The Community Resource Board – CRBs members through their national coordinating office have called for the immediate suspension of trophy hunting in all hunting blocks across the country until after government releases funds owed to respective communities through CRBs.
This follows the advertising of trophy hunting licenses for 2019 in selected game management areas by the department of national parks and wildlife, an arm of the ministry of tourism and arts. Trophy hunting in Zambia is allowed to keep the animal population in check but was designed to benefit erstwhile hunter gatherer communities who have been persuaded to abandon their historical and cultural way of life.
Zambia has since early 1980’s embraced Community Based Natural Resources Management – CBNRM system aimed at empowering and devolving management and user rights to rural communities who live side by side with the wildlife and Zambia’s wildlife Act brought to birth the CRBs across the country, established to participate and benefit from the management of wildlife resources.
The Zambia National Community Resource Board Association – ZNCRBA National coordinator Isaac Banda has told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interview that government has since 2012, not released funds to the boards which are meant to support employment of over 1,000 community scouts, community coordinators and book keepers across the country, resulting in increased rural poverty.
Banda is however saddened that since the transformation of Zambia Wildlife Authority – ZAWA to Department of National Parks and Wildlife – DNPW, the communities and their Royal Highnesses have been denied their income of over K4 million for the year 2018 from the concession fees. These funds would go a long way to improve rural and chiefdoms community incomes and livelihoods.
He said after engaging government through the Ministry of Tourism and Art in various consultative meetings, the board was assured on February 28th 2019 that funds will be released to the communities of which nothing has been done to date.
The board has since accused government and in particular the ministry of Tourism of not demonstrating any efforts or commitments towards the subject matter despite knowing how communities are suffering without their money.
“We are immediately calling for the suspension of the hunting activities in all hunting block of Zambia. We as signatories to the hunting concession agreement have withdrawn our support, making the existing agreements null and void. We will be working with our community scouts and community members to prevent any further hunting until the matter is resolved,” he said.
Zambia’s wildlife Act of 2015 recognizes the communities as co-managers of wildlife in Game Management Area – GMA. Trophy hunting has since become a major business for CRBs in the GMA in which they raise funds. Most community member have resulted to doing this kind of business as a way of uplifting their living standards.
However, the cries arising from the board of lack of funding for the communities for over 5 years only leave a question mark of either this kind of programme is considered by the Zambian government. One has to understand that there are communities that were living on hunting and these were engaged and agreed that they abandon their hunting activities and instead become community scouts and community animal keepers.
