CONTINUING ‘DEVELOPMENT’ THREATS TO THE VICTORIA FALLS WORLD HERITAGE SITE

I.P.A. Manning

Given that developers are in the process of establishing yet another tourism project in the Zambian portion of the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site (VF-WHS), with possible far-reaching impacts elsewhere, it is time to take stock.

This latest development, one already approved by the Zambian Wildlife Authority and the Forestry Department, but not yet the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ), the National Heritage Commission, or UNESCO - who oversee the VF-WHS, is to import captive-bred lion from neighbouring Zimbabwe, to rear them in the Dambwa Forest on the outskirts of Livingstone, walk them with tourists in the adjoining Mosi oa Tunya National Park - while allowing the lion to hunt prey species there, then when the lion are older and a threat to tourists, to release them into the Zambian bush. All that is now required is for the ECZ to approve the EIA carried out by the developers and for the decision not to be overturned by the Minister of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources. This project reminds me of another controversial project in the Mosi oa Tunya, one still ongoing.

In January 2007, ECZ rejected an appeal by Legacy Holdings to construct two hotels, an 18-hole golf course and 450 villas in the Mosi oa Tunya in Livingstone, and requested that it review its master plan by building just the two hotels (later ECZ approved phase one of the construction of two hotels, one of which would be a five star hotel with 280 rooms and 40 suites).
 The reason ECZ restricted the proposed development was because it was to be implemented in a National Park and because it considered that the 220 ha of development would have a major negative impact on the National Park and on the VF-WHS. Legacy later made application to ECZ for approval of the revised plan for the second phase, wishing to complete phase one by 2010 in time for the World Soccer Cup. The last I heard was that Minister Kaingu of the Ministry of Tourism, Environment & Natural Resources was in discussion with Legacy over future plans, but to date I am not aware of any conclusion, nor has any new EIA been considered. In addition, the statement made to me by the Chairman of the Zambia Wildlife Authority Board that he had placed a moratorium on all new developments in the Mosi oa Tunya – and presumably the Dambwa Forest, should have put paid to all new projects until such time as the Victoria Falls Development Plan - compiled by UNESCO and IUCN, was reassessed.

The Environmental issues apart, my concern is with the disregard for due process. In the case of Legacy, the acting Director-General of ZAWA at the time, Gershom Chilakusha, acted illegally (pun intended) in awarding Legacy 220 ha on a 75 year lease – Legacy’s foundation stone being laid before the EIA was approved. In the lion project’s case, ZAWA issued the lion project (ALERT) an import permit for 19 lion before the EIA was approved, and the Forestry Department entered into an agreement with them over the use of the Dambwa Forest, both agreements requiring an EIA as is required in accordance with
the Environmental Protection and Pollution Control Act (Cap 204 of the
Laws of Zambia), Regulation 3 (1) of the Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) Regulations, Statutory Instrument No. 28 of 1997.

But there is more that is awry. The recent Zambia Auditor-General's report on parastatals for 2005, reports as follows:
“ Irregular Issue of Title Deeds in Mosi-O-Tunya National Parks. 


29. According to the provisions of the Act, ZAWA allocates sites in National Parks and 
Wildlife /Bird sanctuaries to successful bidders. The successful bidders are awarded 
a Tourism Concession Agreement (TCA). The TCA is a commercial agreement that 
regulates the conduct of the operators. It confers the rights and obligations of the 
concessionaire and grantor (ZAWA). An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 
is prepared and approved by Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) before the 
operator would proceed with the development of operations. 

However, it was observed that two operators namely Waterfront lodge and 
Maramba River lodge had been issued with title deeds in the Mosi-O-Tunya 
National Park. The title deeds for Waterfront have since been cancelled and a 
Tourism Concession Agreement was signed on 8th February 2005 for a period of 
twenty five (25) years. As of August 2006, the title deed for Maramba River lodge 
had not been cancelled and the Authority was not receiving any money from the 
lodge, as there was no agreement though the lodge operated in the National Park. 

Furthermore, there was no evidence of an Environmental Impact Assessment 
having been done for the above-mentioned lodges by the ECZ.”

So, given the lack of due process and accountability, what are UNESCO doing about their area of responsibility? And why do public-funded NGOs such as the African Wildlife Foundation – the latter active in the Zambezi and Livingstone area, continue to remain silent? And is the World Bank, supposedly funding the re-habilitation of Mosi and Livingstone’s environs bringing to bear some conditionality. Ordinary Zambians need to be aware that, apart from the admirable ECZ with their thumb in the dyke and some resolute members of the Livingstone branch of the Wildlife, Environment and Conservation Society of Zambia, the mice are taking over the shop.

State confers with Legacy...

Zambia Daily Mail, 1st Oct 2007
By NANCY MWAPE

GOVERNMENT through the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources is having discussions with Legacy Holdings Zambia limited on the possibility the firm investing in Livingstone. Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources Minister, Micheal Kaingu, in an interview said discussions were taking place with the Legacy but declined to disclose details.
"When I say we are discussing, it means the matter is not yet conclusive. Giving you details on our discussions will be piecemeal, which is not good," he said.
Mr Kaingu said discussions with Legacy would take about two months and then Government would give a position on the matter.

In January this year, the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) rejected an appeal by Legacy Holdings to allow it construct two hotels with an 18-hole golf course and 450 villas in Livingstone.
Government restricted the proposed development in the Mosi-O-Munya national park because it was in a protected area, a pathway for elephants and was part of a world heritage site.
The ECZ asked Legacy to go back to the drawing board and review its master plan and only build two hotels without the villas and golf course.

Last month, Government approved phase one of the construction of the proposed two hotels one of which would be a five star hotel with 280 rooms and 40 suites.
But Legacy is awaiting Government approval for the revised plan for the second phase and wants to complete phase one by 2010 in time for the world cup.

Legacy gets green light

Sunday Mail
By CYNTHIA MWALE

LEGACY Holdings Zambia Limited says Government has approved phase one of the construction of one of the proposed two hotels, one of which will be five star with 280 rooms and 40 suites.

But Legacy said its was still awaiting for Government’s approval of the revised plan for second phase but wants to complete phase one by 2010 in time for the World Cup.

The re-submitted plans were supposed to be in conformity with the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) ruling which denied the hotels group permission to construct a golf course and villas but approved the two
hotels.

Jacob sets out his store...

Victoria falls threatened...

The National Heritage Conservation Commission says the weed which has invaded the Victoria Falls and Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park is posing a serious challenge to tourism. Commission Executive Director, Donald Chikumbi, said the impact of the weed includes loss of floral and faunal eco-diversity and social-economic effects on the local communities. Mr. Chikumbi also said power generation at the ZESCO plant has also being affected by the weed.
He said the sensitive rainforests, wilderness and natural character of the Victoria falls are being threatened by the invasion and slowly being altered. Mr. Chikumbi was speaking when he officially opened the eco-system management plan consultative meeting for the invading alien species in tourist capital, Livingstone. He also disclosed that the World Heritage Committee has urged the Zambian and Zimbabwean governments, to address the invasion by the weeds at the world heritage site.

Early notes...

