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.