Today, Wednesday 23 June, is World Female Ranger Day – created by the UK’s How Many Elephants charity, this is their first awareness day to celebrate female wildlife rangers globally, spotlighting on African countries for 2021.
“Female rangers are bold, brave and resilient. They’re changing the game and paving the way for women to stand alongside men at the forefront of conservation.”
Currently, less than 11% of the worldwide wildlife ranger workforce are women. ‘How Many Elephants’ want to try and increase this number. They see women as natural communicators and protectors who strengthen relationships within the workplace and their communities, tuning their nurturing nature to protect wildlife. They are dedicated to changing attitudes towards the role of women in the field of conservation so have set up a dedicated website that enables women working in conservation to come together. Their platform aims to give female anti-poaching rangers across the world access to peer support – offering and receiving advice, and a place to share their stories – whilst also fundraising to support their work.
“As champions of wildlife conservation, as role models, as educators and as beacons of hope, these female rangers are not only transforming attitudes towards the role of women in Africa and beyond but are also showing the capabilities and success of females in traditionally male roles.”
Women working in conservation in Zambia
Within Zambia, some conservation organisations are already actively encouraging more women to work in wildlife. Conservation Lower Zambezi have set up their first all female anti-poaching unit – names ‘Kufadza’, meaning “Inspire”.
“When we invest in women, development is improved, poverty is reduced, and children experience better nutrition, health, and school attendance. DNPW and CLZ are embracing the importance of including women in the protection of wildlife and the first step is to enroll more females as Community Scouts”.
BioCarbon Partners has supported the training of 29 female Community Scouts, out of the 105 that they fund across 13 Chiefomes – “We see women leading, pioneering, and catalyzing at all levels in the critical fight for biodiversity protection and wildlife habitat conservation in Zambia… We are really proud to be striving for and creating strong female role models for future generations.”
Women For Conservation was set up by a group of women working here in the wildlife sector to bring everyone together and encourages young women to take up careers in the wildlife and tourism sectors. They have held a mentorship programme, get togethers, talks and more recently, online events, which support and show how women can have an active role in their future of their wildlife. You and your family can join in with their next online event on Friday 2 July – the virtual online read along with Bwalya Penza and her book – Kasuba’s Inner Safari Quest. Check out their Facebook page for details on how to join in.
The Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) has always had an equal opportunities policy – with women working as Wildlife Police Officers and Community Scouts, as well as volunteering with the Honorary Wildlife Police Officers, in a variety of conservation roles, all around the country.
Recently the DNPW joined with USAID Zambia, NGOs, private sector game ranches and community resource management groups to readdress the gender balance within local communities and the wildlife sector. Their last two training courses had equal number of male and female scouts – a first for the DNPW. With USAID support, the DNPW is examining and adapting its training program. They are introducing practices to increase the opportunities for women to become Community Scouts, challenging stereotypes that can disadvantage women on the job and helping them overcome risks, such as retribution from their families or communities for leaving their home responsibilities whilst patrols. Their efforts are not only changing gender perceptions but putting rural women on a new career path – Community Scouts who excel in the job have higher chances of then being employed as a DNPW Wildlife Police Officers.
Find out more
You can find out lots more information about this first World Female Rangers Day and read about some of the women who work in the wildlife sector across Africa at www.worldfemalerangersday.org
Bats Without Border’s next #WingedWednesday webinar is being given by Dr Liliana Davalos and Dr Laurel Yohe on – Protocols for maximising future use of bat tissues.
Join them to find out more about the Bat 1K project from these two incredible Scientists! This is a great opportunity for you to hear about this fantastic project and how you can get involved.
The talk is being held on Wednesday 23 June at 15hrs CET. Bats Without Border’s webinars are held on Zoom, so if you have not already done so, please pre-register by completing their sign up form on their website – www.batswithoutborders – and you will be emailed the joining instructions.
Don’t forget, you can catch up with all of their #WingedWednesday talks on their dedicated YouTube page and on their website. You can also catch all Bats Without Border’s latest news on their Facebook Page
May marked Conservation Lower Zambezi’s (CLZ) first School Visit since 2019. Due to COVID-19, their Environmental Education Programme had to be put on hold during the whole of 2020, following guidelines from Zambia’s Ministry of Health.
Twenty-five students along with two teachers were picked up by CLZ’s transport, all the way from Luangwa to CLZ’s basecamp – over 2,000km for 2 return trips!
For most of these students, this was the first time that they have been able to experience the Lower Zambezi’s wildlife and natural beauty, learning about the importance of conserving our wildlife and environment.
Handover of solar pumps and tanks to local farmers
CLZ completed another successful project in Chiawa with The Honourable Chieftainess Chiawa attended the handover ceremony. Four tank stands and solar powered water pumps were handed over to assist local farmers.
