Harare, (New Ziana) – The Government is working to revive the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE), due to its potential to help rural communities benefit from wildlife conservation, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Speaking in Parliament, Environment, Climate and Wildlife Minister Dr. Evelyn Ndlovu said CAMPFIRE was a good programme that enables communities to appreciate and benefit from the country’s wildlife resources.
“When it comes to CAMPFIRE, it is a very good programme because it helps people to appreciate our animals. After all, they benefit at the end of the day. We are working so that the CAMPFIRE programmes are revived. We are looking for funding so that we can revive the CAMPFIRE programmes throughout the country,” she said.
Ndlovu was responding to a question from Shamva South Member of Parliament, Joseph Mapiki, who queried the Government’s plans for ensuring that surrounding communities benefit from the CAMPFIRE initiative.
CAMPFIRE, established in the 1980s, was once lauded as a model for community-based natural resource management, allowing rural communities to benefit from wildlife through tourism and sustainable hunting revenues.
Ndlovu also responded to legislators’ concerns about increasing human-wildlife conflict, particularly involving elephants straying into farmlands in search of water.
“We are also working hard to try and make sure that we provide water, sources of water nearer to the parks or within the parks, so that elephants do not move out of the parks to look for water because the majority of those cases is that most of these elephants will be looking for water, not necessarily food.
“The provision of water for wildlife is critical for us. We are working closely with the Minister of Lands so that we can build more dams and pump more water for the wildlife, so that we prevent them from disturbing our farming activities,” she said.
New Ziana
