Elephant Management and Poaching in African Countries

[Lisbeth]

PES Lawyers demand transparency on the export of Wildlife (Zimbabwe)

BY PANASHE MAKUFA - 25 MARCH 2019 - THE MAIL & TELEGRAPH

A local environmental and wildlife organisation People and Earth Solidarity Law Network (PES Lawyers) together with six others in Zimbabwe, have petitioned Parliament demanding that information and decisions concerning the export of Zimbabwean elephants, rhinos and other wildlife be made transparent and accessible to the public.

This follows an outcry made by wildlife conservationists last month after the government planned to export 35 baby elephants to China, saying that proper procedures were not followed.

According to sources, baby elephants, some as young as two, were separated from their mothers and are being held in pens at Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park while preparations are being finalized to send them to China where they will be put in zoos.

Zimbabwe is one of the key elephant range states and home to the second largest estimated elephant population of nearly 83,000 individuals following Botswana. Last year Zimbabweans also expressed outrage over the government’s donation of 10 white rhinos to the Democratic Republic of Congo and launched an online petition for reversal of the decision.

The organizations claim that there is no transparency in the export of elephants, rhinos and other wildlife in Zimbabwe.

“The wildlife management practices of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, especially on the capture and export of elephants, rhinos and other wildlife highlight lack of transparency and is being conducted without due regard for providing information on the quantity, frequency and financial or other gains from the exports to the general public and concerned citizens.”

They also claim that the process is not friendly to the species, especially the environment they will be forced to live in.

“The current capture policy of wildlife is incompatible with eco-tourism, is cruel and does not exhibit the evidence of appropriate and acceptable destinations; the continued capture and long-distance transport of live animals from Zimbabwe causes immense suffering as highlighted by research.”

On their petition, they requested that the government of Zimbabwe barn export of young elephants and makes sure that the welfare of wildlife is improved in Zimbabwe.

“Call on the Government of Zimbabwe to ban the export from Zimbabwe of baby elephants, rhinos and other similar wildlife to protect and improve the welfare of elephants and other species. Furthermore, animal welfare experts must be given access to any captured wildlife to ensure that their welfare is maintained, and any issues are addressed immediately,” reads part of the petition.

There has been a misconception by the public why some decisions were made. Some have a view that government officials who facilitate credit lines to Zimbabwe leverage on the availability of these resources and make decisions that should be made by parliament.

It’s public knowledge that the government could not for a long time issue its own currency because there have not been necessary reserves to back up the currency and the question that arises in people’s minds as to whether the government could not keep and increase reserves or they were unofficially used.

The organisations believe that decisions that affect the country’s future should not be done by an individual but go through the parliament and the information be made public.

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts Hon Tendai Biti once told the Reserve Bank Governor John Mangundya when he appeared before his committee that decisions that affect the nation such as getting international loans should come through parliament for consultation.

Read original article here:
https://mailandtelegraph.com/2019/03/25 ... -wildlife/

[Lisbeth]

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BY STAFF - 26 MARCH 2019 - THE INDEPENDENT

Namibia’s current and Kenya’s former ministers for environment engaged in a lively discussion about the polarising issue of trophy hunting at a debate held in at The Arts Club in London on Monday 25 March.


(L – R) Space for Giants’ founder Max Graham, Pohamba Shifeta, Namibia’s Minister of Environment and Tourism, Professor Judi Wakhungu, Kenya’s former Cabinet Secretary of Environment, and Professor Phyllis Lee ( )

Professor Judi Wakhungu, Kenya’s former Cabinet Secretary of Environment, Water, and Natural Resources, said that her country’s position on hunting is “diametrically opposed” to that of her co-panelist Pohamba Shifeta, Minister of Environment and Tourism in Namibia since 2015.

Professor Wakhungu said “”In Kenya we believe a live animal is worth more over its lifetime than a one off killing. Elephant hunting was made illegal in 1973, followed by a ban on all animal hunting in 1977. Since then our elephant population has been growing steadily, and our rhino breeding programme has been successful.”

