Wildlife Monitoring
Long term monitoring is one of the unsung heroes of the conservation world. It is rarely prioritised and yet without long-term monitoring data, we have no way of accurately knowing what is happening to wildlife populations, or measuring the effects of conservation activities. We are currently working with two community conservation enterprises to design and over-see long-term wildlife monitoring:
Community Forests Programme
BioCarbon Partners
We are working with the BioCarbon Partners Community Forests Programme (CFP) in order to develop a robust biodiversity monitoring system, which supports the CFP’s objective of demonstrating enhanced biodiversity conservation.
The Community Forests Program is a USAID funded project jointly implemented by Forestry Department, ZAWA and BioCarbon Partners. The CFP aims to facilitate the implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) activities across a minimum of 700,000 hectares of forest within the Zambezi and Luangwa Valley ecosystems in Zambia. The Luangwa Valley is one of the 10 remaining strongholds for African Lion i.e. it supports a population that has a good chance of remaining viable in the mid-long term with proper management. However, wildlife resources have been managed with varying levels of success in the Luangwa Valley to date, and the CFP areas, are generally badly depleted of wildlife at the starting point.
The Work Plan for the Community Forests Program (CFP) clearly outlines biodiversity monitoring and enhanced biodiversity conservation as an objective.
Protection efforts through the CFP should help to reduce deforestation, habitat conversion, and snaring, and thus help to secure better connectivity for wildlife (including large carnivores) between the Lower Zambezi National Park, and the South and North Luangwa Parks. Monitoring the effectiveness of the CFP in achieving its main goal both spatially and temporally is important in guiding optimal management, and to ensure compliance with the Community, Climate and Biodiversity Standard (CCBS - www.climate-standards.org). Biodiversity is a key metric, and large carnivores are good indicators of biodiversity and the effectiveness of CFP practices because they depend on healthy wild herbivore populations, which in turn depend on a healthy habitat and protection from poaching. Supporting large carnivore populations is, therefore, a goal shared by BCP-CFP and Lion Landscapes. By partnering with the CFP to monitor their biodiversity, we are able to provide a crucial conservation management tool, and be positioned to add carnivore conservation activities of our own in a key Lion Landscape.
Munyamadzi
Luangwa Valley
Munyamadzi is a private wildlife reserve encompasses an area of 18,500 Ha (46,500 acres) in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. At the time of purchase by the current owners in 2008, wildlife populations were heavily depleted due to poaching, and the area was subject to above average fire pressures from local community members engaging in poaching and illegal honey harvesting. Munyamadzi shares similar wildlife conservation goals to the BioCarbon Partners Community Forests Program in that a key goal for their management is to maintain or increase wildlife numbers. As with BCP-CFP, an important part of this is providing local communities with significant benefits from wildlife.
Munyamadzi approached Lion landscapes to set up a robust wildlife monitoring program that can be used by management to measure the effects of their conservation practices, and inform management where improvements can be made. The conservation of leopard and lion are of primary importance to Munyamadzi, making them another good partner for Lion Landscapes.
Community Forests Programme
BioCarbon Partners
We are working with the BioCarbon Partners Community Forests Programme (CFP) in order to develop a robust biodiversity monitoring system, which supports the CFP’s objective of demonstrating enhanced biodiversity conservation.
The Community Forests Program is a USAID funded project jointly implemented by Forestry Department, ZAWA and BioCarbon Partners. The CFP aims to facilitate the implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) activities across a minimum of 700,000 hectares of forest within the Zambezi and Luangwa Valley ecosystems in Zambia. The Luangwa Valley is one of the 10 remaining strongholds for African Lion i.e. it supports a population that has a good chance of remaining viable in the mid-long term with proper management. However, wildlife resources have been managed with varying levels of success in the Luangwa Valley to date, and the CFP areas, are generally badly depleted of wildlife at the starting point.
The Work Plan for the Community Forests Program (CFP) clearly outlines biodiversity monitoring and enhanced biodiversity conservation as an objective.
Protection efforts through the CFP should help to reduce deforestation, habitat conversion, and snaring, and thus help to secure better connectivity for wildlife (including large carnivores) between the Lower Zambezi National Park, and the South and North Luangwa Parks. Monitoring the effectiveness of the CFP in achieving its main goal both spatially and temporally is important in guiding optimal management, and to ensure compliance with the Community, Climate and Biodiversity Standard (CCBS - www.climate-standards.org). Biodiversity is a key metric, and large carnivores are good indicators of biodiversity and the effectiveness of CFP practices because they depend on healthy wild herbivore populations, which in turn depend on a healthy habitat and protection from poaching. Supporting large carnivore populations is, therefore, a goal shared by BCP-CFP and Lion Landscapes. By partnering with the CFP to monitor their biodiversity, we are able to provide a crucial conservation management tool, and be positioned to add carnivore conservation activities of our own in a key Lion Landscape.
Munyamadzi
Luangwa Valley
Munyamadzi is a private wildlife reserve encompasses an area of 18,500 Ha (46,500 acres) in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. At the time of purchase by the current owners in 2008, wildlife populations were heavily depleted due to poaching, and the area was subject to above average fire pressures from local community members engaging in poaching and illegal honey harvesting. Munyamadzi shares similar wildlife conservation goals to the BioCarbon Partners Community Forests Program in that a key goal for their management is to maintain or increase wildlife numbers. As with BCP-CFP, an important part of this is providing local communities with significant benefits from wildlife.
Munyamadzi approached Lion landscapes to set up a robust wildlife monitoring program that can be used by management to measure the effects of their conservation practices, and inform management where improvements can be made. The conservation of leopard and lion are of primary importance to Munyamadzi, making them another good partner for Lion Landscapes.