A LEGACY THEY DON’T WANT
14 November, 06.

For anyone suffering from Afro-pessimism, one palliative is to visit the town of Livingstone, Zambia. Hear lies the warm heart of Africa where people of the rainbow meet in its myriad and quaint bars and restaurants, in its bush camps lying but a few minutes from the town limits, in its dusty crumbling streets, to exchange the pleasantries of human discourse; and to talk of Legacy.

The Legacy in question is a hotel group of the same name who have obtained from the Zambia Government a tourism concession of unprecedented size and duration in the Mosi oa Tunya National Park, part of the greater Victoria Falls World Heritage Site encompassing a 30 km radius of the Falls in Zimbabwe and Zambia. This area has, through the World Heritage Convention – supervised by UNESCO, achieved the highest protected status that man can afford the natural environment. Yet, on Monday of last week, UNESCO warned that due to the irresponsible development of the area, they might have to remove its WHS status, and in a very rare statement of defiance, that if the development of a massive 18 hole golf estate with two hotels and 500 houses were to be built in the Park, that they would mount a worldwide campaign to encourage tourists not to visit there.

Of course, there are permissions of one sort or another to be obtained for this sort of development, though Legacy clearly believed that this was a formality, organizing tZambia’s Veep to lay a foundation stone for the future development before the Livingstone Town Council and all the other appropriate authorities had approved the project. And now, supposedly the last hurdle, here was the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) hearing held on Saturday the 11th November on the very banks of the river where the bulldozers would soon get to work for three or four years to remove a prime bit of elephant habitat and replace it with a golfing estate blight, cutting the Park in twain.

So on Saturday, redolent of colonial times, there were gathered the ‘locals’ and the ‘notables’, the latter – the Legacy brass, cosseted in shade and soothed with mineral water, the former, sitting mostly in the sun, a drink but a distant memory. And somewhere behind us, lurked the local Chief, Mukuni, who had bussed in many of his subjects – suitably ‘juiced-up’, and who sent forward a Messenger to ask that we should kneel in respect to him, which most of the crowd did, including some of us seven paler people, members of the Wildlife Environment and Conservation Society of Zambia – the only paler part of the rainbow there, but genuflecting, bizarrely, in the direction of the notables (we never did see the chief). This be the same Chief, who although a trustee of the Mukuni Trust, established by the African Wildlife Foundation – a USA NGO, as part of the conservation of what is called the Kazangula Heartlands Conservation Area – which includes the Park, is but a fierce proponent of bulldozer conservation in order to deliver jobs – and presumably some dosh for the trust fund.

Absent of course from this hearing – or faceless in the crowd, were all the people you would expect to be there: the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) - which has sole responsibility for seeing that development in Zambia is sustainable, the Zambia Wildlife Authority – who had issued the lease in the first place and who manage the Park, the African Wildlife Foundation, the WWF, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) – who are UNESCO’s environmental consultants, the UNESCO itself, the World Bank – who are funding the resuscitation of the Park and the town in order to develop tourism and get away from the rather nasty mining industry which makes money for its developers but pollutes northern Zambia (yesterday, to our amazement, the ECZ stopped the giant Konkola copper mining company from mining until it stops polluting) – and which has pulled out some of its funding.

Well, the meeting kicked off, refereed by the rather meek and bewildered former head of WWF in Zambia. Legacy gave its spiel, talking of the socio-economic benefits, forgetting that we were all there to discuss the environmental concerns. But of course this presented some difficulty as the 360 page EIA tome, produced by Legacy itself, clearly states that the 220 ha site will have all its natural vegetation removed and that there will be ‘irreversible ecological damage’. Difficult to come back from an own goal, of course. The captain of the ‘notables’, Bart Dorrestein, Chairman of the Legacy Group in Joburg, did try and cancel the own-goal by saying that of course, the area would be carefully managed…etc. It was not clear how this could be achieved when a man-made environment is to be superimposed on a natural one where elephant roam.

The early part of the game had some structure: members of the Livingstone branch of the Society, a formidable matriarchal assemblage, gave their presentations: Margaret Whitehead, former town councilor defiantly assuring all and sundry that it was all about money, and that if they wanted jobs then Legacy could go and erect the golf estate outside of the Park, on land which was available. This went down rather well. Then a local grandmother whose forefathers had lived around the Falls for 400 years or so, dressed in a striking green dress, gave passionate voice to what the area had meant to her and her children. This was drowned out as the beer – crates of it being seen in one of the buses, hit the collective bussed-in brains. Then I came forward, a visitor from the north, and read out a letter written by the National Movement Against Corruption, an association whose members include the Anti-Corruption Commission and, indeed, the President of Zambia himself. This statement, a series of questions really, inquired of the rather obvious legal and procedural failings which had allowed the whole fiasco to have got this far. And to underline this, the chief executive of Citizens for Better Environment, Peter Sinkamba – who had come down from the Copperbelt, savaged the lack of due process.

The match now moved into a new phase. The Zambian Chairman of Legacy, Jacob Sikazwe – also moonlighting as Chairman of the Commission having responsibility for implementing newly arrived black empowerment legislation imported from South Africa, glared at the crowd and asked who present had Zambian business partners. As about everyone there were Zambians, including the pale spectrum, except for myself, and as I did indeed have Zambian partners, some 8,000 of them from another chiefdom, I stuck my hand up. This was ignored. Then people began to press forward, clamouring to be heard. Suddenly, they moved as one towards the river; something had gained their attention. A hippo! “Please take your seats!” commanded the ref. now clearly losing control of the game. Play resumed, but now with the whole crowd on the field.

On the way out, the game droning and chattering on, I joined others on there way down the footpath. They were united in their defiance of the proposed land grab, of their Park being appropriated by developers. Journalists scurried away to get their copies out on the first internet horse. Later, they reported that one of them had been threatened by Chief Mukuni’s supporters, that a docket had been opened at the police station…

VICTORIA FALLS WORLD HERITAGE BLIGHT
8 Nov. 06

The Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, continues to deteriorate as developers have their way with her.

But, in a region where conservation success stories and good news are in short supply, change may be a’coming. Recently, the award by the Zambian Government of a 220 ha ‘Tourism Concession Area’ long-lease to developers to establish a golf estate containing two hotels, an 18 hole golf course, marina and 450 chalets a little upstream of the Falls in the Mosi oa Tunya National Park, has united the people of Livingstone in a rainbow defense coalition, not only of the Falls, but of the whole 30 km radius of Zimbabwean and Zambian territory registered as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Conservationists, clearly, have had enough.

The developers in question, Legacy Holdings Zambia Limited, are a mélange of two companies: Legacy Hotels & Resorts International – based in Johannesburg, and an unknown Zambian company, Tourism Investments Limited, which had originally obtained a 2 ha concession, then, mirabile dictu, suddenly had it transformed into 220 ha – obviously with the encouragement of the Joburg connection and talk of an investment of $200 million, $8 million of it to be paid to the Zambian Government statutory body having responsibility for the Park, the Zambia Wildlife Authority – which just happens to be seriously in debt. So confident were Legacy Holdings – whose chairman also serves in a similar capacity the Tourism Council of Zambia, the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission, and is a member of the President’s International Business Advisory Council and an advisor to BP, that they even had the Vice-President Of Zambia lay the foundation stone for the development in the Park, a construction company contracted to ready the site by removing some trees and doing the necessary masonry work, despite the fact that no clearance had been given by the Town Council, the National Heritage & Conservation Commission – which has joint responsibility for the World Heritage Site, nor the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ). And what of consultations with the hoi polloi? None of that, until that is, the ECZ said that they should do so – though even with them the full SADC protocols governing strategic environmental assessment and the like have not been followed.

