through these programs NEVER gets through to the right people. Those that live daily with the wildlife, it's consumed with "costs" of running the local rural district councils. Which if you go by the campfire model the formula on breakdown or disbursement of revenue in campfire areas, 55% of funds should go directly to the local communities, 26 % to conservation .i.e employing people from the communities to be game scouts to police their areas, 4% to campfire association,and ONLY 15% is for the local rural district councils coffers, which is a management fee payable to councils for running the campfire program on behalf of the local communities.

In the majority of campfire areas, we have seen the tendency to increase quotas to generate extra income in the short term, but unfortunately it has a knock on effect in the long run, trophy quality declines, animal populations decline from unsustainable off takes.

National parks is partly to blame for allowing these quota increases without sound scientific data / facts and figures to justify the increases. It's a cycle that needs to be broken in order to save our wildlife from further decline, just like the once pristine government safaris areas chirisa, chete, doma, matetsi unit 4, deka etc etc... Many a campfire area is now in the same state as these areas. Wildlife sacrificed for short term financial gains, without worrying about the long term effects on the areas sustainability.

Someone needs to take down the zphga.com website ASAP. It shows up first in Google Search with the proper indexing and it hasn't been updated since 2008!

The new .org website just gets one line in the results.

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Originally posted by vvreddy:
Someone needs to take down the zphga.com website ASAP. It shows up first in Google Search with the proper indexing and it hasn't been updated since 2008!

The new .org website just gets one line in the results.

Absolutely correct. I've been going to the .com website; didn't even know there was a .org.

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We agree 100%... A very poor website. The updated one is much better, it's no wonder they have lost 95% of membership over the past decade. As the face of Zimbabwe hunting , it is really not doing our industry proud by any stretch of the imagination.

Just keeping this thread alive ...

Campfire Revival Crucial for Zim's Wildlife Conservation

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Campfire is currently trying to raise funds to develop other natural resource management projects, as well rehabilitate itself. I understand that some revamp funds may come through.

They are involved with a fairly pro hunting NGO. Will keep you posted as things develop if interested!!

Didn't even know about Campfire

quote:

Originally posted by CGA:
Campfire is currently trying to raise funds to develop other natural resource management projects, as well rehabilitate itself. I understand that some revamp funds may come through.

They are involved with a fairly pro hunting NGO. Will keep you posted as things develop if interested!!

Welcome to AR. May I ask who you are sir?

Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana Bunduki:

quote:

Originally posted by CGA:
Campfire is currently trying to raise funds to develop other natural resource management projects, as well rehabilitate itself. I understand that some revamp funds may come through.

They are involved with a fairly pro hunting NGO. Will keep you posted as things develop if interested!!

Welcome to AR. May I ask who you are sir?

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

My name is Steve Wentzel.

It's basically become dormant due to withdrawal of funding and politics in general. The link to the newspaper story below says it all.

quote:

Originally posted by Trophic-Hunter:
CAMPFIRE, once regarded as the model for wildlife management in Africa, seems to have diminished in importance over the past decade or so, almost certainly due to USAID abandoning it.

For one thing, the CAMPFIRE website seems not to have been updated in quite awhile.

I expect a lot of people around here will just point at Mugabe with some snide comment. Fair enough; but save it for the political forum. I'm looking for answers, not entertainment.

With all the talk about communities and hunting, combined with the recent focus on Zimbabwe, CAMPFIRE could have made a huge difference if it had the resources to step up and be heard, which I expect it doesn't.

What's happening with CAMPFIRE these days? Does anyone even care?

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