Kasanka National Park Needs Your Help
The Kasanka Trust has put out a call out this week for help to save the small, but totally unique and ecologically vital, Kasanka National Park.
“Please help us to take legal action and save Kasanka National Park”
Despite their efforts to raise awareness and to provide transparent evidence that allows authorities to act against illegal encroachment on protected areas, the government is continuing to ignore the illegal deforestation in Kafinda Game Management Area (GMA), which borders the park.
After more than two years of being repeatedly let down by the very authorities whose mandate it is to actively help protect Zambia’s National Parks and GMAs, the foreign owned Lake Group is continuing to destroy more native habitats with every day that passes. The Kasanka Trust has therefore been left with no choice but to take this matter to court. But they urgently need your help in raising funds to cover legal costs to make this possible.
The Threats to the Park
Kasanka National Park receives the highest level of protection in Zambia – because of its unique flora and fauna which is critical to the regions ecosystem. The habitat immediately surrounding the park, the Kafinda GMA, is the buffer zone, which was designated to project the park from commercial and illegal activities which, if they are allowed to go ahead, would destroy the park’s flora and fauna. This then has a knock on affect for the local communities, who depend on the park and its surrounding GMAs for their livelihoods.
However, in 2019, the Tanzanian based Lake Group, and its subsidiaries – Lake Agro Industries and Gulf Adventures – began illegal deforestation.
You can read more detailed information here
From July 2019, The Kasanka Trust has worked tirelessly to raise awareness and engage with government bodies to put a stop to this using the standard procedures. This has included communications with the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Lands, the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), Zambia Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA), Central Province Administration, Office of the President, Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU), Office of the Public Protector Zambia, Chitambo Local Council and, the District Commissioner’s Office at Chitambo. You can find a timeline of their actions taken by the Trust, government bodies and the Lake Group here
Even though our government departments have repeatedly instructed Lake Agro Industries and Gulf Adventures to stop their illegal agricultural and game ranching activities, asking them to move them to more appropriate designated land use sites, they have been ignored. In fact, in the past few months alone, almost 400 hectares of forest has been illegally cleared. This now brings the estimated total area of illegal deforestation to over 800 hectares for Lake Agro Industries, and 300 hectares for Gulf Adventures.
Sadly, there has been no action taken to enforce the Stop Orders or to implement the laws of Zambia. No repercussions have been made to the companies who are ignoring Zambia’s laws and who are destroying our natural heritage. Instead, ZEMA is now considering legitimising Lake Agro Industries commercial farm and granting them permission for its expansion to over 7,000 hectares.
This is in response to Lake Agro Industries’ retrospective and hugely inadequate Environmental & Social Impact Statement, which has been objected to by over 40 separate organisations and over 500 individuals. You can find the Statement on ZEMA’s website (dated 18 June 2021). The Trust has also sent a petition, which was signed by over 6,000 concerned individuals, to our new President to highlight the issues the park is now facing.
Despite all this, ZEMA has concluded that members of the Zambian public are not interested, and decided to hold a public hearing in an incredibly remote and difficult to access location, which prevented many stakeholders from even being able to attend. Surely their actions brings up many questions that you should now be asking?
How you can help
Kasanka National Park is in crisis. The Trust has run out of options to protect this precious corner of our vulnerable earth. They are now been forced to start legal proceedings to have these illegal activities reviewed by our court of law. While they are confident that this is the appropriate course of action to take, it comes at a high cost. Like many NGOs who are dependent on income from tourism and are trying to overcome the financial repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
They have been overwhelmed and are immensely grateful for all the support that they have received so far, both from within Zambia and from friends around the world. But, they are now reaching out once more to request that you please do all you can to support them and donate whatever you can, however small. Even if you are unable to donate, please read all the links to find out more, and let you friends, family and colleagues know that the future of Kasanka National Park is under threat.
If you are able to donate, then please click here for more information. You can also find out more about the Park, and the threats it is facing on the Kasanka Trust’s website and keep up to date by visiting their Facebook page