THE Inaugural World Wildlife Day celebrations scheduled for Hwange National Park come at an opportune time when the country is still recovering from the devastating loss of wildlife at the gigantic park last year.
The day which was resolved by the United Nations (UN) late last year, to be celebrated on March 3 is a time to reflect and celebrate the biodiversity on earth.
The day highlights the damage being done to ecosystems and endangered species around the world by the illegal wildlife trade.
The same day has also been celebrated as Africa Environment Day whose celebrations centre around raising awareness on environmental challenges and continued efforts to address and find solutions to them.
Africa Environment Day was set aside by the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) in 2002.
Every March 3 since then has been aimed at raising awareness of the pressing environmental challenges facing the continent among them loss of biological diversity, climate change and desertification.
In the past, the Africa Environment Day commemorations have honoured Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Wangari Maathai.
At the 18th African Union (AU) Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Prof Maathai was distinguished for her continued efforts in conserving the environment and the ‘Wangari Maathai Award for Outstanding Achievements in Environment and Biodiversity Conservation’ was created to boost the conservation of the environment.
The assembly also decided to rename the day after the environmentalist.
Prof Maathai’s love for trees was highlighted by her public weeping for the felling of a 50-metre tree in the Congo Forest, leading to international efforts to conserve the biggest forest cover on the continent.
The environmentalist died last September after a long battle with ovarian cancer.
Pundits contend more needs to be done to protect the environment especially in the form of machinery to fight the scourge of poaching.
Zimbabwe last year lost over 100 elephants and other species after a group of people, some who have since been arrested, poisoned waterholes with cyanide.
Despite having anti-poaching patrols, Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority was not fully capacitated to handle the disaster resulting in the formulation of the Wildlife Ecological Trust which has mobilised anti-poaching patrol vehicles courtesy of Mbada Diamonds, ZIMOCO, a satellite tracking system from Econet and many other parks-related services.
Speaking during the official launch of the World Wildlife Day, Deputy Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Engineer Simon Musanhu said human-wildlife conflicts are the main threats to the continued survival of many species.
“The conflicts have become more prevalent as humans, societal and environmental factors including increase in human populations, developmental growth, shrinking of natural habitats, increasing scarcity of resources and global climate change,” Musanhu said.
“As a result, communities in Zimbabwe living on the edges of protected areas such as Hwange National Park experience conflicts with wildlife on a daily basis. “The purpose of setting up the Human-wildlife Conflict Management Centre is to raise awareness on human wildlife conflicts not only for wildlife practitioners and researchers, but also for the general public.
“I therefore challenge Zimbabweans to learn to appreciate the social, economic, ecological, cultural and aesthetic values of the wild fauna.”
John Scanlon, Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora- CITES said World Wildlife Day was a time for reflection and celebration of the remarkable biodiversity on earth.
The CITES is an international agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
The CITES’ 177 member states every year deliberate on how their organisation can further enhance efforts to combat illegal trade in wildlife.
Protected and endangered species include several marine species such as sharks, turtles, and crocodiles. Others include rhinoceros, polar bears, timber species, ornamental and medicinal plants.
“Wildlife now has its own special day on the United Nations calendar,” Scanlon said.
“On March 3 we will for the first time ever celebrate World Wildlife Day.
“March 3 is the opportunity for all of us – no matter who we are or where we are – to celebrate the beauty and variety of the millions of plants and animals that we share our planet with.
“This illegal trade is now threatening the survival of some of our most charismatic species, as well as some plants and animals you may never have heard of.
“So as we are celebrating wildlife let’s do whatever we can – as citizens and as consumers — to bring this illegal trade to an end.
“Let’s work for a future where people and wildlife coexist in harmony.”
For Zimbabwe, key issues in previous meetings have been on rhinos and elephants.
The current high levels of rhino poaching continue to be of great global concern. Concerted efforts and new strategies by range, transit and consumer states to combat the illegal trade in rhinos and their products need to be adopted.
Regarding elephant poaching, the Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme indicates an increase in elephant poaching throughout Africa.
The MIKE programme has not found any correlation between the once-off ivory sales and the illegal killing of elephants.
The African elephant is endangered throughout Africa except in Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and Namibia where it is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
The potential impacts of CITES measures and decisions on the livelihoods of local communities living adjacent to wildlife areas and who are often on the frontline of using and managing wildlife will be discussed.
Holding the national commemorations at Hwange National Park will help conscientise the surrounding communities on how to protect their heritage and derive maximum value and benefits from the biodiversity around them.
Zimbabwe celebrated the day under the theme ‘Wildlife Protection for Community Empowerment and National Economic Development.’