African Elephant Summit begins The venue for the Elephant Summit

Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
THE high level African Elephant Summit begins in Hwange this morning with 18 countries that have jumbos  expected to attend.

The four-day conference that  ends on Thursday, is taking place at Hwange Safari Lodge on the edge of Hwange National Park.

This is the first time such a conference is being held in the park as wildlife stakeholders show commitment to address issues of animal management and human-wildlife conflict among others.

Countries that have confirmed attendance and will present on status of elephants in their respective countries and future management plans are Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Rwanda, Mauritius, Lesotho, Madagascar, as well as Uganda, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Seychelles.

The summit is in preparation for the continent’s participation in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 19th Conference of Parties (COP 19) in November in Panama.

The meeting’s three major objectives are to come up with an African position regarding wildlife management, take stock of successes and failures and craft a way forward with regards to the ban on sale of ivory by CITES.

According to the programme, there will be discussions on CITES CoP19, elephant management and proposed common understanding as well as wildlife management and climate change nexus.

Private wildlife management players and stakeholders will present on elephant conservation in the range states
There will be a discussion on issues affecting communities and traditional leaders from areas adjacent to national parks will be present.

Also to be discussed is the role of communities in elephant management as well as land use change and protected area management systems, together with challenges and opportunities in the consumptive and non-consumptive sectors and local level interests in the context of global wildlife governance.

The official opening is scheduled for Thursday and the conference will end with drafting of a declaration to be named Hwange Declaration on Africa’s position on wildlife management.

Elephants at Hwange National Park

Private wildlife players around Hwange National Park are excited about the summit which they said will unlock value of wildlife for the benefit of conservation and communities.

Gwayi Valley Conservation Area chairman Mr Mark Russell said the conference is important towards realisation of the real value of wildlife.

“Basically as private players from the region where the highest population of elephants is in the country we see this as important for us to realise that elephants and other animals have a lot of value. Revenue should be ploughed back to conservation of other species and communities living in those areas. So as a country we strongly recommend that elephants be used to generate revenue,” he said.

President Mnangagwa

Zimbabwe’s headache is the ever growing elephant population which wildlife authorities have termed an ecological disaster in waiting.

The national elephant population stands at over 84 000 while Hwange National Park alone has more than 45 000 jumbos, three times its normal carrying capacity of 15 000.

The country is sitting on US$600 million worth of ivory stockpile that it is failing to sell because of CITES trade ban and President Mnangagwa recently announced that Zimbabwe  is prepared to exit the international body.

Cabinet last week said the conference will provide technical scientific research on African Elephant conservation and management. – @ncubeleon

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