From the ‘laying of the stone’ milestone, alternative sites available have been put to Legacy – and refused, a management plan workshop for the Park held which then put out five more tourist sites for lease in the Park – with no sign of any environmental clearance, research assembled which showed that elephant make use of the site – in fact that it is an essential part of the elephant home range, that it would completely sever the body of the Park in twain, and that it would severely damage plans for the KAZA Transfrontier Conservation Area – one of the most ambitious elephant conservation plans ever thought up, something that would rival Serengeti for tourism.


Fighting all this is the Livingstone branch of the Wildlife Environment & Conservation Society of Zambia – referred to by Legacy Joburg disparagingly as ‘a bunch of Greenies’, though in fact a number of them support hunting and sustainable use, and a steadily growing army of the people of Livingstone: shanty town dweller, resident, tourism operator, civil service branch heads and, famously, Bicycle Charlie, a Zambian who with great initiative leads tourists on his own Njinga trail along the river. And what of UNESCO and their advisor, The World Conservation Union (IUCN), and the other international NGOs like WWF and the African Wildlife Foundation – the latter who have their own interests in the area through their Kazangula Heartlands Project, the creator of the Mukuni Trust, whose trustee, Chief Mukuni, in whose customary area Livingstone falls, is a staunch supporter of the developers. Well, like our native red-backed toads, they have been aestivating, doubtless awaiting the coming of the rains. Or like the World Bank, under its SEED programme, which was to make Livingstone and the Park a thriving, well-managed tourist hub, perhaps have upped their tents and gone elsewhere. But the rains have arrived, and fortunately, so has UNESCO.

On Monday 6 November, the UNESCO representatives came to Livingstone and for a UN agency not known, like all the others, for its stiffness of backbone, lambasted the governments of Zimbabwe and Zambia, threatening them with a world-wide campaign to discourage tourists from coming if the development was not stopped. But they also mentioned that the two countries had manifestly failed to implement agreed protocols for the management of the World Heritage Site as a whole.

For the people of Livingstone, this visit is like rain after drought and suffering; and the timing is immaculate, as a public meeting - called by the ECZ, is being held in Livingstone on Saturday 11 November to discuss the final Environmental Assessment (EIA). This 360 page bit of deforestation (http://www.necz.org.zm/ ) and greenhouse gas - produced by the beneficiaries, makes three telling points – all against themselves: i) that all the natural vegetation would be removed from the 220 ha site, ii) that the activities would cause ‘irreversible ecological destruction’, iii) that the socio-economic benefits outweighed any environmental impacts, and iv) that they did not consider any options other than to build at the site or not to build – the available alternative sites not being considered.

But behind this ruck and maul lurks The Law, the last defense of the citizen, custodian of our land and the Constitution. And the law hounds of Zambia are gathering, knowing that the country has as good a set of laws as any in the region, and that they are prepared to do whatever is necessary to ensure sense prevails. They point out that the Wildlife Act of 1998 requires that the alienation of land in a national park must have the boundaries altered by statute; that the proposed development stands counter to ZAWA’s legal mandate to care for a national park and its wildlife; that all the stakeholders have not been consulted and their agreement obtained – as required; that the decision to proceed is not transparent; that the EIA authors are the beneficiaries of the development and therefore are compromised.

And then there is Zambia’s international standing and its commitment to good governance, in expectation of which the G8 wrote off their debt at Gleneagles.

And, of course, let’s not forget Charlie.

VICTORIA FALLS LEGACY
The interview on 19 September by John Robbie - a talk-jock at Radio 702 Joburg, of David Gleason (gleasontorque.com, publisher, financial editor & journalist, former senior bwana at mining group, Anglo American in Zambia, former Chairman of the Wildlife and Environmental Society of Zambia, organizer of the funding for the Black Lechwe project...), had a bit of rugby about it: a hard pass from the former Greyhounds and Ireland scrummie smacking Gleason in the eye, being introduced by Robbo as “the former columnist with Business Day who was fired and now has his own independent column”, then being given a sound bite to express his concern at the proposed Legacy move of two hotels, a golf course and 300 or so riverside chalets into our tiny Mosi oa Tunya National Park in Livingstone, Zambia, the equivalent of Legacy Hotels moving their Sandton Michael Angelo hotel out to Joburg Zoo Lake under a bit of enrichment camouflage. This brief engagement with a carrier of environmental and business concern was followed, after an agonizing assault of advertising and an interesting interview of an attorney on credit issues, by a soft, slightly forward pass from Robbo right on the tryline to good old Bart Dorrenstein ranging up alongside, Legacy’s Big Man ‘imself, “Good to see you again, Bart Dorrenstein, now what is this all about....?” Bart replies, kindly, reasonable, bending doubtless forward in unctuous capitalist sincerity – “No, no...we have had no dealings with politicians, only the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA). Of course, I did meet the Zambian President, a fine gentleman, but only in a group. And of course we are submitting an environmental impact assessment, and so on...” And so on. And no more Gleason...did he have to hang on to the phone for an hour while all this was going on? Finally, Robbo, in a repeat of the time he and old Nasty Booter and good old Dan Retief were gathered on the DSTV rugger programme, Boots and All, to give whatfor to the Griqua Emperor-President of the South African Rugby Union, the formidable nut-squeezer of Griqua scrums, Brian van Rooyen, but then deciding through a pheromone infusion process that driver ants use to communicate, that discretion and a bit of sycophancy was collectively in order, sums up by saying, “Well, Bart, good luck with the project!” Nice.

Not much here, really. Except that on Saturday 29 July 2006, - before the go-ahead of the Livingstone Town Council, the National Heritage Conservation Commission, the Environmental Council of Zambia and the people of Livingstone and other operators – let alone UNESCO, who are in charge of World Heritage Sites, had been obtained, Vice-President Lupando Mwape of Zambia laid the foundation stone of the Legacy Holdings, Mosi-oa-Tunya Hotel and Golf Estate development in the World Heritage Site in Livingstone, assuring the gathered notables (Chairman of Legacy Holdings Zambia , J.J. Sikazwe, who ushered in the Citizens Economic Empowerment Act into Zambia; Renatus Mushinge, the Legacy Holdings Development Director and brother of the Financial Director of the Zambia Wildlife Authority, Tom Mushinge – who issued the TCA (Tourism Concession Agreement) to Legacy; and Bart and other Legacy Joburg Directors, of course) that “Those who have been hero-worshipped somewhere else based on misdirected superiority complex will not be worshipped in Livingstone” referring to paleface tourist operator investors who because of a precipitous fall in the dollar were having to reduce staff, now appearing so infinitesimally small and mean-spirited in the glare of the Legacy empowerment boast that they would provide permanent employment for 1000 Zambians. Now who put the Veep up to this one?