Namibia permits the controlled and authorised hunting of wildlife. Minister Shifeta countered Professor Wakhungu’s point, saying that ‘conservation hunting’ makes a valuable contribution to both eco-tourism and employment levels.

“In Namibia conservation hunting is highly regulated and employs people in their thousands,” said Minister Shifeta. “It contributes more than half a billion Namibian dollars a year.”

He added: “As long as there are tough penalties in place against illegal wildlife killing and people behave according to protocols, hunting can play an important role in the long term protection of wildlife.”

In Namibia around 20% of conservancy revenues come from hunting. The money generated is used to increase anti-poaching policing and relocate animals, as well as being funneled back into the local community to build waterholes and infrastructure.

The debate – called Killing for Conservation – was chaired by Dr Max Graham, Founder and CEO of the international conservation charity Space for Giants, and held at The Arts Club, Mayfair. The panelists were joined by Professor Phyllis Lee, a renowned animal behaviourist who worked on the longest-running elephant research project in Kenya.

As Botswana considers lifting its ban on elephant hunting, Professor Lee said that what urgent action and sustained investment is needed to protect wildlife for future generations. She cited the example of critically endangered Rwanda’s mountain gorillas whose prospects for survival have improved thanks to years of conservation measures.

Professor Lee said “[The issue of] hunting is being framed as a debate of bad guys in the West telling Africa what to do. But African voices do not want to see their environment trashed and their wildlife eaten.”

Kenya and Namibia are home to some of the world’s largest remaining populations of free-roaming elephants and black rhinos, as such the decisions they make about wildlife carry global significance.

As the next meeting of CITES, the global treaty that regulates wildlife trade approaches on 23 May, Professor Lee concluded that the role of trophy hunting is a planetary issue, and not just one for African nations to decide upon.

Read original article:
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/ca ... 41276.html

[Lisbeth]

Watch the wildlife documentary: When an Elephant Smiles


Posted on 10 April, 2019 by Guest Blogger in Conservation, Multimedia, Poaching, Videos, Wildlife


Written by RTD Documentary Channel

Every day, dozens of elephants are killed by poachers seeking for their ivory, meat and other body parts. Elephant calves left without their mothers are sure to die as they lack survival skills and source of food.

In Zimbabwe, there is a place where orphaned baby elephants can have a second chance at life. The Zimbabwe Elephant Nursery, founded by Roxy Danckwerts on her family farm, rescues helpless infants, providing them with care and love 24/7 in a bid to reintegrate mighty animals back to the wild.

RTD’s Aleksandr Avilov visits this extraordinary place outside of the capital Harare. He meets Moyo, Limpopo and other elephants in the nursery, and hears touching stories of the incredible bond between the animals and sanctuary staff. Roxy and her family speak about the challenges and joys of raising elephants and the new challenge of returning the ones that are ready back to where they belong.

Watch the documentary, When an Elephant Smiles, below:

phpBB [video]

[Lisbeth]

Government decides to slaughter 25 elephants in Mozambique

BY ADÉRITO CALDEIRA - 10 APRIL 2019 - THE CLUB OF MOZAMBIQUE

(Web translation)

The Government of Philip Nyusi, which has as one of its priorities “Ensuring the Sustainable and Transparent Management of Natural Resources and the Environment” and receives millions of dollars from donors for the National Plan of Protection of the Elephant, determined the slaughter of 25 pachyderms by the end this year.

Environmentalists say the @Verdade not being public the criteria used in setting the quota of even more slaughter pending the results of the third National Census of what is the largest land mammal.

From 1 April to 30 November is the hunting season in Mozambique, during which the Ministerial Diploma 23/2019 of March 15, initialed by Minister Celso Correia, established the quotas for the slaughter of 19,864 wild animals.

They stand out in the document in the possession of @ True 49 lions, 103 leopards and 25 elephants to be slaughtered that everything indicates by hunters.

Mozambique is one of the largest elephant cemeteries in the world, about 10,000 were killed by poachers between 2010 and 2015 reducing the population to about 9 thousand animals. In the years that followed, nearly 500 elephants were killed by illegal hunters seeking their ivory teeth, which from the conservation areas are trafficked by ports and domestic airports to the avid markets in China.

