Staff Reporter
The Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), yesterday launched the first ever KAZA-wide coordinated aerial survey of elephants with a view to gather accurate and reliable data on the elephant population within the KAZA region.
The survey which will be conducted in Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia, is a clear demonstration of the countries concerted effort to implement the KAZA Treaty, which calls for regionally integrated approaches towards harmonizing policies, strategies, and practices for managing shared natural resources straddling the international borders of KAZA Partner States.
In a joint Statement of the KAZA TFCA partner States yesterday, Namibia’s Executive Director in the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Mr Teofilus Nghitila said that the survey is a fundamental component of the KAZA Strategic Planning Framework for the Conservation and Management of Elephants and is also one of the action points of the 2019 Kasane Elephant Summit and a directive by Heads of State involved.
Namibia is the current coordinating country for the KAZA TFCA.
“The elephant population of KAZA represents more than 50% of the remaining savanna elephants (Loxodonta Africana) found in Africa, a species recently listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as globally endangered. On a positive note, the IUCN Red List acknowledged that savanna elephants are stable or increasing in KAZA, unlike the rest of the continent, which is a clear testament of the positive outcomes of the management interventions within KAZA.
“The KAZA elephant population is the largest contiguous transboundary elephant population in the world, inhabiting KAZA’s diverse landscape which is home to an estimated population of two million people, and has a geographic scope of approximately 520 000km². The survey will start in July – August 2022 and run for 4 months, with an expected cost of nearly US $3 million. Results from the survey will contribute significantly towards the decisions on the sustainable management of KAZA’s elephant population,” he said.
Mr Nghitila revealed that the survey will be coordinated by the KAZA Secretariat in close collaboration with designated teams in each of the Partner States and will be based on the recently revised Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) aerial survey standards.
He thanked development partners who include, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and donor partners comprising of Paul G Allen Family Foundation, the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development through KfW, Dutch Postcode Lottery Dreamfund, USAID Combating Wildlife Crime in Namibia and the Kavango-Zambezi Area Project, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Environment and Protected Areas Authority (EPAA) of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Mr Nghitila revealed that partner States and Coordinating Ministries, reaffirm their commitment to the joint pursuit of science-led conservation practices driven by a firm belief that accurate and reliable data is the foundation to making informed strategic decisions about the long-term protection and management of Africa’s largest transboundary elephant population.
Zimbabwe had its last elephant count some seven years ago and this coordinated survey will reduce double counting and thus inform better decisions on management policies.
