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African Parks Successfully Repairs Relations with Communities, Promotes Sustainable Development through Environmental Initiatives
The reserve spans 80,000 hectares and is located a maximum of 8 kilometres from the lake shore road and 2 kilometres from allocated areas.
Malawi: African Parks is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Johannesburg. Peter Fearnhead, the CEO and co-founder of African Parks, leads the organization in its mission to manage protected areas across various countries through volunteer efforts, writes William Mwale.
One such protected area is the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve in Malawi, on which African Parks has been working in partnership with the Government of Malawi and local communities since 2003.
The reserve spans 80,000 hectares and is located a maximum of 8 kilometres from the lake shore road and 2 kilometres from allocated areas.
Despite initially facing conflicts with the population living near the reserve, African Parks has recently been able to resolve these issues.
One such conflict occurred on January 2, 2019, at around 6 p.m. in the village of Mphikapika in the Nkhotakota district.
The game rangers and villagers got into a violent fight, which ended with one game warden being killed and two villagers being murdered by three gamekeepers.
The conflict caused a rift between the reserve and the surrounding communities, leading to slow development, migration, and a high dropout rate in schools.
It also affected the local economy, as the market, which was usually crowded with customers in the evenings, especially workers from the reserve, saw a decline in business.
The skilled and unskilled workers from the various villages were also suspended from their jobs, leading to a shortage of foreign exchange in the country and problems with management.
In an effort to repair relations with the communities, African Parks introduced the Community Environmental Initiative and launched an awareness campaign called "Let's be Friends."
The organization also held a mass meeting with the District Commissioner of Nkhotakota to sensitize the community about environmental issues and to promote a sense of ownership to reduce instances of vandalism and poaching.
African Parks also initiated the "Village Trees Group," providing 1,000 seedlings to the community and benefiting 57% of the community through the program.
Overall, the efforts of African Parks have been successful in improving relations with the communities and promoting sustainable development in the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve.