North Luangwa Conservation Programme

Author: Claire Lewis / Photos: Frankfurt Zoological Society

As Frankfurt Zoological Society celebrates its 30th year of engagement in Zambia, Claire Lewis reflects back on its conservation work in the North Luangwa ecosystem

THE LUANGWA VALLEY is the oldest section of Africa’s famous Great Rift Valley on the continent. The Luangwa River, bordering four national parks, is Africa’s longest undammed river system, and home to the world’s largest concentration of hippos. The geographic location and its associated isolation, as a result of this topography, gives rise to a unique and vast ecosystem and species diversity. The North Luangwa ecosystem (NLE), comprising the National Park of the same name and its adjacent five Game Management Areas (21,000 km2) in north-eastern Zambia, harbours significant wildlife populations, including Zambia’s only black rhinos. Since 1986, Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) has been working with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW; formerly the Zambia Wildlife Authority - ZAWA) in a partnership known as the North Luangwa Conservation Programme (NLCP). NLCP focuses on the implementation of conservation-based initiatives aimed at protecting the area threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, unsustainable utilisation of natural resources, and the upswing in illegal hunting for elephant ivory, rhino horn and bush meat. These initiatives aim to promote sustainable socio-economic development and protect Zambia’s natural heritage and the hook by which all activities hang is the black rhino. BLACK RHINOS historically thrived in Zambia; once home to the continent’s third largest population, numbering over 12,000. But efforts to save this charismatic and highly endangered animal through the late 1970s and early 1980s failed to stem the demand for its horn. The illegal trophy poaching decimated Zambia’s black rhino population and the species was declared nationally extinct in 1998. At the centre of conservation principles lies the philosophy that if an area can be secured for this curious pachyderm then all other co-existing natural resources can also be protected for future generations. Creating a safe environment for black rhino in Zambia became a focus of NLCP and the first of several reintroduction translocations took place in 2003, with the help of many generous donor funding partners, to form a viable founder population.

Back then, moving rhinos across the continent to start up new populations was bold and risky merely from a veterinary and logistics point of view. Rhino poaching was at an all-time low and no one foresaw what was to come. The recent dramatic rise in rhino poaching in southern Africa reflects a greatly increased demand for horns, driven by emerging affluent Asian markets, and the increasing presence of Vietnamese and Chinese investors in Africa has been linked to the rise in demand for rhino horn, for its scientifically inaccurate “medicinal” properties (rhino horn is made from keratin just like human hair and fingernails). Organised criminal gangs are using increasingly sophisticated methods to obtain rhino horn to meet the burgeoning demand. In contrast wildlife authorities are generally under-resourced, under capacitated and less sophisticated in their approach to combat the threat. With more than 90% of all recent rhino poaching occurring in southern Africa and elephant ivory poaching in Zambia escalating to levels not seen for well over a decade, the potential for an organised threat to the North Luangwa black rhinos is very real. NLCP takes these threats very seriously and the effective monitoring and protection of the rhino population is a top priority. A multi-faceted approach is needed to do this. It is often cited - the ‘carrot and stick’ approach – but very hard to achieve by a single entity as it requires a wide range of skills and human capacity with almost limitless funding to uphold the law with anti-poaching patrols, intelligence and investigations operations and canine wildlife crime detection units. At the same time, it needs to encourage responsible citizenship, sustainable use of natural resources and create awareness through education and offering alternatives to illegal wildlife and natural resource based activities. NLCP invests heavily in the ‘stick’ with an intense anti-poaching patrol effort not reflected anywhere else in the country. More than seventy 4-man foot patrols, in 10 day long stints, are equipped and rationed every month to detect, deter and deflect wildlife poaching across the ecosystem. A specialised unit known as REPU, the Rhino and Elephant Protection Unit, are deployed continuously in NLNP, and they are equipped with night vision and thermal imagery technology as well as trained in advanced anti-poaching tactics to combat the poaching threat to Zambia’s most important elephant population and its only black rhinos. Their efforts are augmented with intelligence and investigations operations stretching beyond the ecosystem to the Tanzanian and Malawian borders. The recently formed canine unit is already proving effective in finding the locations and transport of illegal wildlife products, such as elephant ivory, rhino horn, bush meat, hard wood timbers, firearms and ammunition. At the same time NLCP engages the ‘carrot’ with local communities through an education programme, called Lolesha Luangwa, based on a conservation curriculum which is taught in 21 schools in villages surrounding NLNP, reaching more than 1,500 Grade 6 students. It also maintains airstrips and roads, builds schools, digs boreholes for drinking water and meets other infrastructural needs to strengthen community development, natural resource management and tourism activities. But this is only part of it, NLCP has a vision that goes far beyond were we are now. We need to build on the strong partnership between the Department of National Parks and Wildlife and Frankfurt Zoological Society with the communities in North Luangwa. Wilderness, wherever possible, must establish financial as well as ecological sustainability. Wildlife must pay and people must benefit. But how can this be achieved? Communities need to have a greater sense of ownership of wildlife and land and receive its benefits. Together we need to create an attractive investment environment that is based on revenue retention and decentralised decision making that creates confidence for all stakeholders. Legal entities, based on already existing ward and village action group boundaries, backboned with a participatory land use plan, would be able to enter into commercial long term leases with appropriate investors, for photographic tourism, safari hunting, sustainable forestry management or conservation agriculture - generating jobs and diversifying revenue streams. It might sound simplistic but structural adaptions such as these will go a long way to giving the ecosystem sustainability. But without a resource base none of this can happen so it all comes back to the hook, the black rhino and its survival.

The success and survival of black rhinos in Zambia relies on us all so if YOU hear of anything regarding the trade of illegal wildlife products please contact the Departement of National Parks and Wildlife (+260 211 278129 / 278482 / 279080) or the North Luangwa Conservation Programme (nlcp@fzs.org) immediately. TL Z