The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu in Hwange
Communities around national parks continue to be the centre of contention at the African Elephant Conference which is currently underway in Hwange Matabeleland North Province as they bear the biggest brunt in terms of human and wildlife conflict.
Zimbabwe loses hundreds lives annually due to the conflict which is being exacerbated by the failure of Zimbabwe and other Southern African countries from getting a buy in to trade in ivory in a bid to aide in wildlife management and conservation efforts.
Director General of ZimParks Dr Fulton Mangwanya said communities need to benefit in earnest from the proceeds of wildlife and that elephants must be a uniting factor rather than a divisive factor on the global agenda.
There are concerns that communities will take the issues around human-wildlife conflict into their own hands if no tangible solution is in place to protect them from the jumbos that have ballooned in size other the years to alarming figures.
According to the latest statistics from ZimParks, the jumbos in Hwange National Park alone stand at close to 55 000 yet at optimum standards require that they must be between seven to 15 000.
Elephants are however posing a challenge to not only their habitat but also that of other animals that they share the national park with.
Mr Emmanuel Koro, an environment and climate writer also shared his sentiments at the conference regarding”” stock piles on ivory in Zimbabwe.
“We have large quantities of ivory that are gathering dust in Zimbabwe and they come at a cost as we have to pay for security to protect them, hoping that one day we will be able to trade in them.
“Let us take on the fight and ensure that African countries must accept their rights to trade in their resources, do not let any country or organisation tell you how to use your resources. At the end of the day, the fate of the elephants lies in the hands of African people,” said Mr Koro.
Acting Chief Executive Officer for the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Mr Givemore Chidzidzi told the conference that one of the things that Zimbabwe markets as a tourist destination are elephants.
“These are our esteemed wildlife and nature but as we discuss the problem surrounding the elephants be it over or under population we are talking of the impact and benefits on communities. We need to change the narrative as we are going out there. We are talking about communities and people, always understanding that it is the communities that are there in the range lands who are living with all the other wildlife,” said Mr Chidzidzi.
He added; “When we are talking about benefits, we are talking about someone sitting aboard who does not care about our jobs or livelihoods in these communities, all they care about is what affects them. Now the narrative should change and be about the communities beyond us, when tourism dies in Zimbabwe there is a tour operator who is sitting in New York, Berlin, London who is also going to shut down and there will be job losses. We will be stuck here sinking,”.
He said it was important to note that there are livelihoods’ that will be affected by the challenge of elephants saying the whole value chain needs to be looked at beyond the communities. -@NyembeziMu