And the Environmental Council of Zambia, as of yesterday, had still not received the EIA from Legacy, promised them at the end of August, and there is no news from our Livingstone team of the long awaited scoping exercise which requires that civil society be consulted. And the recent five-day Mosi oa Tunya National Park workshop held by ZAWA was abysmal by all reports, the organizers announcing in the middle of the workshop that they were putting out more lodge sites for tender in the Park and could not wait for the finalization of a park management plan in order to do so.

Now the thing is that we all want Legacy to come to Livingstone, but not in the Park, not close to Livingstone so that their projected 300 000 visitors a year will bring all traffic to a standstill on the one road available, lock-out for ever the people from an area used by them for a few centuries and block for all time the main elephant migration route. There is an alternative site available. Why don’t Legacy do us all a favour and pack their wagons and trek over there?

Irregular Issue of Title Deeds in Mosi-O-Tunya National Parks

The recent Auditor-General's report on parastatals for 2005 is required reading where the Zambia Wildlife Authority is concerned. Government should now require that the Anti-Corruption Commission investigates fully. I quote part of the A-G report:

Irregular Issue of Title Deeds in Mosi-O-Tunya National Parks

29. According to the provisions of the Act, ZAWA allocates sites in National Parks and
Wildlife /Bird sanctuaries to successful bidders. The successful bidders are awarded
a Tourism Concession Agreement (TCA). The TCA is a commercial agreement that
regulates the conduct of the operators. It confers the rights and obligations of the
concessionaire and grantor (ZAWA). An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
is prepared and approved by Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) before the
operator would proceed with the development of operations.

However, it was observed that two operators namely Waterfront lodge and
Maramba River lodge had been issued with title deeds in the Mosi-O-Tunya
National Park. The title deeds for Waterfront have since been cancelled and a
Tourism Concession Agreement was signed on 8th February 2005 for a period of
twenty five (25) years. As of August 2006, the title deed for Maramba River lodge
had not been cancelled and the Authority was not receiving any money from the
lodge, as there was no agreement though the lodge operated in the National Park.

Furthermore, there was no evidence of an Environmental Impact Assessment
having been done for the above-mentioned lodges by the ECZ.

Presidential plaque removed....

The plaque commemorating the laying of the foundation stone for the Legacy golfing estate by the President of Zambia has been removed...

UNESCO and the muddied waters...

Apparently this meeting was called over the weekend by UNESCO, who asked NHCC for a list of stakeholders. The list was very incomplete, as ECZ, Livingstone Museum, WECSZ and various others were not on the list. Neither the National Director of NHCC, nor the Regional one attended the meeting, and it mostly consisted of Chiefs, Headmen and other government officials who have not been following what is going on concerning the WHS. This is all hearsay, I do not have an exact list of who did attend. I tried to find out what was actually resolved but the person I asked did not know. Since then, for most of this week, UNESCO have apparently been having meetings with Zimbabwe etc
A report from Livingstone today...

The Nature Conservancy Teams with African Wildlife Foundation to Conserve Africa's Zambezi River

Press Release...


Arlington, VA (PRWeb) March 22, 2007 -- The Nature Conservancy and The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) today announced a partnership to protect and manage the Zambezi River for people and nature alike. The collaboration includes the addition of the Zambezi to the Conservancy's Great Rivers Partnership. The Zambezi winds 1,500 miles through eight countries before emptying into the Indian Ocean and is the lifeblood for much of southern Africa. "More than 42 million people and large and diverse populations of wildlife depend on the Zambezi River for survival," said Steve McCormick, President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. "Protecting rivers like the Zambezi is essential to achieving our mission to preserve life on Earth."

Cross-site exchanges and lessons learned from other great rivers should come to bear and contribute to the formulation of an appropriate integrated water resources management strategy that fosters sustainable freshwater conservation. With a generous $12 million grant through Caterpillar Inc.'s foundation, The Nature Conservancy created the Great Rivers Partnership in 2005 to help guide protection of the world's vanishing freshwater supply and transform the way large river systems are preserved and protected. In addition to the Zambezi, the Conservancy's Great Rivers Partnership is working to advance conservation of the Yangtze River in China, the Paraguay and Paraná rivers in Brazil and the Mississippi River in the United States.

The Zambezi is the fourth largest river in Africa. More than 30 million people within the Zambezi River basin depend on agriculture for their livelihood. The Zambezi River system provides people with water for crops as well as fish to eat. One third of the basin's population relies on the river's fish for food. The Zambezi basin supports more than 250 species of fish that are vital to the ecosystem and serve as a key food source, such as the tigerfish and the great Vundu catfish. Hundreds of bird species reside within the basin -- including the snake eagle, African fish eagle and the Marabu stork. Plus, the Zambezi and its tributaries provide habitat for the world's largest herd of elephants, lions, zebras, hippos, African cape buffalo, monkeys, baboons, crocodiles, monitor lizards and black rhinos. But rapid human settlement, incompatible agricultural practices, water pollution, alteration of natural flooding and flow patterns, poaching, unmanaged fire, unsustainable fishing, deforestation, invasive vegetation and the introduction of non-native fish from aquaculture operations, have all taken a toll on the Zambezi's ecological health. "Despite all these threats, the Zambezi remains one of the world's great rivers and it can continue to provide for both people and for nature if we apply the lessons we've learned on other river systems," said Michael Reuter, director of the Conservancy's Great Rivers Partnership. "Rivers must maintain their natural ability to provide clean water, convey floodwaters and vary their flow seasonally so that fish and other aquatic species can migrate. Healthy rivers support all life."

"Maintaining the Zambezi River's role as a functional lifeline from an economic and ecological standpoint is the overall vision for this initiative," said Jimmiel Mandima, Director for AWF's Zambezi Heartland. "Cross-site exchanges and lessons learned from other great rivers should come to bear and contribute to the formulation of an appropriate integrated water resources management strategy that fosters sustainable freshwater conservation."

The African Wildlife Foundation is the only international conservation organization focused exclusively on the African continent. The Conservancy provides technical and financial resources to AWF to help support its African Heartlands Program. Heartlands are vast landscapes in which the African Wildlife Foundation works with stakeholders to balance the needs of people and wildlife. Two of the AWF's eight Heartlands -- the Kazungula Heartland and the Zambezi Heartland -- are located along the Zambezi.

The Conservancy's Great Rivers Partnership and the African Wildlife Foundation will collaborate in supporting the Zambezi River Authority and other stakeholders interested in developing a comprehensive basin-wide assessment of the Zambezi River system. A conservation vision and action plan for the Zambezi River basin that identifies critical ecosystems as well as current and emerging threats to their viability is also planned.

Constituencies will be engaged in developing priority conservation actions, measures and monitoring strategies. In addition, the Conservancy and the AWF will work with communities and the government in Mozambique's Cahora Bassa Reservoir in the Zambezi River Valley to develop a pilot sustainable commercial fishery. The goal of this initiative is to simultaneously improve human livelihoods and protect the long-term viability of the fishery through improved monitoring and resource management. Efforts such as the fishery will support the African Wildlife Foundation and The Nature Conservancy's objective to promote conservation and human well-being in Africa.

