News: West Lunga Trust – newsletter June 2008

The West Lunga Trust and the Kesho Trust share a fundamental belief in the importance of local community support in the conservation of protected areas. We also share the idea that for local communities to be good stewards of the environment, they need to be able to utilize and sustainably benefit from those natural resources in ways that are compatible with conservation. In that way local people can enjoy better incomes and a higher standard of living and be able to support conservation more effectively. The West Lunga Trust is focusing its efforts on a remarkable area in the headwaters of the Zambezi River in the Northwestern Province of Zambia. Three protected areas are the conservation focus – the West Lunga National Park along with two adjacent Game Management Areas, the Chibwika and Ntambu.

The West Lunga Trust is a rural grassroots organization that has developed a strong local management regime for the area with the local chief as the patron. They have made great strides in this significant effort focusing initially on establishing community-based management structures and developing and training local community game scouts. They have begun the implementation of income generating activities such as establishing mills for grinding maize and are beginning to develop plans for eco-tourism activities in the area. They continue to be very active in monitoring and researching the response of the game populations and habitat of the area and are constantly vigilant to ensure poaching does not interfere with the recovery of this beautiful and biologically diverse area.

Priority activities for the coming year include: the development of community managed campsites; preparing plans for development of other tourism attractions such as at the Ntambu Caves; training in the local communities on topics of conservation farming, financial management and livestock management; and developing programs in environmental education in schools.

The Kesho Trust is proud of our partnership with the West Lunga Trust and encourages your support of their energetic efforts.

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