Page 11 - WEEKLYDIGEST 13042022

FEATURE April 13-18 2022 Weekly Digest 11

etation is. One is a protected area, part of a paigns exist. But this is far from the ex- Poorly conceived bans on trophy im- ly 1970s when around 5,000 elephants
massive conservation effort supported by in- perience of those living on the edge of ports and hunting therefore are having died of starvation over several years. It
ternational money; one is a communal (small- Gonarezhou national park, as we dis- major negative consequences on con- took decades for the ecosystem to re-
scale) African farming area; and one is a reset- covered. servation in Zimbabwe. The result in cover. Without management, this may
tlement area, settled by small scale farmers fol- The result of such lobbying has been Gonarezhou is widespread deforesta- well happen in Zimbabwe too.
lowing land reform. The full answers are below, a dramatic decline in the ability of ecol- tion and loss of biodiversity. This in turn The mass starvation of large, intelli-
but you probably will have guessed already that ogists in parks to manage elephants, has dire consequences for poor peo- gent animals is not a pleasant sight, and
the most deforested landscape is in the national with devastating consequences as we ple’s livelihoods, increasing poverty and not a good look for the outcome of ill-
park. And the reason is elephants. saw. Currently CITES – the internation- hunger in highly marginal places, as el- thought out global conservation strate-
Overpopulation of elephants can cause mul- al body that regulates trade in endan- ephants continue to ravage their limit- gies. This is why new thinking about pro-
tiple problems. Not only is tree cover destroyed gered species – only allows for the cull- ed subsistence crops. This is not what tected areas – and the role of elephants
but the whole ecosystem is changed, with ing of 500 elephants per year in the CITES planned for, nor I am sure what within and beyond them – is urgently
knock-on effects for other species, from bee- whole of Zimbabwe. For Gonarezhou, those who spend their hard-earned needed, a theme picked up in the next
tles to birds. Blind ‘protection’ of what is sup- the quota is only 25. With trophy hunt- cash on conservation organisations blog in this short series. The answer to
posed to be an endangered species makes little ing imports now banned from the UK would want either. But somehow these the mopane tree quiz (from right to left):
conservation sense. In these areas, elephants are and elsewhere, the demand for hunting perspectives – and the real, tragic sit- A: Communal area near Chikombedzi,
more of a pest than a protected species. (made worse by the pandemic) has tak- uation of the likes of Mrs KP – are not with distinct browse line; B: Gonarezhou
There are so many of them and they are not en a hit too. In the past, southern Africa heard in the air-brushed, positive spin National Park near Chipinda Pools; C:
happy animals – as we found out close-up when was a major hotspot for hunting. How- of conservation lobbying. Edenvale A1 resettlement area. And
they charged our vehicle (twice). They reputed- ever distasteful the practice, the eco- New thinking needed apologies to regular readers of this blog
ly become more agitated as they return to the logical and economic benefits were sig- What then is the likely consequence for the gap in posts. There are quite a
safety of the park in Zimbabwe from Mozam- nificant when attention was paid to the of this strategy of protection at all costs, few lined up for the next weeks, based
bique where poaching is intense. Mines from distribution of benefits. Hunting reve- banning hunting and trophies and re- on recent fieldwork in Zimbabwe, in-
the liberation war existed along the border for nues – especially from the trophy fee – stricting culling? It is not pretty. We have cluding two more in this series on di-
a long time, although most have been cleared, were large and were (in theory at least) seen what can happen before when el- lemmas for conservation policy.
but these also caused elephant rage (and death) shared with local communities. With ephant populations get out of control:
when stepped on. And the new electric fence quotas carefully designed, the offtake when their food runs out, populations
that borders the park within Zimbabwe ap- was sustainable and geared to manage- crash, with major consequences for the This blog was written by Ian Scoones
parently also gets them jumpy, as they break ment of the wider ecosystem for conser- wider ecology. This is what happened in and originally appeared on Zimba-
through to find food in the farms beyond. vation and biodiversity benefits. Tsavo National Park in Kenya in the ear- bweland
Elephants destroy crops and livelihoods
As villagers told us in our study areas near
Chikombedzi, just a few kilometres from the
park, elephants regularly break through the
fence (notionally a foot-and-mouth veterinary
fence) or come up the dry riverbeds as the fence
does not cross or through the small-scale farms
nearby where there is no boundary fence with
the park. Elephants love crop fields and will de-
stroy a whole area in hours. The area along the
river is where farmers must eke out a living on
small fields, farming sorghum and maize or ir-
rigating vegetables. In this extremely dry area,
this is the only place where agriculture is fea-
sible, especially when the rains fail as this year.
But this is also where elephants (and buffaloes,
hippos, crocodiles and other animals) assemble CONGRATULATIONS
and cause havoc.
Villagers complain that there is no ‘problem
animal control’ efforts by the parks authorities
these days, and there is no compensation paid
in Zimbabwe, as animals in communal areas are
the responsibility of the locals, not the parks, as
they can be harvested in line with a quota sys-
tem as part of the now largely defunct CAMP-
FIRE scheme (as discussed in a forthcoming
blog).
We met Mrs KP, who had moved to her fields
in this area to protect her crops. Her young chil-
dren were staying in the village with relatives,
but she was alone defending the last of her sor-
ghum from the nightly raids by elephants. After
yet another incursion into her field the previous
night, there was little left.
She stays in a makeshift shelter and builds
fires at night to ward off elephants. She also has
a large torch, which she says sometimes worked
to frighten them off. It is a lonely and dangerous
life, and she was losing the battle. She told us
that there were others nearby doing the same,
while others had given up, resigning themselves
to hunger or hand-outs instead of getting any-
thing from the fields.
Historical estimates of elephant populations in
these areas are a bit shaky, but everyone agrees
that today’s numbers are the highest ever, at
least since records began in 1975 when the park
was established. In the past years populations
have been growing at 6% per year, although this
may be plateauing.
In the past, elephants could move more easily
when fences didn’t exist and population densi-
ties were lower. The advent of the ‘transfrontier’
conservation ‘peace park’ area between South The management and staff of Gray Group of Companies congratulates
Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique was sup-
posed to encourage ‘connectivity’, and so larg- Annavestah Mudiwa for scooping the Director of the year award at the
er ranges for migratory and larger animals, but
there have been limits to this ambition due to Megafest Business awards (Midlands region)
poaching, settlement barriers and geopolitics.
Restrictions on culling are causing major eco-
logical damage
So why have elephant populations got so out Your noteworthy accomplishment is a culmination of your efforts and wisdom
of control? The major reason is that they are no
longer managed as they once were through cull- which will propel you to even more triumphs.
ing or relocation programmes that helped bal-
ance populations with resources. Although Mrs
KP is not one of them, there is a clamouring GRAY MOBILE BRANCHES GRAY HOMES VESTAL PERFUMES VESTAL PHARMACY
global advocacy on behalf of elephants.
Organisations such as ‘Save the Elephants’ – Shurugwi Filabusi 44 Longden Easgate Market BRANCHES
along with all the major conservation outfits – Harare Gwanda Belvedere Shop A14 Shurugwi
raise very large amounts of money on the back Zvishavane Beightbridge Gwanda
of the argument that African elephants are en-
dangered and must be protected and that cull- Mberengwa Contact us 0784614434
ing – and worse, hunting for trophies – is inhu-
mane. If your experience of elephants is most-
ly derived from wildlife TV programmes watched
from the comfort of your living room in London
or New York, then you can see why such cam-