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Zimbabwe battles to sustain jumbo boom
Shame Makoshori, Zimbabwe Independent
June 01, 2007

http://allafrica.com/stories/200706010411.html

THE thick early morning dust rising from the eastern horizons of the Hwange National Park appears like a sign of an imminent heavy storm.

Suddenly, the 4x4 game drive vehicle grinds to a halt and a group of tourists are ready to receive their first lecture from the tour guide.

"It is not a storm but a herd of buffaloes," the tour guide explains.

"There are many of them in this national park and they move in families of up to 200. But buffaloes can be very dangerous if they are alone. This is one of the many herds that move around the park," the explanation goes.

A sharp sound of a breaking branch captures the attention of the tourists.

"They are elephants. They enjoy feeding on small tree bark. All these dry bushes were crushed by the jumbos. There are about 45 000 elephants here. They are the major attraction and generate the bulk of revenue for hotels and lodges," he emphasises.

But like many people preoccupied by the commercial benefits of game ranching, he has paid little attention on the collateral destruction and environmental degradation the unsustainably high number of elephants have inflicted on the habitat, threatening their own survival.

The Hwange National Park measures about 14 500 square kilometers and can only accommodate 20 000 elephants.

Adult jumbos consume between 150 and 200 litres of water per day and feed for 20 hours a day.

There are clearly not enough pastures and water in the area.

The elephants have to compete for the shrinking pastures with other small animals.

The national elephant herd has grown to about 100 000 against a carrying capacity of 45 000.

It is estimated to be growing at the rate of 5% per annum.

About 700 kilometres in the eastern part of the country in the Gonarezhou National Park jumbo numbers swelled to about 25 000 in 2005 when the park could sustain 10 000.

Across the region, 300 kilometres in the north east, villagers in Omay Nyaminyami district are fighting battles with stray elephants that have been trampling on their maize fields because of serious pasture shortages in the nearby Tashinga National Park.

Stray elephants have killed more than 150 villagers in a decade in areas of highest concentration.

There are serious signs of siltation in Lake Kariba, which has threatened its aquatic life and the commercial benefits associated with fishing and tourism.

In most game parks there are high levels of siltation and gullies snake across the forests.

Officials battle to rehabilitate them to strike a balance between big animal numbers and the overburdened pastures.

"That is why we insist that we have to control the number of elephants in the area and sell the ivory in order to benefit these communities," said Environment and Tourism minister Francis Nhema.

But Nhema will have to do more than point out the economic benefits from the culling of elephants when he attends the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) meeting in the Netherlands which plans to impose a 20-year ban on global ivory trade.

Cites has already placed conditions on the trade in ivory arguing that it promotes poaching. Southern African countries, including Zimbabwe, will lobby against a proposed 20-year ban in ivory trade.

Nhema said he had since started lobbying other countries to block the proposed ban.

"Japan has officially informed us that they are supporting the ivory trade, and many more countries have indicated they will support us but I cannot reveal them now because they might decide not to vote," Nhema said.

"I have met 26 ambassadors accredited to Zimbabwe and they seem to understand our position," he said.

But Nhema will have to do more to convince Cites because even other African countries that stand to benefit from the ivory trade are backing the ban.

Mali and Kenya have said they will support the proposal to ban ivory trade for 20 years.

"Mali is a little kid in wildlife management and Kenya's once bustling elephant population was naturally controlled by perennial droughts that rocked east Africa in the mid-90s so they have nothing to worry about," said Nhema.

He said Kenya and other African countries backing the ban had very little knowledge of wildlife management and have a long way to go before they reach the levels of their southern African counterparts.

"We know that Kenya, Mali and the rest of countries backing the ban still have to learn more about elephant management from the countries that have succeeded to maintain large elephant populations."

There are serious shortages of water in the Hwange National Park for instance, and efforts by the Zimbabwe Water Authority to pump water in reservoirs in the park have been affected by the shortage of power, spares and foreign currency.

Government ecologists say instead of leaving the elephants and other animals to starve to death it is critical for southern African countries to be allowed to cull them and sell the ivory.

In worst cases animals have been reported to have starved to death due to the dwindling pastures and water shortages.

They are forced to migrate into neighbouring countries where they face serious threats of poaching.

Until 1989 the authority tried to maintain elephant densities to levels not exceeding a single elephant per square kilometre.

"But since the transfer of the population to Cities Appendix 11, which allows limited trade in ivory, pressure still remains for the authority to reduce the numbers," says an ecologist in the Parks and Wildlife Authority.

Kenya and Mali has won the support of many members of the Cites members and rich animal rights lobbyists.

They will base their argument on the fact that trade in ivory precipitates poaching.

The Global Environment Outlook of 2003 rated Zimbabwe and other African countries as having excelled in wildlife conservation with an increased number of protected areas established both at national and regional levels.

Analysts say if the countries lobbying for the continued trade in ivory win their argument, there is need for tight controls in Zimbabwe due to the rampant corrupt activities especially in the hunting sector and conservancies.

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