Their program helps these local farmers to source water for their crops without having to access the river on a daily basis. This also helps to prevent harmful human/wildlife conflicts.
CLX thanked the Tusk Trust and IWT for funding this initiative.
Leadership for Conservation Talk
At the beginning of May CLZ’s CEO, Ian Stevenson, was featured on Leadership for Conservation in Africa’s Spark Talks. These talks centre around African conservation, with the topic of Ian’s presentation being – The Evolution of Conservation in the Lower Zambezi: where it started, how progress was made, and the challenges we face today.
If you missed Ian’s talk, then you can catch it again on YouTube
Kasanka National Park – home to the world’s largest mammal migration – is under threat from unauthorised development. The park receives the highest level of protection within Zambia, because of its unique habitats that support threatened flora and fauna. The Game Management Areas (GMA) surrounding the park are critical to the whole region’s ecosystem and the local communicates who depend on them. It is these that are under threat, particularly the Kafinda GMA, which is currently being illegally deforested by the Tanzanian based Lake Group, and its subsidiary Lake Agro Industries.
This designated Kafinda GMA’s habitat should also receive protection, but this it is being ignored – Lake Agro Industries have already cleared over 560ha of pristine woodlands. The Zambian Government had temporally halted this destruction, but Lake Agro Industries are persevering – submitting a formal Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report, requesting permission from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) to develop commercial agriculture and associated infrastructure over a 7,000ha footprint inside the GMA – less than 3km from the National Park. Now the future of the whole area, and the local communities who depend on the GMAs, is under threat.
What is under threat?
Map showing Kasanka National Park and the proposed Lake Agro Industries site
The area under threat is in the Kafinda GMA, just 3kms from Kasanka NP’s borders. Keeping this GMA intact, with a thriving biodiversity, is crucial to the integrity of the park as it provides an important buffer zone from sustainable land uses outside of the GMA.
Despite the GMA’s legal status, its protection is not being enforced. The land within the GMA is being deforested and degraded at an alarming rate. This poses a direct threat to the integrity of the park’s ecosystems and the wildlife that it supports – including fish which are a major source of food security for local communities. The fish, which breed within the waters of the park, then swim downstream and are harvested outside of the park by local communities, being a main source of protein within their diet.
Up to ten million fruit bats migrate to the wetlands in Kasanka NP for a few months every year. It is a globally significant biological spectacle that not only draws in tourists and scientific researchers from around the world, but the visiting bat’s presence in the local area helps to disperse seeds and so is a vital part of reforestation and the ecological health of the region.
“The value that the Park and GMA buffer provides through ecosystem services such as water catchment and carbon sequestration, as well as tourism livelihoods, cannot be underestimated. Kasanka National Park is also host to the world famous fruit bat migration and impacts here will have a knock on effect for seed dispersal locally, nationally and beyond borders” says local ecologist and conservation biologist, Helen Taylor-Boyd.
What is the issue?
In 2019, Lake Agro Industries cleared over 560ha of pristine woodland in the Kafinda GMA. They did not have any appropriate permission. Government departments had to issue three stop orders, before closing the farm in March 2020. Lake Agro Industries have now submitted a formal Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report requesting permission from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) to develop commercial agriculture and associated infrastructure, in Kafinda GMA and less than 3km from the National Park.
Their proposals include taking water directly from the Luwombwa River, which feeds the wetland habitats of the park. It is estimated that during peak periods during the dry season, more than 90% of the water from the Luwombwa River will be taken, severely restricting the flow of the river. This is likely to devastate fish populations and dry up the unique habitats within the park, therefore threatening local wildlife populations.
The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Report
The ESIA report concludes that “the identified environmental impacts have been fully mitigated against”, with proposed mitigation to compensate for deforestation being “avoid clearing or damaging intact habitats” – despite the 7,000ha scheme being situated entirely within pristine and intact habitats of the GMA.
The potential impacts on the local area, including Kasanka NP and the Kafinda GMA, are not given any consideration in the report. Within its 245 pages there is not a single mention of a bat, let alone the world famous bat migration!
The Kasanka Trust maintains that the proposals would be negligent, and that ZEMA should not grant approval. The site selection and occupancy of the Kafinda GMA would result in devastating impacts to biodiversity conservation at an international scale, effecting both wildlife and local people.
Elsewhere inside the Kafinda GMA, another subsidiary of the Lake Group, Gulf Adventures, has occupied approximately 5,000ha of pristine forest and constructed a game farm. The introduction of non-native species to the local area, such as ostriches, is a further breach of the Game Management Plan, which is designed to support and protect GMAs.