With the start of the governance of Philip Nyusi became the protection of the elephant, as well as other animal species, in a national priority so the @Verdade questioned the Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development (MITADER) why a protected species was in the list of animals to be hunted in 2019.

After more than a week, Minister Celso Correia, as well as the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC), did not respond to the queries of @Verdade.

Elephant Hunt Costs at Least $50,000

An official at one of the wilderness farms in southern Mozambique where six elephants will be slaughtered tried to explain to @Verdade that “animals occupy a territorial space, eat and drink water and hunting is a sustainable management tool.”

The source who asked not to be identified cited as an example part of Kruger National Park that will be semi-desert “the explanation is one, elephants push the trees and how much they are in an amount beyond the load of a certain area are a problem and have that is to diminish those that are more”.

“Yes it generates revenues that are paid to the state and 20 percent go to the surrounding communities,” confirmed our interviewee who estimated at least 50 thousand US dollars the minimum cost of an elephant hunt.

Hunting Can Generate Revenue to Protect Wildlife and Benefit Local People

For environmentalist and conservationist Alastair Nelson nothing justifies the hunting of animals particularly the African elephant however in many countries. “The costs of protecting the environment, wildlife and natural areas are borne by poor people living in conservation areas or near them. These costs are direct, for example, damage in the fields, or indirect, lack of access to resources or land.”

“Ideally, these costs should be alleviated by the government, which should target economic development and social upgrading initiatives in these areas because these people incur costs for national benefit – national parks or protection of forests and river basins that benefit downstream users etc. The people involved are relatively few in these remote areas, so governments and their development partners do not take on this responsibility and prefer to say that conservation organizations have find finding ways to generate direct revenue from activities and share the benefits,” he explained.

According to Nelson, who has extensive experience working on biodiversity protection in Mozambique, and beyond, “There are a few ways to do this, and trophy hunting is one of them. Trophy hunting is a particularly good tool in remote and wild places that are uncomfortable and hard to reach, and have low densities of wildlife. Most tourists who travel for photos do not want to go to these places and most of the wildlife areas in Mozambique fit that description, so hunting is important to bring revenue to government departments that protect wildlife and wildlife environment, and also to bring benefits to the local population.”

However, attention is drawn to important aspects that have to work in order for hunting to be effective for conservation. “Is the recipe being collected correctly? Is the recipe being used properly and transparently? Do the right benefits flow to the local population regularly and transparently? Are the sites involved in the management of conservation areas?”

Quota for Slaughter in Areas Where Wildlife is Being Repopulated

However, there is a second aspect that needs to be safeguarded which is related to the numbers of wildlife in Mozambique, especially elephants.

Alastair Nelson pointed out that without the recent elephant count data he can not delve into the issue adequately, alluding to data from the 3rd National Elephant Census that are expected to be released in the coming months.

“But what I can say is that ANAC is doing its best to monitor and manage the elephant population in Mozambique. They stopped the elephant hunt in the Niassa Reserve after the count of 2014, which showed such a large decline there. This is the most important hunting area in Mozambique, and elephant hunting brought a lot of revenue. There are some hunting areas in Mozambique that have done a very good job of protecting elephants, and I am sure they have populations healthy enough to hunt,” he clarified.

Nelson pointed out that we need to take into account whether the number of elephants to be hunted is to areas where we know that poaching rates are negligible and elephant populations are still increasing; to determine how many male elephants are in specific sub-populations of elephants in Mozambique; and, once we have an estimate for male elephants in these sub-populations, determine if 25 is a sustainable amount to be slaughtered.

In addition the conservationist revealed to Truth that trophy hunting is done for adult elephants because in addition to the hunt it generates ivory revenue that can be exported to the country of origin of the hunter, naturally through an existing legal process. The so-called human-animal conflict usually has young male protagonists who are still establishing their domains.

Paradoxically part of the share of elephants to be slaughtered is allocated to wilderness farms in the Limpopo Transfrontier Park area which was stripped of wildlife and has donated animals from Zimbabwe and Botswana to be repopulated.

