African Parks initiates measures to reduce human wildlife conflict in Liwonde National Park, Malawi
It has been a challenging start for the park management team at Liwonde National Park in Malawi since African Parks officially took over the management of the park on 1 August 2015. Seven people have tragically lost their lives and an eighth sustained serious injury over a period of just seven weeks. Liwonde National Park is currently unfenced.
African Parks is using an aircraft to chase elephants back into the park to reduce their feeding forays into neighbouring farmlands, and has implemented daily boat patrols to discourage the illegal entry into the park by fisherman who are at risk of being attacked by crocodiles.
The various incidents include:
- Two people killed outside the park by crop-raiding elephants
- A poacher killed inside the park by an elephant
- Two people killed outside the park by crocodiles
- Two poachers killed inside the park by crocodiles and a third lost his arm as a result of a crocodile attack.
The problem is a long-standing one and is one of the reasons that African Parks was invited to take over the management of the park by the Malawian Government.
"When people and wildlife share landscapes, the potential for conflict exists however the level of human-wildlife conflict in Liwonde is almost unprecedented,” said Peter Fearnhead, CEO African Parks.
"There are two primary causes of the current conflict: the absence of any perimeter fence to contain elephants and prevent them from raiding adjacent farms, and the illegal entry by numerous individuals on a daily basis wanting to harvest the parks resources. Solving this conflict is extremely urgent for both the communities living around Liwonde and the wildlife within the park.”
The most effective solution lies in fencing the entire 130 km perimeter of the park, an installation which will take 18 months to complete. Materials have already been ordered and on arrival in Malawi this giant operation will get underway. In the meantime, the Liwonde management team has already implemented dedicated elephant patrols to push elephants back into the park to prevent crop raiding and other conflict situations arising from elephants leaving the park.
Preventing poaching and other illegal activity inside the park is also a priority and the Liwonde team has implemented daily boat patrols to apprehend offenders. Entering the park and killing wildlife is both illegal and dangerous, placing the lives of poachers at risk as evidenced by four of the eight conflict incidents to date.
Working with local communities to implement solutions, and educating residents who live outside the park on ways to avoid and minimise human-wildlife conflict, is also a key focus for Liwonde’s community engagement program.
Since the beginning of August the poaching toll includes two elephants killed inside the park and the discovery of a rhino calf in a wire snare. The snare was successfully removed and the calf has made a full recovery.
"The long-term success of the park will be dependent on the support and goodwill of local people who are key partners and stakeholders in protecting this national heritage,” elaborated Fearnhead. "This will only be possible by reducing the current levels of conflict arising from wildlife. We are focusing on collaborating with these communities and we will do everything we can to resolve these urgent issues. Our condolences go to those who have tragically lost their loved ones.”