"This collaboration will unite the financial, scientific and on-the-ground conservation strengths of The Nature Conservancy with the position and expertise that The African Wildlife Foundation holds in the region," said David Banks, director of the Conservancy's newly-created Africa Program. "Scientists and conservation leaders from both organizations also will be able to exchange information and ideas to help conserve the Zambezi."

In Zambia, battle over future of Victoria Falls

Development nearby offers needed employment, but could also threaten local wildlife.
By Joseph J. Schatz | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor


LIVINGSTONE, ZAMBIA - For Nalumino Ifunga, a security guard at a quiet campsite and lodge just down the road from Victoria Falls, afternoons often consist of watching vervet monkeys frolic in the trees.

But Mr. Ifunga wonders if those monkeys – and the elephants, hippos, and giraffes that share the woods with them – will stick around after South African hotel developer Legacy Group Holdings opens a controversial new resort next door in Mosi Oa Tuyna National Park, which borders the Falls, Zambia's biggest tourist attraction.

Legacy's plan, which originally included two five-star hotels, a golf course, and 450 villas just a few miles from the falls, sparked a bitter battle late last year between environmentalists, developers, and the Zambian government. It has also posed a dilemma for some local residents, like Ifunga.

"[The hotels] create employment for local people, but on the other hand ... these animals you see here, they will be driven away from their homes," Ifunga noted.

Environmental advocates in this peaceful but stubbornly poor southern African nation say they have staved off the worst after a fierce campaign that persuaded the government to force Legacy to drop the golf course and the villas, while still allowing the group to build the two hotels. But the debate highlighted the uneasy balance being forged in Zambia between the sometimes competing demands of conservation, tourism, poverty reduction, and job creation.

Jobs vs. the environment

"There aren't so many industries offering job opportunities to the people," says Danny Mwango, a senior inspector for environmental-impact assessment at the Environmental Council of Zambia. "This was one big project that was going to offer 1,000 employment opportunities to the people. At the same time, the government is also thinking of bringing development to Zambia and reducing poverty. And then, we're weighing this against environmental and social considerations."

Mosi Oa Tunya park (which means "the smoke that thunders," the ancient local name for the falls) covers 25 square miles along the Zambezi River's final approach to the falls, where it plummets more than 300 feet. The surrounding town of Livingstone – named for David Livingstone, the 19th-century British missionary and explorer who was the first white man to lay eyes on the Falls – has sought to cultivate an image as the "adventure capital of southern Africa," with bungee jumping, white-water rafting, helicopter rides, and a host of other activities for thrill-seekers available at $100 a pop. The town is currently enjoying a boom, partly at the expense of neighboring Zimbabwe, which shares the Falls with Zambia and has lost tourists to Livingstone amid the economic decline and political conflict surrounding President Robert Mugabe's authoritarian rule.

But that won't last forever, says Rennie Mushinge, the development director at Legacy's Zambia branch. Mr. Mushinge argues that having a major new resort is vital to the long-term future of Livingstone as a tourist destination, noting that the town still can't equal the hotel capacity of the Zimbabwean gateway town of Victoria Falls, right across the river.

"Victoria Falls is the biggest asset we have to get tourists into Zambia." says Rennie Mushinge, the development director at Legacy's Zambia branch. "If we don't have adequate bed capacity in Livingstone, how are we going to grow tourism in Zambia?"

Last year, the Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) opened up a small slice of the park for tourism development, part of the Zambian government's effort to make tourism a key driver of economic growth. Legacy moved in and negotiated with the Zambian government to secure an even bigger chunk of land.

When environmentalists and civil society groups got wind of the proposed deal, they were incensed, in part because the proposal would threaten an important habitat for the hundreds of elephants that cross the river from Zimbabwe into Zambia each year. They also complained that the extra land had been granted in a secretive fashion, raising questions about the transparency of the environmental review process in Zambia, where the government continues to struggle with bureaucratic corruption, especially in the allocation of land.

Lure of investment

But the promise of jobs and cash from foreign investors is a powerful motivator for citizens and politicians in Zambia, where only about 20 percent of the workforce is formally employed.

Legacy won support from some local residents – and the local chief – who argued that job creation must accompany conservation. The project would "create space for us to find work. It's a very good idea," Victor Mweela, a young taxi driver, says as he waits for customers outside a recently built Livingstone shopping complex catering to affluent tourists. "Maybe we'll find jobs. I don't like to be a taxi driver."

But conservation and civil-society groups called this a dangerously short-term outlook, given Zambia's reliance on its national parks for revenue. After raising their concerns at a contentious public hearing last fall, they used Internet blogs to keep supporters updated and to spread the word internationally.

It worked.

Safari tour operators in Britain threatened to boycott Legacy. The US Environmental Protection Agency wrote to the Zambian government to voice its concerns. The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) let it be known that the project would put in jeopardy the World Heritage site status that the Falls and the park currently enjoy.

In December, the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) handed down a compromise decision. Noting that the Legacy proposal would have "far reaching environmental consequences," the ECZ said that the golf course and villas would have to go. Legacy could keep its two hotels, but would be prohibited from putting up animal fencing or building their hotels higher than the treetops.

"It was a huge victory," says Mike Musgrave, a South African-born businessman and president of the Livingstone chapter of the Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia. "It's the biggest environmental campaign ever run in Zambia."

Legacy lost an appeal to the government, and its investment into Livingstone will now drop to $50 million from a planned $260 million, Mr. Mushinge says. "Thanks to our environmental guys," he says with a laugh.

Legacy may buy up private land to expand their site. And rampant development continues to threaten the Falls, international observers say.

Still, Mr. Musgrave says he is encouraged that at least in this instance, policy-makers took the long view and concluded that development – in the name of tourism – might actually drive away tourists.

"We need to keep the Falls in the way that Livingstone saw them," Musgrave says. "That's what tourists come to see."

UNESCO SENDS UNCLEAR MESSAGE..

Ian Sikazwe (any relation to Jacob?) appears to be pleased about a 'compromise' with Legacy. No such compromise exists. The Environmental Council said that Legacy could proceed with the building of the hotels but nothing else. The Chairman of the ZAWA Board told myself and another member of the Natural Resources Consultative Forum that he had instructed the DG of ZAWA to place a moratorium on ALL new developments in the Mosi oa Tunya NP. As for the Southern Province Permanent Secretary, Darius Hakayobe, saying that "Government has already sanctioned this" (Legacy, presumably), and then being reported as saying that, people who were against Legacy Holdings were against government, is an insult to every person living in Zambia - including those in Government.

The Environmental Council is the statutory body empowered to see that there is a balance between ecology and economic development. We support their work; and decry the xenophobia of those who try to make out that we are against Government, against Zambia. It is this kind of vacant outburst which unsettles those who invest here: including myself and scores of Zambians who are entering into smart partnerships for Zambia's economic development. The Victoria Falls Heritage Site, which includes Mosi, is not for sale. UNESCO needs to make this clear, and the PS for Southern Province should support it.

