Elephant Conservation in Zambezi
23,000 Elephants, Three Nations, One Landscape
In the Zambezi Heartland, one of Africa’s largest elephant populations roams a vast landscape that crosses national boundaries. When the elephants are in each of the countries (Mozambique, Zambia or Zimbabwe), they are protected by the respective authorities. But until recently, no one treated the landscape as a whole. No one had the big picture on why, when or where the elephants went. Until now.
Listening to the Elephants: A Landscape Approach
The elephants of the Zambezi Heartland have always known the land as a single entity. They are not aware of park boundaries, country borders or human settlements.
With funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, AWF has brought together all stakeholders in all three nations that comprise the Zambezi Heartland to develop a Heartland-wide management strategy for the elephants. The first step, of course, was research.
A Birds-Eye View of the Zambezi Heartland’s Elephants
From the air, you can’t see borders, flags or dotted lines. But you can definitely see elephants. That’s why aerial census is the ideal way to keep track of wildlife in a transboundary area like the Zambezi Heartland.
In September 2003, AWF achieved an historic landmark—the first coordinated, cross-country aerial survey ever completed in this landscape. The Zambezi Heartland Large Mammal Aerial Survey counted all large herbivores—from aardvark to zebra. But, it was the elephant count that was the most intriguing.
AWF discovered that the elephant population in the Zambezi Heartland is on the rise—with an 8 percent increase overall since 2002, and a dramatic 137 percent rise in Zambia. Some of the results are simply due to better census techniques—we are seeing more of the elephants than we did before. But it also shows that landscape-wide management techniques and poaching prevention efforts are working.
Best of all, landscape-level surveying has encouraged wide-scale cooperation among all three governments on a Regional Elephant Management Plan and through transboundary law enforcement.
Getting Buy-in for Elephant’s Sake
After initiating research efforts, including aerial surveys, AWF facilitated workshops that brought together participants from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Through these workshops, participants are collaborating on their strategy for managing the elephants they all share.
Today, AWF is seeking input from the Director Generals of all three wildlife authorities, moving toward ratification of the overall strategy and incorporating it into a regional strategy.
While an overall strategy hasn’t been ratified yet all three nations in the Zambezi Heartland are making huge strides in working collaboratively to protect the elephants. They are looking beyond boundaries and borders – just as the elephants do.
