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Chief Kambombo sees the return of wildlife

COMACO reported that for the first time in 13 years, the Kambombo Chiefdom has seen the return of elephants. After a long history of poaching, His Royal Highness, Chief Kambombo, and the people who live in his chiefdom, have taken significant steps in the conservation of their natural resources. A Community Conservation Area has been established with adopted conservation farming practices. Now elephants are regularly seen in various areas around the Chiefdom which borders Vwaza National Park, Malawi to the east, and the Luangwa River to the west.

“I enjoy having the wildlife back. I am working hard to encourage all my subjects to surrender their guns and snares as a measure to protect the animals that have returned after such a long time. There should be no more poaching here,” said Chief Kambombo.

It is not just elephants that are now being seen. Buffalo, kudu, bush buck and eland are now sharing the Chiefdom with the Kambombo community.

TPAZ takes shape

The Transformed Poachers Association of Zambia (TPAZ) has now identified its main objectives. These are the elimination of poaching and the reduction of deforestation activities in order to protect local wildlife and their habitats.

In order to do this, TPAZ Chairperson, Smoke Phiri, along with fellow Executive Leaders have established 15 chapters representing 13 chiefdoms. Registration of TPAZ is almost complete and they are developing these chapters into operational units for conservation.

TPAZ are also engaging former poachers with a range of activities so they become role models in their communities. These transformed poachers now have a higher calling – to bring wildlife back. By utilising the livelihood skills they have learnt. along with the improved markets that COMACO has provided, this is now becoming a reality.

Before our members would see wildlife only as meat. Now they see wildlife as something special in their lives. I am receiving calls more and more, as members call me to report wildlife sightings. I can hear the pride in their voices when they make these reports. For sure, we will help Zambia protect its wildlife,” said Chairperson Smoke Phiri.

Gliricidia Agroforestry Campaign Launched

This year COMACO has set a target of planting 60 million Gliricidia trees. This is part its Integrating Agriculture with Conservation program in which about 500 trees per quarter hectare of farmland will be planted by each farmer. Last year, COMACO farmers planted 45 million trees and they are excited by their next ambitious goal.

Their short documentary explains the multiple benefits of going ‘green’ with Gliricidia. It focuses on the benefits that experienced farmers have already learnt.

A Wonder Tree for the Small Scale Farmer

COMACO’s field teams are deploying 5 mobile video viewing units to different chiefdoms, showing the video and then taking part in discussions with chiefs and other local leaders on how to roll out their campaign. It is hoped to create a public movement towards sustainable, soil-improving approaches to farming like never seen before in Zambia!

We were in the dark without knowledge until you brought us this light. We are happy that we are being introduced to another level of trainings using video shows. This is more important because as farmers we believe in what we see. We have learnt a lot from these video shows how our friends are progressing when they farm with this tree and gain better yields and earn more profit,” explained Judith Kaoma, Principal Lead Farmer from Chalwemba Cooperative, Mpika.

Find out more

You can read all COMACO’s latest news in their August Newsletter and you can keep up to date by following them on their Facebook Page or check out their new website at www.itswild.org