Proposed World Heritage Site Under Threat
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?
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.
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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!