Smoke and broken mirrors in Victoria Falls...

President Mwanawasa of Zambia’s economic advisor, Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane is reported as saying (The Post, Monday March 12, 2007) that development could not be achieved without interference with the environment. This rather general comment on the activities of homo kleptomanias was to prepare us for the visit of a Malaysian delegation who were whipped down to Livingstone to view three 5 hectare sites set aside in the Mosi oa Tunya NP for hotel development.

Mitigation. What be that? Perhaps taking something unpalatable and covering it with something equally unpalatable. Whatever happened to the instructions given by the Chairman of the Zambia Wildlife Authority to his Director General that a moratorium be placed on all proposed developments (including Legacy) for the Mosi oa Tunya Park until such time as the IUCN report was submitted and the necessary meeting held to decide on the future management of the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site as a whole? Did someone tell him to back off and allow for some good old mitigation?

Margaret Whitehead's latest map of Mosi reflecting its new boundaries...

"I have gone through the Sttutory Instrument and the former definition of Mosi oa Tunya NP.

The changes have nothing to do with Legacy (fortunately!) .

They are :
1. Cut off the western end of the park to allow for the land allocated to Imusho Village which was moved out of the park.
2. Move the boundary from the Songwe River to the road, where Songwe village has spread across the river into the park - apparently the villagers thought the boundary was the road and ZAWA has done nothing for years about checking their boundaries.
3. Add a little triangle of Chief Mukuni's land to compensate for the Songwe land. Clare says they were told it was going to be a bigger area, but the chief has a lodge on the other part. Anyway it doesn't look much use.

There are still some anomalies:
1. The fence for the game park was extended years ago to include an area north of the original fenced area (I have labelled it game park extension.). This is still included in the electric fence but has not been gazetted in the national park. There are now houses built right up to the fence - mostly illegal. People keep breaking the fence and going in for firewood.
2. Near the Visitana Gate on the west, the electric fence cuts a corner which is still not legally in the park. The gate was necessary to allow passage up Mbile Drive which is outside the fence but inside the park. It is also the access for Sinde farms.
3. The part of Songwe Village which has been removed from the park is presumably still in the World Heritage site. The added triangle is not.
4. There is a large farm overlapping into the park, on which United Air Charters is situated. The previous draft management plan said this was to be repossessed but nothing has been done.
5. Chrismar Lodge overlaps into the park. There are various other anomalies because the council planners claim they do not know where the park boundaries are!

The description in the SI has some errors.
1. There is no "Livingstone City Boundary". What is meant is the former Livingstone Municipal boundary. Since Livingstone became a district with a much larger area, this boundary is meaningless.
2. After Beacon BK3, the boundary runs at about 238 degrees, not 183. If you draw it as described you end up in the wrong place altogether.

Various maps I have (including the recent ZAWA ones) have variations on the boundaries, especially the area north and west of the Maramba. I suspect this is just careless drawing. I have tried to follow the official descriptions.

I hope we can have some proper planning of the park."

Margaret Whitehead
Livingstone Branch of the Wildlife & Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia

Livingstone pressure group challenges Legacy Holdings...

The Chairman of the Zambia Wildlife Authority, Walusiku Lisulo, has instructed the Authority to impose a moratorium on all new developments in the Mosi oa Tunya National Park until such time as the IUCN Development Assessment report is re-visited; this includes the revised Legacy development of two single story hotels; and as that is a new development - resulting from the directives of the ECZ's decision on the golfing estate EIA, Legacy must submit a new EIA, accompanied by a full round of consultations.

Legacy wanting to go forward

The Chairman of the ZAWA Board has placed a moratorium on all developments in Mosi oa Tunya NP...

NHCC meets Livingstone stakeholders but not those in Lusaka...

It is interesting that the NHCC executive director, Donald Chikumbi, while attending a meeting of stakeholders in Livingstone (whom?), was unable to send a representative to a stakehoders meeting in Lusaka.

ZAWA and NHCC decline to meet...

At a recent meeting of the Natural Resources Consultative Forum steering committee the matter of Governments unwillingness to follow the advice of the NRCF to ban all elephant sport hunting was discussed; it was also agreed that the conservation of the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site required NRCF’s urgent attention, and that all stakeholders should address its future. It was decided to hold a preliminary meeting with the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), the National Heritage Conservation Commission (NHCC), the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ), members of the Livingstone branch of the Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Society (WECSZ) and other individuals willing to take part in a preliminary discussion. ZAWA and NHCC declined to attend and the Chairman of the NRCF therefore cancelled the meeting.

A private luncheon was therefore held by members of the core team - some of whom had travelled jup from Livingstone, who had fought against the alienation of part of the Mosi oa Tunya National Park and the development thereon of an 18 hole golf estate, a decision being made to pursue contacts and the support of the World Monuments Fund and the World Heritage Fund - as well as UNESCO and IUCN.

The first meeting of the Natural Resources Consultative Forum took place in 2005. The NRCF was supported by the Zambia Government/Danida Natural Resource Management (NRM) Component. With Phase 1 of the NRCF now completed – and the original second phase aborted; what is required is for a revised Phase 2 project to commence i.e. the attainment of a fully operational state having the main development objective within the NRM component of improving rural livelihoods and biodiversity conservation, but being guided by the National Policy on Environment. This is now taking place, further financial support from Danida being shortly forthcoming.

NRCF was envisaged as a neutral platform for stakeholder participation in the management of natural resources, particularly policy formulation. The NRCF is member driven, and promotes the transfer of technical information within the sector. The deliveries of the NRCF are advisory notes encapsulating stakeholder issues and concerns, addressed to the MTENR Permanent Secretary. Issues discussed by the NRCF, many of them of a cross-cutting nature, includes all the relevant agencies and sectors that have a bearing on the functioning of MTENR and its core responsibilities to both Government, the legislature and the nation as a whole. The development objective of NRCF was to provide national policy goals – within a supporting technical framework, on the sustainable use and conservation of Zambia’s natural resources, with the immediate objective being to provide an organization able to deliver such an objective. However the production of the National Policy on Environment, the final draft of which was produced in May 2005, has already provided the national policy goals – albeit, correctly, of a more holistic nature.

UNESCO at Vilnius July 2006

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL
ORGANIZATION
CONVENTION CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF THE WORLD
CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE
WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE
Thirtieth Session
Vilnius, Lithuania
8-16 July 2006

Strongly encourages the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies in
collaboration with States Parties and other relevant partners to develop proposals for the
implementation of pilot projects at specific World Heritage properties especially in
developing countries, with a balance between natural and cultural properties as well as
appropriate regional proposals, with the objective of developing best practices for
implementing this Strategy including preventive actions, corrective actions and sharing
knowledge, and recommends to the international donor community to support the
implementation of such pilot projects;

Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls (Zambia / Zimbabwe) (N 509)
Decision 30 COM 7B.8
The World Heritage Committee,
Having examined Document WHC-06/30.COM/7B, 1.
2. Notes with concern that the recommendations of the 2002 bi-lateral workshop have not
been implemented;
3. Regrets that the integrity of the World Heritage property remains threatened by
uncontrolled urban development, pollution and unplanned tourism development;
Urges both States Parties to urgently follow-up on the recommendations of the 2002 bilateral workshop and in particular the preparation and implementation of an effective
joint management framework to address the ongoing threats; and requests the States
Parties to set a firm schedule for their follow-up;
4. Also requests both States Parties to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN mission
to assess the state of conservation and the factors affecting the Outstanding Universal
Value of the property and progress made in implementing the recommendations of the
2002 bi-lateral workshop;
5. Further requests both States Parties to provide the World Heritage Centre before 1
February 2007 with reports on the state of conservation of the property and progress
made in implementing an effective joint management framework and other
recommendations of the 2002 bi-lateral workshop for examination by the Committee at
its 31st session in 2007.