Biggest Evangelical Church in Southern Africa Threatens Leopards in Mozambique

Regarding the leopard hunt that this year is scheduled to hit 103, the ANAC told @Verdade in 2017 to ignore the exact population of animals in Mozambique,however, he warned that a tradition of the largest evangelical church in South Africa, professed by the Zulus, was threatening leopards in Mozambique.

“They wear garments based on leopard skin,” said Carlos Lopes Pereira, chief of the Department of Surveillance of the National Administration of Conservation Areas, who regretted that “there are no more leopards to do this.”

Translated from the Portuguese by an automated online translation service. See link for original article:
http://www.verdade.co.mz/tema-de-fundo/ ... mocambique

[Lisbeth]

Kenya on the brink of acquitting ivory trafficker number four

BY CHRIS MORRIS - 10 APRIL 2019 - COMMENTARY / MONGABAY

- On April 11, Chief Magistrate Francis Kyambia is set to make judgement in a Mombasa, Kenya court on the ivory trafficking prosecution against Ephantus Mbare Gitonga. A not-guilty verdict, if rendered, will be the fourth consecutive acquittal in a major ivory case in the last fifteen months.
- There will be many who find this hard to believe: Surely the only acquittal was that against Feisal Mohamed Ali in August 2018? He had originally been convicted in July 2017 for being in possession of 2.2 metric tons of ivory and sentenced to 20 years in jail with a $200,000 fine to boot. The widely celebrated finding was overturned in August of last year when Lady Justice D.O. Chepkwony of the Kenya High Court reached the decision that the initial ruling was flawed on multiple grounds.
- There are, however, two other acquittals in major ivory cases that quietly came and went with nary a whisper of surprise, dismay, or disillusionment. And now clearing agent Ephantus Mbare Gitonga is on the verge of yet another acquittal.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

It could be four in a row. On April 11, Chief Magistrate Francis Kyambia is set to make judgement in a Mombasa, Kenya court on the ivory trafficking prosecution against Ephantus Mbare Gitonga. A not-guilty verdict, if rendered, will be the fourth consecutive acquittal in a major ivory case in the last fifteen months.

There will be many who find this hard to believe: Surely the only acquittal was that against Feisal Mohamed Ali in August 2018? He had originally been convicted in July 2017 for being in possession of 2.2 metric tons of ivory and sentenced to 20 years in jail with a $200,000 fine to boot. The widely celebrated finding was overturned in August of last year when Lady Justice D.O. Chepkwony of the Kenya High Court reached the decision that the initial ruling was flawed on multiple grounds.

There are, however, two other acquittals in major ivory cases that quietly came and went with nary a whisper of surprise, dismay, or disillusionment. On January 24, 2018, a middle-aged Mombasa clearing agent by the name of Nicholas Maweu John was acquitted for his role in the attempted exportation of 3.3 metric tons of ivory destined for Malaysia from a Mombasa port. You are forgiven if you have never heard of this individual. His arrest in December 2013 barely made seven lines in The Star. His acquittal did not make the news at all.

Nicholas Maweu John’s charge sheet presented to the Mombasa court read in part: “On diverse dates between the 25th June 2013 and 8th July 2013 … jointly with others not before the court conspired to contravene…” But there were never any others brought before the court and no conspiracy ever identified.

Chief Magistrate J. M. Nang’ea made comment in his judgement that “the case was poorly investigated.” Indeed, the testimony of the eight prosecution witnesses clearly showed that there were other known Mombasa business persons who played a more significant role in the criminal exportation. These persons were never located by police. Of interest, Abdul Halim Sadiq Omar, who was identified as the owner of the truck that transported the 444 pieces of ivory to the port, was interviewed by police and released. His name re-appeared publicly the following June when he was named as co-accused with Feisal Mohammed Ali in that 2.2-metric-ton Mombasa ivory seizure.

This past January 15 another long-standing ivory trafficking prosecution mercifully came to a conclusion. A Mombasa court, almost eight years after arraignment, acquitted Mombasa clearing agent Sammy Ndiririgi Maina of ivory trafficking-related charges, finding that “no prima facie case has been made against the accused.”


