Water crisis fuelling human wildlife conflict in Zimbabwe
New Zimbabwe
June 13, 2022
See link
https://www.newzimbabwe.com/water-crisis-fuelling-human-wildlife-conflict-in-zimbabwe/
for photo.
Scarcity of water has heightened fears of human wildlife conflict in
Matetsi village near Hwange in northern Zimbabwe, as elephants are expected
to gravitate towards human settlements in search of water.
The area received average rainfall during the just-ended rainy season,
which has momentarily kept the elephants at bay, but as water sources dry
up the jumbos tend to move to residential areas in search for the precious
liquid.
“The biggest challenge facing both animals and human beings is water. It’s
better during the rainy season but as soon as the water bodies start drying
up the wild animals find their way into our communities. Unfortunately when
this happens death is inevitable,” said Godfrey Dube, a village resident.
Hwange has been at the receiving end of climate change induced human
wildlife conflict. In some instances villagers have taken the law into
their hands, killing wild animals in the process.
Hwange district is in Agro-Ecological Zone 4, and is characterised by high
temperatures, low rainfall and long dry spells. In an effort to conserve
wildlife, the Bhejane Trust has built several water ponds powered by diesel
generators in Zambezi National Park.
Bhejane Trust founder, Trevor Lane, said in an effort to keep the wild
animals within the confines of the national park, his organisation is
complementing the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management’s
(Zimparks) work in wildlife conservation.
“Shortage of water causes elephants to roam and sometimes become victims of
human activities such as poaching. We try to make the watering holes as
natural as possible to maintain the natural habitation,” said Lane.
In Zimbabwe, human wildlife conflict cases commonly involve animals like
baboons, foxes, elephants and hippos due to shortage of food and water in
the wild. Elephants and hippos usually destroy maize fields and encounters
with wild animals can result in injury and death.
Villagers in Matetsi say, although retaliatory killing is unlawful and
dangerous, it is sometimes the community’s only defence against dangerous
wildlife.
“We usually alert the national park’s officials on animals causing problems
so that they can get rid of them. However, we have some incidents where
elephants are poached with the assistance of disgruntled villagers. In
areas with high human wildlife conflict, most of the villagers don’t seem
to be benefiting from wildlife, and that is dangerous to conservation
efforts,” said Thomas Moyo.
In late 2021, during a 2022 pre-budget seminar for parliamentarians in
Victoria Falls, the Minister of Environment, Climate and Tourism,
Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu, said there was increasing competition for
resources such as water and food between people and wild animals, affecting
areas like Matetsi.
According to the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Africa’s wildlife, wild
lands, and rural communities bear the brunt of climate change. The
foundation says by 2030 water scarcity will impact as much as two-thirds of
Africa.
“On the climate change-induced effects such as shortage of water, even
though the continent consumes a tiny fraction of the world’s fossil fuels,
Africa’s vast ecological wealth and unique natural ecosystems are
especially susceptible to shifts in weather patterns. The protection of
large landscapes is one of the greatest mitigation measures for climate
change. If managed responsibly, large intact lands can mitigate climate
impacts, helping wildlife and people adapt,” notes AWF in a statement.
Zimparks, alongside various partners, is working on climate-smart
conservation planning and sustainable natural resource management. The
National Parks Authority Spokesperson, Tinashe Farawo, applauds the efforts
being made.
“Our poaching trends at a national level have been declining especially
last year where we only recorded twenty elephants being killed by poachers
in Hwange National Park and in Matusadona area where most of these species
are prevalent,” Farawo said.
The current United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) environmental
crime report pinpoints a number of international conventions and national
initiatives that seek to address climate change and human-wildlife
conflict. Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Ibrahim Thiaw, says
at stake is the financial loss running into billions of dollars that these
environmental crimes cause.
“The ecosystem disruption, loss of biodiversity and crippling ecosystem
services that underpin human wellbeing to build resilient economies and
adapt to climate change,” said Thiaw.
The two main causes of the decline in the elephant population in Zimbabwe
have been the demand for ivory and land-use changes. Human wildlife
conflict, increases in poaching levels and loss of habitat are threatening
the survival of African elephant populations in Hwange.
https://www.newzimbabwe.com/water-crisis-fuelling-human-wildlife-conflict-in-zimbabwe/