This is not just a local issue
When the nearby new Visitor’s Centre at the David Livingstone Memorial was opened last month, His Excellency, President Edgar Chagwa Lungu expressed his support for the protection of Kasanka National Park by saying that “there is urgent need for the Ministry of Tourism and Arts to start the process of having the Kasanka National Park recognised as a World Heritage Site”. It was also recognised that tourism creates socio-economic benefits in the form of foreign exchange earnings, income generation, employment opportunities, rural development and entrepreneurship.
Scientific research has revealed that the bats migrate huge distances from other countries, including the DRC, South Sudan and Tanzania to the park every year. Along the way they deliver invaluable ecosystem services – such as seed dispersal and the promotion of reforestation. If the bats stopped migrating to the park then there would be negative repercussions across all of Central Africa. .
Why Support Kasanka National Park?
Kasanka NP is home to a wide variety of amazing and unique natural features, including:
The seasonal colony of up to ten million straw-coloured fruit bats – the world’s largest mammal migration. The park hosts a significant part of the subequatorial population of this IUCN Red List Near-Threatened species. They are not just a major attraction for tourism, with film crews from around the world featuring this unique annual event. As fruit-eaters, these bats help with seed-dispersal in the GMAs, keeping local forests and their biodiversity healthy.
The 2nd longest bird list of all Zambia’s National Parks. The park is an Important Bird and Biodiversity area within Zambia, with a highly diverse avifauna which includes many threatened species and red list species.
Home to significant populations of the scarce sitatunga and the park is the best place to view these shy antelope which are ‘Near-Threatened’ on the IUCN Red List.
Home to the little known about and fascinating Kinda baboons, with over 100 different species of mammals, including elephants, hippos and Blue monkeys.
An area of healthy and diverse waterways and important rivers which are vital fish breeding grounds, which keep local ecological and socio-economics functioning, as well as providing essential sources of protein for local communities.
A unique small-scale diversity of protected intact habitats, including threatened mushitu and mateshe evergreen forests, home to one of the tallest trees in Southern Africa located in the culturally significant sacred Bufumu Forest.
How you can help
The Kasanka Trust is continuing to fight against any development that threatens the value of our wildlife populations, the region’s biodiversity and the health and food security of all the local communities living around the park.
If you or your organisation would like to add your support, then please get in touch with James Mwanza – gm@kasanka.com. You can also find out more by visiting the Kasanka Trust’s website and their Facebook Page.
To support the Trust’s objection against the Lake Agro ESIA, they need to hear from you by 16th June 2021!
Support is building internationally for a new global treaty to tackle the plastic waste pollution crisis. Plastic bags now symbolise the world’s growing plastic waste problem but globally there are seven definitions on what a plastic bag actually is – complicating and confusing efforts to reduce their usage worldwide.
So far 115 nations have banned plastic bags, along with other plastic packaging. But countries have different definitions on what ‘illegal’ plastic actually is, which has created loopholes, enabling illegal plastic bags to be used in markets and by street vendors.
Tunisia banned bags that are less than 40 microns thick, whilst France banned bags less than 50 microns thick. Although Kenya had passed a complete plastic bag ban in 2017, it now struggles with illegal bags being smuggled in from Uganda and Somalia. Rwanda had also banned the use of these bags, but when it imported millions of mosquito nets from the United States, they arrived in plastic packaging whose chemical content was unknown, rendering them unrecyclable.
These examples, from a recent article in National Geographic, highlights the many different contradictory policies, inconsistencies, and lack of transparency that are found in the global plastics trade, making it even harder for countries to control their every growing accumulation of plastic waste.
“Not only do definitions differ from country to country, there also are no global rules for such practices as determining which plastic materials can be mixed together in one product; that creates a potential nightmare for recycling. Internationally accepted methods for how to measure plastic waste spilling into the environment don’t exist. Without uniform standards or specific data, the job of fixing it all becomes essentially impossible.”
Although the plastic pollution debate has been on the United Nations agenda since 2012, little has happened. But along with strong public pressure, there is now growing support for a new global treaty to address these inconsistencies and to find a way to tackle the growing issue of plastic waste. Over 100 nations have already expressed their support for a plastic treaty. Preliminary talks are underway and are optimistic that a policy could be approved within a timeframe that will make a difference. They hope that an agreement can be reached at the next meeting of the UN Environmental Assembly in Nairobi.
The problem of non-recyclable plastic
Currently every year, new plastic waste is created at a rate of 303 million tons (275 million metric tons). So far, 75% of all plastic that has ever been produced has been thrown away, becoming waste. This accumulation in our environment has led to a massive plastic pollution problems which is has a hazardous effect on our wildlife, the health of our oceans, and our human food chain.
Production of non-recyclable plastics are expected to triple by 2050. New research, highlighted by National Geographic, suggests that “the accumulation of plastic waste in the oceans is also expected to triple by 2040 to an average of 32 million tons (29 million metric tons) a year”.