Ephantus Mbare Gitonga Ivory seizure in Mombasa port December 2016. Photo courtesy of Chris Morris.

Ndiririgi had been charged with the illegal exportation of 1.5 metric tons of ivory to Dubai, the ivory being seized after officers of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) scanned a container of apparent waste plastic and found the tusks therein. To say that the prosecution suffered significant delays, lengthy even by Kenyan standards, would be an understatement. At one point, there was a 26-month interlude in the hearing marked by 10 consecutive adjournments for a variety of superficial reasons.

Witness testimony again indicated the involvement of others who were never located or investigated. This testimony and submitted exhibits also raised the question of complicity by the KRA and its Head of Verification. In 2017, that same Head of Verification, James Kinyua Njagi, was charged with six others in a Shanzu court for his part in trafficking 1 metric ton of ivory through Mombasa to Singapore in March 2014. That case is still before the courts with the two Ugandan co-accused having fled Kenya after successfully obtaining bail.

Which brings us back to Ephantus Mbare Gitonga. He has been charged under the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act for his part in the attempted shipment to Cambodia of 1.1 metric tons of ivory in December of 2016. This shipment had actually cleared Mombasa Port but was ordered returned from Singapore by KRA officials on learning of its contraband from Vietnamese authorities.

At the time, even before the investigation was initiated, it was clear that this shipment was part of something much bigger. In the preceding three months, seven other shipments (one transiting Mombasa) totaling more than 6 metric tons had been intercepted in Vietnam and Cambodia. Their ports of origin covered four different African countries from both sides of the continent: Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Mozambique. In all shipments, the ivory had been obfuscated in the same identical manner: hidden in hollowed-out timber that was sealed with wax or plaster, a technique known to thwart trained canines.

In the two years since those eight seizures, Vietnam identified Nguyen Mau Chien as one of the principals involved in that cartel and he was subsequently charged and convicted on wildlife trafficking-related offenses.


Forged verification document that would have permitted ivory container to pass. Courtesy of Chris Morris.

In January 2018, Cote d’Ivoire authorities, with the assistance of international NGO EAGLE (Eco Activists for Governance and Law Enforcement), arrested a Vietnamese national and five others who were part of the same cartel. Their case is still before the courts.

In Kenya, one clearing agent is the sole accused in this trans-continental cartel. It should be said that the initial investigation by the Kenya Directorate of Criminal Investigations was well done and identified that the shipment had transited South Sudan and Uganda while identifying involved shipping entities based in Kampala. The investigation stalled, however, and requests to the Lusaka Agreement Task Force, based in Nairobi and set up with the sole purpose of investigating transnational wildlife crime, could not accommodate due to apparent lack of funding.

Just over two months ago, Ugandan authorities seized a suspicious container outside Kampala and arrested three Vietnamese nationals. Inside was discovered 3.3 metric tons of ivory and 0.4 metric tons of pangolin scales inside hollowed-out logs sealed with wax. The container, while its final destination has not been made public, was almost certainly going to transit Mombasa.

And in Kenya? One clearing agent is on the verge of yet another acquittal.


An African elephant (Loxodonta africana) in Kenya covers its eyes with its trunk. Photo by Rhett Butler.

Chris Morris has a background of 33 years in Canadian law enforcement and experience in uniform operations, major crime investigations, drug-related proceeds of crime, polygraph, court liaison, tactical operations, and training. His international experience includes a one-year secondment to the Special Court for Sierra Leone as an investigator to the Charles Taylor war crimes investigation and a one-year secondment with the EU Police Mission in Afghanistan as a mentor/advisor to the Afghan Police. Since 2015, Chris has turned his focus of study to international wildlife crime, primarily in Kenya, and more specifically to how it is affected by police corruption.

[Lisbeth]

This is BAD!!

[Lisbeth]

Bloc adopts scientific wildlife management system (African Kavango-Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area [KAZA-TFCA] countries)

BY LEONARD NCUBE - 12 APRIL 2019 - THE CHRONICLE


Minister Priscah Mupfumira

Kavango-Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (KAZA-TFCA) countries have resolved to adopt a scientific wildlife management system in national parks, a development which will enable the bloc to harvest or move wildlife without hindrance.

