HWANGE Rural District Council (HRDC) is engaging communities affected by human-wildlife conflict to teach them to co-exist with animals without losing property or lives.
Communities adjacent to national parks have perennial running battles with wild animals particularly elephants, lions, hyenas, wild dogs and others and have in some cases lost livestock, crops and some people have been killed.
HRDC convened a stakeholders’ meeting in Mvuthu area under a programme funded by the Kavango–Zambezi (Kaza) Transfrontier Conservation Area.
Communities from Chidobe, Chikandakubi, Kachechete and Matetsi wards which are human-wildlife conflict hotspots in Hwange West constituency attended the meeting.
Representatives from Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks), Forestry Commission, Agritex, and wildlife and environment conservation organisations such as Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust material, Connected Conservation, Amalima Loko, Igugu Trust, Greenline Africa and Intengwe among others were part of the meeting to train villagers on co-existence with animals and sustainable practices.
Besides the four wards, Mabale and Dete in the same district, and Gwayi, Lupane, Tsholotsho and Binga are also heavily affected by human-wildlife conflict and this has resulted in some people resorting to killing problem animals.
Local authorities, through partnerships with various organisations and ZimParks undertake different conservation programmes including Campfire initiatives, and lack of information is one of the challenges facing affected communities.
HRDC environment and natural resources officer Mr Nxolelani Ncube who convened the meeting said various strategies have been put in place to help mitigate conflict.
“This is an all-stakeholder meeting for all organisations operating in the hotspot wards of Hwange West where we are doing human wildlife conflict awareness and it is funded by Kaza through the Human Wildlife Conflict Mitigation programme which also specifically focuses on human-lion conflict,” said Mr Ncube.
Of late, lions have been causing havoc in Mabale and Chidobe areas where they have killed dozens of livestock.
Elephants have also been a menace in Victoria Falls City and traditionally they start invading fields and destroying crops between February and May.
“As a local authority we have programmes going on, to help communities mitigate conflict. We are targeting hotspot areas and we use chilly guns and bombs to scare away elephants and Boma pens to protect livestock from lions.
“Every humanitarian programme that is spearheaded in the district should have a human-wildlife conflict element to bring lasting solution to challenges and we will start implementation some of the interventions in a fortnight in selected pilot villages,” said Mr Ncube.
Collaring elephants and lions also helps monitor their movement and reduce conflict.
Villagers have challenges especially when they travel to neighbouring communities because of presence of wild animals which also destroy infrastructure and community nutritional gardens.
Mr Ncube said more than 300 families have been assisted with farming inputs and training on protecting crops and harvest in the past two years.
“This is a combination of interventions that will reduce conflict by driving away animals,” he said.
The chilly gun is used to shoot chilly bombs at elephants and because the jumbos feel discomfort when they smell chilly, they migrate from the area when they come into contact with it.
Villagers have called for sustainable interventions that can prevent wild animals from straying into communities.
They commended the local authority for the initiative and implored all community members to play a part and collaborate with conservation partners.
Kachechete ward Cllr Givemeagain Moyo said there is need for action to implement various intervention strategies.
His Matetsi counterpart Clr Vulindlela Gasela Mhlanga urged villagers to cooperate with rangers deployed to operate in their communities. – The Chronicle
