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DAM-L Zambezi River conservation plans/LS (fwd)
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Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 10:28:16 -0700
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: Lori Pottinger <lori@irn.org>
Subject: Zambezi River conservation plans/LS
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Four Zambezi River Nations Make Joint Conservation Plans
By Singy Hanyona
LUSAKA, Zambia, July 18, 2001 (ENS) - The African Wildlife Foundation has
launched a new regional conservation project known as the "four
corners natural
resource management project."
The transboundary four corners project refers to the Caprivi Strip,
the only place in
the world where four African countries - Zambia, Botswana, Namibia
and Zimbabwe
- meet. They share the Zambezi River, one of the longest rivers in Africa.
Based in Washington, DC and Nairobi, Kenya, the African Wildlife Foundation
together with the people of Africa, "works to ensure the wildlife
and wild lands of
Africa will endure forever," the organization says.
African Wildlife Foundation Director Henry Mwima says a time will
come when, like
elephants, human beings will travel the Southern African region
without passports
and using the same currency.
The Zambezi River runs through eight Southern African Development Community
(SADC) countries, affecting many of their economic activities.
"The activities in those countries also affects the sustainability
of the river basin,"
says Mwima.
The Caprivi Strip is a long panhandle
enclosed by permanent water and stretching
eastwards from the Kavango River to and
along the Zambezi ending at the border
junction of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The Zambezi River Basin is home to over 40 million people who
utilize the region's
natural capital - large expanses of water, land and soils, forests
and wildlife
resources.
Mozambican President Joachim Chisano, acknowledged the importance of this
natural capital in his foreword to the "Zambezi River Basin 2000
Report." "All of us
in the basin states depend on the natural environment for energy
supplies, water,
food, shelter, tourism rural development and jobs," he wrote.
The African Wildlife Foundation says the river is already facing
competing demands
for water, agriculture, power generation, industrial and domestic
use as well as
wildlife habitat and tourism.
These potentially conflicting demands can easily kill the river
unless careful and
considerate planning takes place, the foundation warns.
The Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia reports that
hunting of elephants is allowed on the Zimbabwean side of the Zambezi River,
while on the Zambian side, it is deemed illegal.
Elephants criss-cross the Zambezi
river between Musi-O-Tunya
National Park in Zambia and the
Zambezi National Park in Zimbabwe.
Other elephants move between the
Sioma Ngwezi National Park in
Zambia and the Caprivi National
Park in Namibia. Historically they
have moved through what is now
war-torn Angola.
There are fears among conservationists that the elephants are now
avoiding this
route because of the Angolan civil war.
As part of the regional conservation plan, there has been a
suggestion to study
and consider restoration of a historical wildlife corridor linking
the Kafue National
Park in Zambia, Chobe National Park in Botswana and Zambezi National Park in
Zimbabwe.
Planners of all four countries hope that extending their habitat conservation
projects across political boundaries will encourage economic growth
in the region as
tourists from around the world are attracted by the opportunities
for wildlife
viewing.
Planners on any one side of these borders must also talk to
planners on the other
sides to preserve and enhance the fisheries.
According to the Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia
(WECZ), it is quite common in the region that when a country on one side of a
political border imposes a fishing ban, during the fish breeding season, for
instance, the country on the other side does not.
"So people fish on one side and go across the river to sell fish on
the other side
where law does not allow them to fish," says WECZ Director Mwape Sichilongo.
"African leaders must therefore be anxious about the whole idea of
transboundary
natural resource management because of what it would take to harmonize
planning and development," he says.
Sichilongo, who is a board member of the Zambia Wildlife authority,
says if you
consider that political boundaries are artificial demarcations
based on imaginary
lines on pieces of paper, then a strong case can be made for more integrated
planning.
Stakeholders and scientists from the
four corners countries met in Zambia's
tourist capital of Livingstone from June
20 to 28, in an attemtp to pinpoint the
environmental importance of the four
corners project area.
The conservation experts say at the
end of the day, the success of any
economic development in Africa is
measured by how much it contributes to the conservation of natural resources.
At the same time, the success of conservation is judged by the
extent to which it is
implemented as economically relevant through community empowerment and
poverty reduction.
Most wildlife based tourism in the Zambezi Basin is developed in
national parks
and game reserves, where big mammals including lions, leopards, elephants,
buffalo and rhinos are major attractions. There is a growing
interest in other forms
of wildlife such as birds and plants.
Hunting, walking safaris, game-drives and bird watching attract
tourists from all
parts of the world to the Zambezi Basin.
--
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network <'})))>><
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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