The decision was made at the close of the Joint Management Committee and Committee of Senior Officials meeting in Victoria Falls yesterday.

It comes on the backdrop of a ban on hunting of specific animals such as elephants and sale of ivory, which the KAZA-TFCA bloc feels is unfair.

The KAZA-TFCA has arguably the biggest wildlife population especially for elephants in Africa but cannot cull or freely move them because of restrictions imposed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

This has escalated human-wildlife conflict thereby causing death of humans and illegal hunting as communities feel they are not benefiting from the natural resources.

KAZA-TFCA member states namely Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe wanted a common position on the matter ahead of the Conference of the Parties (CoP18) next month in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

They feel scientific management of wildlife will minimise human-wildlife conflict as communities will start benefiting.

The position will be ratified by Heads of State at the KAZA-TFCA Heads of State Elephant Summit set for May 7 in Kasane, Botswana.

The KAZA Bloc resuscitated the Ministerial Committee after the return of Botswana that had not been cooperating with the other four countries in the last few years.

Botswana, which has the largest population of elephants in KAZA with 150 000 jumbos, prepared the position paper and the other four member states adopted it as a KAZA statement.

“We note with concern debate and criticism on elephant population. KAZA-TFCA is a conservation and development partnership of the five governments and the key objective is to join fragmented wildlife heritage into interconnected areas and wildlife corridors with free movement of wildlife.

“It’s imperative that any programme that promotes conservation must sustain livelihoods of rural communities. We therefore call upon critics on elephant management to stop and allow the Republic of Botswana and KAZA-TFCA in general to implement policies and programmes on elephant management in a systematic management to improve species management and community livelihoods.

“We further call upon the critics to provide support to sound elephant management practices in particular problems such as human wildlife conflict,” read the statement by Botswana.

Botswana Minister of Environment, Natural Resource Conservation and Tourism, Onkokame Kitso Mokaila, assumed KAZA chairmanship for the next two years.

Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Prisca Mupfumira who co-chaired the meeting with her Botswana counterpart said while Botswana prepared the statement, it should be adopted as a KAZA position.

“As Zimbabwe we also support the statement and scientific management of wildlife. We think that we should support KAZA as a grouping and that statement should be a KAZA statement because we all believe in the same. What we have all said makes it a KAZA statement so that it’s not looked at as a Botswana position,” she said.

Zambia Tourism and Arts Minister Charles Banda said scientific management of animals is the only remedy to human-wildlife conflict.

“I want to believe that the critics have disadvantaged us the people who own this wildlife by way of curtailing us from the use of the same natural resources. We’ve been told that we should not hunt elephants or sell ivory but if you look at what is happening today elephant numbers are growing exponentially causing a threat to human population.

“The only way out is to adopt systematic and scientific control of these ever-growing numbers for purposes of reducing on human wildlife conflict and also raising finances for conservation and developing the livelihoods of the people that live within and around areas where these animals live,” he said.

Namibia Minister of Environment and Tourism Bernadette Maria Jagger said scientific management is one of the best approaches to manage thousands of elephants and for communities to benefit.

“Wildlife should contribute to wildlife management hence as Namibia we fully support new policies and programmes of elephant population management of Botswana to minimise human-wildlife conflict. People should be allowed to go into trophy hunting and sell locally and internationally and as KAZA we should support one another when we go out,” she said.

The meeting started on Monday and ended yesterday.

Read original article here:
https://www.chronicle.co.zw/bloc-adopts ... nt-system/

[Lisbeth]

[Flutterby]

[Lisbeth]

Elephant management plan announced for KAZA countries

Posted on 9 May, 2019 by Africa Geographic Editorial in News, Wildlife and the News Desk post series.


©KAZA

Elephants in southern Africa have been the subject of much debate recently, particularly after Botswana announced that it was reviewing its elephant management strategies. The process of determining how best to manage elephants in southern Africa went one step further over the past weekend when the heads of state of the countries with the largest remaining elephant populations met in Kasane, Botswana to formulate a collaborative management strategy.