Zimbabwe: Don't Turn Victoria Falls Into Concrete Jungle

The Herald (Harare)

OPINION
January 24, 2007
Posted to the web January 24, 2007
Harare

THE Victoria Falls is Southern Africa's top tourist destination and there needs to be development near the falls to ensure that tourists are adequately catered for. But it must be emphasised that the day when the whole Falls area becomes a concrete jungle, and where nature takes a back seat to buildings and roads, the tourists will stop coming. After all, they have enough concrete jungles in their home countries, which explains why they travel thousands of kilometres for a glimpse of nature. Let us not forget that the Falls also lie on an international boundary. This means there will always be an element of rivalry between the two countries to see how they can get a fair share, or a little bit more than their neighbour when it comes to tourism dollars. No wonder the experts in both Zimbabwe and Zambia pressed so hard for the Falls to be registered as a World Heritage Site with Unesco.
Once that designation was won, the two countries would be forced to co-operate to retain the status. It is sad that since the day Zimbabwe and Zambia signed up with Unesco, the standards laid down and the requirements for maintaining the status have been ignored on both sides, or at least been very laxly enforced.

A Unesco team has returned, and neither country's planners have escaped the acid pen of the international experts. Of even greater concern was the placing on the back burner of a joint plan. Everyone agreed it was a good idea, everyone agreed it was vital, but no one actually seems to have started drawing it up. Now both countries have six months to do this. It will not be that difficult.

Everyone knows that development close to the Falls now has to be banned and that as much as possible has to be done to the south of Victoria Falls town on the Zimbabwe side and north of Livingstone on the Zambian side. This is what the two national plans already in existence already infer, and all that is really required is amalgamating them. In other words, the area between the existing zones of development must be left alone. At the same time there is need to create clearly demarcated zones of development so as to reduce the burden on the Falls.

Visitors coming to the Falls area can, after all, only spend a limited amount of time gazing at millions of litres of water cascading over a cliff. They want to round off their holiday with game viewing, fishing, boating, whitewater rafting, and having fun. There is no need for much of this activity to be done within sight or even sound of the Falls. Correctly planned, new development can dramatically increase tourism revenue while reducing human pressure on the area near the Falls. But a far larger area needs to be incorporated into the plans for this to be possible.

Both Zambia and Zimbabwe are aware of what is required of them and have both already started applying the brakes. Zimbabwe has suspended all development plans for some islands and Zambia has told a major hotel group that they have to dramatically reduce and modify plans for a new mega hotel. What is now required is a joint team of professionals to put together a sustainable development plan, one that can be extended and modified as time goes on. This plan will formalise and harmonise the existing national plans. It will also help identify which areas can be developed for the benefit of the tourism industry along the common border. Most importantly, the plan should ensure that the great falls remain one of the seven natural wonders of the world, rather than come to look like something in Las Vegas.

Moratorium spreads to Zim side...

The Herald (Harare)
January 23, 2007
Posted to the web January 23, 2007

Harare

ALL developments near the Victoria Falls have been frozen following international representations that both Zimbabwe and Zambia were flouting international standards.
Victoria Falls came under the spotlight following massive developments in Zambia and the proposed upgrading of several islands on the Zimbabwean side. In 2002 the two countries, who share the Falls, agreed to work together in formulating an integrated plan on how they planned to use the land around the Falls, a World Heritage Site.

"This plan was supposed to have been in place before Zambia had started building a hot air balloon base and a 500-bed lodge. We were also expected to monitor all activities on our side and some developments were overlooked," director-general for the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority Dr Morris Mtsambiwa told a media forum at the weekend. He said reports of mismanagement of the falls had led the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to send a team to investigate operations around Victoria Falls. "We were very much concerned because this meant that the tourist attraction could be de-listed from its World Heritage status. This would be a shame to us because we presented this area as deserving such a status. "To try and regain that status, if it happens that we lose it, would actually be almost impossible," Dr Mtsambiwa said. He said the team assessed the situation on the Zimbabwean side where the falls are more spectacular and made several recommendations, which included putting a moratorium on the proposed developments on the islands.

On visiting Zambia the team found a wide range of developments including a colossal lodge, whose construction Zimbabwe had not consented to. Dr Mtsambiwa said the two countries were given an ultimatum to come up with an integrated plan by June this year.

Zimbabwe, which still has to aggressively market this premier tourist destination, has resisted plans by prospective investors to build exclusive hotels opting to preserve the fragile ecosystem around the falls. Despite this, Victoria Falls still attracts more tourists than the downstream Lake Kariba, Mana Pools and Great Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls, popularly known as "Mosi-wa-Tunya" (the smoke that thunders) in the local vernacular, is often marketed by regional broadcasting channels, including the Tourism and Trade Channel in South Africa and various other foreign-owned websites, at Zimbabwe's expense.

National Geographic Magazine, January 2007...

Mosi oa Tunya NP Boundary alteration 1 Dec.07.

The way forward for the VF WHS...

Now that a moratorium has been placed on all new developments in the Mosi oa Tunya NP - including Legacy Holdings' hotel plans, and that Government has promised to revisit the IUCN plan together with all stakeholders starting in February 2007, it was time to plan the future management of the National Park, but also of the world heritage site as a whole. IUCN is also due to make its report soon on the way forward.

As part of the strategy to move towards a management trust made up of all stakeholders, contact was made with the World Mounuments Foundation (http://wmf.org/) and the Global Heritage Fund, (http://www.globalheritagefund.org/), both of which serve to preserve sites of importance to mankind.

An application has been made to have the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site listed on the 2008 World Monuments Watch of the 100 most endangered sites, and to the Global Heritage Fund for financial support.

National Geographic Magazine, January 2007...

Showdown at the Victoria Falls

Just before the Zambezi River makes its famous plunge, lies a small, undeveloped stretch of Zambia's Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park. It's a crucial elephant crossing and the sole riverfront spot in the park that people can enjoy without paying a fee. South African developer, Legacy Holdings Zambia, with the support of the Zambia Wildlife Authority, has different plans for the site: two hotels, 400 villas, and a golf course. In a nod to wildlife, the plans include an elephant right-of-way flanking the Maramba River. Critics find this laughable. "Elephant corridors have never worked anywhere," says conservationist, Mike Musgrave.

Since the proposal became public last summer, Zambians ranging from local government offficials to a bike-tour guide have rallied in opposition. Area residents welcome development, just not so close to the falls that it jeopardises the park's status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They hope grassroots pressure and a legal challenge will save the park's last riverfront open space.

