Tendai Nzuma

Last update: 18 February 2013

Title: A comparative study on the population status of hunted ungulates (Loxodonta africana and Tragelaphus strepsiceros) in a CAMPFIRE District.

Summary

The Communal Areas Management Programme For Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) was established in the mid eighties by the government,

 in an effort to reduce poaching and change the perception of wildlife resources by local people living in wildlife rich areas and who regarded wildlife as pests (Getz, Fortman, Cumming, du Toit, Hilty, Martin, Murphree, Owen-Smith, Starfield and Westphal, 1999). The programme was meant to facilitate coexistence of man and wildlife with minimal conflict, to conserve animal biodiversity and also resolve the tragedy of the commons (Hardin, 1968) that was brought about by communal occupation of land in these areas.

As a result the Rural District Councils set annual hunting quotas with the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (PWMA) so as to harvest and control population growth (which might consequently lead to human-wildlife conflict) (Getz et al., 1999). Consequently, this promotes utilisation as the best form of conservation as was suggested by Martin and Taylor (1983). However, this form of conservation exerts a selection force on the wildlife population, especially the hunted species (elephant and kudu) (Getz, et al., 1999), as the hunters search for good quality trophies. Most researchers involved in community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) emphasised much on the socio-economic benefits of CAMPFIRE (Taylor, 1990; Makombe, 1994; Child, Ward and Tavengwa, 1999; Murombedzi, 1999) and the ecological effects it has on the wildlife and biodiversity are not yet satisfactorily investigated. If the programme is to be actually termed sustainable it is of paramount importance also to measure its ecological effects. The ecological sustainability of the programme can be measured through assessing the deviation of species under quota from the normal population distribution and the species richness per unit area.

Establishing the effects of CAMPFIRE on wildlife populations was important in order to assess the changes in population size and structure. These two components are able to show the general direction which growth of population will follow as a consequence of pressure exerted by CAMPFIRE. Changes in population size of these species indicate how the biodiversity of the area is being affected by the CAMPFIRE activities. The biodiversity estimates will help evaluate the Programme ecologically as it looks at species population status. Subsequently, results from the study will give us an indication of whether people are interested in CAMPFIRE because they ‘benefit from the project’ or because they ‘benefit from the biodiversity’ (Kiss, 1999) maintained by the project and are complying with the Zimbabwe’s environmental policy ‘to avoid irreversible environmental damage (Zimbabwe environmental policy document, 1999).

The general aim of the MPhil study was to understand the impact of CAMPFIRE on population dynamics and trophy quality of two savanna ungulates (Loxodonta africana and Tragelaphus strepsiceros), and comparing hunted and non-hunted populations. Then to use this knowledge to contribute to the development of their sustainable management. However, earlier studies on CAMPFIRE research have not adequately addressed the question of how, and to what degree and magnitude, CAMPFIRE activities affect population dynamics and trophy quality of ungulates. The specific questions addressed in this study emerging from this general question were:

  • What are the patterns of ungulate population dynamics (group size, age structure and sex ratios) in TSH and Hwange National Park (HNP)? And how do such patterns differ from hunted to non-hunted populations?
  • What interactions occur between people and wildlife, and what conflicts arise because of these interactions?
  • What has been the trend in trophy quality and its impact on conservation? 

Last update: 18 February 2013