This a brief summary of the strategy adopted by Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which jointly make up ‘The Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) – which is home to more than half of the remaining African savannah elephants. For a more detailed understanding of this strategy, please download the strategy document here.

Please note that this document does not directly address the issues currently creating tension, such as Botswana’s trophy hunting and culling discussions, or the reported attempts by KAZA countries and South Africa to convince CITES to permit trade in ivory. Rather, this document provides the umbrella strategy within which those matters will be researched and potentially implemented.


© KAZA

SUMMARY OF THE KAZA ELEPHANT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY:

BACKGROUND

1. The wellbeing of these elephant populations hinges on maintaining their habitats and upon ensuring the movement of elephants from more densely-populated areas in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia, to areas in Angola and Zambia – by securing wildlife migration movement corridors.

2. The latest elephant surveys indicate a population of at least 220,000 elephants across the five KAZA countries, with 85% concentrated in Botswana and Zimbabwe. Populations in southeast Angola and southwest Zambia have suffered major declines due to poaching. The area of Kavango and Zambezi (formerly Caprivi) in Namibia have suffered from increased poaching, although elephant populations are reportedly growing.

3. Growing elephant populations may pose a threat to diminishing riverine and woodland habitats, and the species dependent upon such habitat.

4. Increasing elephant populations in certain areas, combined with human population growth and settlement in existing wildlife dispersal areas is leading to increases in human-elephant conflict, resulting in increased illegal killings and the increased need for problem animal control.

5. The KAZA portions of Angola and Zambia have large tracts of suitable elephant habitat, but with smaller populations of elephants and other wildlife (and concomitant lower human densities), which should provide a “pull” effect from areas with higher elephant populations, via the wildlife migration corridors.

6. Wildlife migration corridors are under various stages of intactness and some face the threat of permanent closure due to encroaching human settlements, agriculture and infrastructure developments (roads, rail, riparian), livestock disease control measures (veterinary fences) and mining.

7. Long-term monitoring of the KAZA elephant population is required, as well as identification and mitigating of threats to elephant populations. One such threat is climate change, to which elephants are already vulnerable in areas of limited water supply. This dynamic exacerbates human-elephant conflict.


© KAZA

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

1. Facilitate integrated land use to ensure long-term ecosystem integrity and connectivity for KAZA’s elephant population. Short- and medium-term activities in this regard include ongoing and increased data collection and analysis, ensuring an adaptive management process, protection of Angolan water sources of the four major rivers flowing through KAZA, awareness raising amongst various sectors that impact on elephants, providing formal legal recognition for wildlife migration corridors, and re-alignment or removal of existing veterinary fences.

2. Maintain and manage KAZA’s elephants as one contiguous population. Short- and medium-term activities in this regard include aerial surveys, analysis of elephant movement data, understand data on human distribution and land-use, better use of existing elephant poaching data (MIKE), and integrating elephant management strategies for each KAZA country into this strategic planning framework.

3. Promote co-existence of humans and elephants for ecological, social and economic benefits. Short- and medium-term activities in this regard include supporting alternative livelihoods for local communities that help mitigate conflict, engaging with communities about conflict mitigation and building capacity for data collection, and to develop policies and practices to permit communities to sustainably manage, utilise and benefit from elephants and other wildlife.

4. Reduce the illegal killing of elephants and the illegal trade in elephant parts. Short- and medium-term activities in this regard include mobilising financial, human and material resources to combat the illegal killing and trade, coordination of transboundary ground-based patrols and air surveillance as well as cross boundary pursuit of wildlife criminals, review existing legislation to permit extradition of wildlife criminals, engaging communities to help fight wildlife crime, better use of DNA analysis to better inform evidence-led prosecutions, and aligning of customs and immigration procedures with regard to the movement of illicit wildlife products and better training of personnel in this regard.

5. Establish the high-level decision-making process to achieve the above. Short- and medium-term activities in this regard include a 5-year review process, ensuring that KAZA partner countries allocate sufficient financial and other resources in these regards, and establishing reporting and feedback mechanisms.


© KAZA