"Even 30 years ago Victoria Falls was overdeveloped," says Ian Manning, a former park warden. "This would be a disaster."

Legacy project should be eye opener, says Kashita...

MORATORIUM ON DEVELOPMENTS IN MOSI OA TUNYA NP …

The Chairman of the Zambia Wildlife Authority Board, Mr Walusiku Lisulo, confirmed on 11 January 2007 at a meeting with steering committee members of the Natural Resources Consultative Forum of Zambia, that he had directed ZAWA to impose a moratorium on all planned developments in the Mosi oa Tunya National Park until a broad-based stakeholder review of the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) report, compiled in 1996: 'Strategic Environmental Assessment of Development Around Victoria Falls' was carried out, and a strategic plan agreed to.

Legacy to redesign L/stone hotel project

By Times of Zambia Reporter

LEGACY Holdings Zambia will redesign the Livingstone hotel project to conform to the allocated land on the northern part of the Maramba river.

A board meeting has been scheduled for this month to revise the initial US$260 million plan after which a new detailed design and implementation roadmap would be issued.

Legacy Holdings Zambia chairman, Jacob Sikazwe announced this in a statement released in Lusaka yesterday.

This follows the decision by Government to uphold a decision by the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) not to allow the project to go ahead as planned due to environmental concerns.
The ECZ allowed Legacy Holdings to construct only two hotels on the northern part of the Maramba river and not the proposed southern part.

The ECZ said the southern part of the river was an ecologically sensitive area that supported wildlife. It was also a major animal corridor linking the park to wildlife areas in Botswana and Zimbabwe which could not be disturbed.

The ECZ rejected the construction of a golf course and 450 villas at the same site.

Mr Sikazwe said the Government decision based on ECZ recommendation would have a significant impact on the current project design, business plan and roadmap.

“Not withstanding this decision, Legacy Holdings wishes to thank the Government for the manner the project has been handled,” he said.

The group re-affirmed its commitment to the development of an eco-friendly worldclass resort in Livingstone.

He was confident that once the revised project had been formulated, Livingstone will still have a worldclass resort that would enable Zambia compete with other worldclass resorts.

The project will create jobs, alleviate poverty and make Zambia a tourism destination of choice.

Victoria Falls 'at risk', UN warns

World Heritage status may be revoked as Zimbabwe and Zambia compete for tourist income
By Christopher Thompson
Published: 07 January 2007

Victoria Falls, one of the world's greatest natural wonders, may cease to be a World Heritage Site as a result of the chaos in Zimbabwe.

Known locally as Mosi oa Tunya, or "the smoke that thunders", the falls are more than a mile wide and 420ft high. They have been a tourist hotspot since 1905, but Unesco is now considering listing the site as "endangered" because of mismanagement that has allowed the once prosperous resort to deteriorate.

Furthermore, over-zealous Zambian developers are proposing to build 500 chalets in a national park overlooking the falls, prompting warnings that the plan could lead Unesco to remove the site'sWorld Heritage status immediately.

Control of the Victoria Falls, named by the explorer David Livingstone in 1855, is at the centre of a turf war between two government bodies - the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management - both fighting over rights to manage one of the country's last remaining sources of valuable tourist revenue as hyperinflation touches 1,100 per cent.

The Zambezi river, which plunges over the falls, forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. Most Western tourists used to stay on the Zimbabwean side, attracted by top-class facilities such as the Victoria Falls and Elephant Hills hotels, but the surrounding decay, and safety fears after the often violent land seizures initiated by President Robert Mugabe, have seen tourist revenues plunge by more than 70 per cent to $98m (£51m) last year from $340m in 1999, before land reforms started.

Unesco is also alarmed by Zambia's efforts to benefit from Zimbabwe's disarray. In a reversal of the traditional position, most foreign visitors now approach the falls from the Zambian side, even though the view is less spectacular. The tourism industry in Zambia is booming, with the number of overseas arrivals doubling between 2003 and 2005, bringing the country much-needed income, and new hotels are springing up near the Zambian town of Livingstone.

Govt rejects Legacy Holding' appeal against ECZ

Deputy-Minister queries ZAWA

THE MULUNGUSHI CONSERVATION TRUCE

Zambia, 3 January 2007.


A truce between the hunting and conservation community of Zambia – represented by the Chairmen of Community Resource Boards and hunting safari concessionaires, and Government, was brokered on 3 January 2007 by the Minister of Tourism, Environment & Natural Resources at the Mulungushi Conference Centre, Lusaka, Zambia. The Director General of the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) admitted past mistakes made by the organization and called for future co-operation from the private sector, while the Minister stated that ZAWA would abide by the law in future but requested that attacks on the Government on the internet should cease, that factional disagreements within the hunting industry should should also cease, saying that the doors of ZAWA and the Minister were now open to solve the problems besetting the sector. The request was agreed to, the Minister being asked to uphold the decision made by the Environmental Council of Zambia to disallow the building of a golf estate in the Mosi oa Tunya National Park – part of the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site.

The silent African Wildlife Foundation and its Mukuni Trust...

The continued silence of the Mukuni Trust in Livingstone over the fervent public support given by its patron, Chief Mukuni, to a full Legacy development in the Mosi oa Tunya NP is alarming. And why do we hear nothing from the trust's creator, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) ? The Park falls within the AWFs Kazangula Heartlands programme, but not a word from them, not even a reply from their HQ in Washington.

Mukuni and Legacy Holdings Zambia have been lobbying Government to have the full scheme given the green light. The Minister of the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, Kabinga Pande, recently put out a statement saying that he would make a final decision on the Legacy scheme this week. One must surmise from this that the lobbying for the golfing estate in the Park has had some affect; and that the Environmental Council's decision could be overturned. Let us hope that sense will prevail.

Chief Mukuni supports Legacy Holdings

By WALLEN SIMWAKA

CHIEF Mukuni of the Toka-Leya people says he would continue to campaign for the full development of the Legacy Holdings project in the Mosi-o-Tunya National Park.

Chief Mukuni said tourism was a lifeline for the people in his chiefdom.

Speaking in an interview at his palace, Chief Mukuni said although the Environmental Council of Zambia had rejected part of the project, the people insist on full development as proposed by promoters.

He said it would be unfair to Legacy Holdings if they did not go ahead with their project.

He said the growth of tourism in Livingstone would improve many lives.

"To us the Legacy Holdings project is an equivalent of Lumwana mine in Solwezi. Our friends in other places have benefited from the mining investment and you cannot take tourism away from us,” Chief Mukuni said.

“The people in the chiefdom are determined to see the Legacy Holdings project coming to fruition.

He explained that tourism remained the only source of empowerment in his chiefdom and he would therefore continue to encourage investors to expand the industry.

"Some of my subjects have now become homeowners and are driving because of tourism. This is not fiction and we want to see more investment in tourism. We have seen the benefits of tourism in the chiefdom and we want more," the chief said.

The ECZ has rejected the Legacy Holdings proposed construction of an 18-hole golf course, a country club and 450 villas in the national park but allowed the construction of the two hotels.