With your help, we were able to make a significant contribution to funding Conservation South Luangwa's work in 2021. This support was particularly appreciated by our partners, as tourism in the South Luangwa has also come to a standstill due to COVID, resulting in the loss of valuable funding from this sector.
South Luangwa is currently home to about 3,000 elephants. Here, too, pressure on the population is steadily increasing due to the rapidly growing population and the expansion of human activities.
CSL has been in existence for 19 years and takes a multi-faceted approach to wildlife conservation in the Luangwa Valley. Working closely with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and Community Resource Boards (CRBs), effective measures, including foot patrols and aerial surveillance, for example, are used to combat wildlife crime.
The organization provides refresher training for law enforcement officers, equipment, uniforms, vehicles, fuel and maintenance, radio networks, IT and databases, infrastructure development, and wildlife crime detection and prosecution in support of operations throughout the ecosystem.
In 2007, a Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) team was established with community-based field staff. The goal is to use HWC mitigation techniques. These measures hold great potential to reduce wildlife damage and improve the relationship between local communities, wildlife managers, and conservation authorities. CSL employs 110 full-time staff, including 80 community-based rangers.
The organization currently supports about 80% of the fuel of the anti-poaching patrol operations in South Luangwa. Over the past 3 months, quite a few anti-poaching operations have been successfully conducted in the national park and surrounding wildlife management zones. In addition, several wild animals, including 1 elephant, were freed from wire snare traps by the CSL veterinarian and thus rescued.
Photocredit of all images: CSL
More about the work of CSL:
Zambia - CSL