Communal farmers on the Zimbabwean border with Mozambique have been encouraged to set up furniture manufacturing businesses so that they do not poach animals in the area.
Angry residents have now set up a petition against the WWF – a leading global organisation in wildlife conversation and endangered species – and, in a desperate attempt to expose what is happening, have communicated their concerns to National Geographic.
A resident who attended one of the meetings where chopping down trees was encouraged as a way of stemming poaching, said ancient hard wood trees, which are also endangered, were being indiscriminately chopped down.
"This was actively promoted by WWF as a solution to reduce poaching," said the source. "A great solution to poaching!”
There has been an upsurge in poaching of wildlife and habitat loss on farms adjacent to some game conservancies on the Zimbabwe border. This has threatened some protected species. It is believed wildlife worth nearly $1.8 million has been lost to poaching, illegal movement of wildlife, over-hunting, subsistence and commercial poaching on ranches this year alone.
Over the past year, up to 50 black rhino have been snared or killed by urban cartels working with resettled villagers on farms adjacent to the conservancies and people from the communal areas.
Cartels of farmers reportedly airlift the trophies out through private airstrips to neighbouring countries, while some villagers have been arrested for poaching for their own consumption.
The WWF launched a probe into allegations of illegal movement of wildlife, over-hunting and poaching by some farmers. The degenerating situation is threatening the biggest transfrontier conservation area in the world straddling countries to the southeast and southwest of Zimbabwe.
According to the WWF, the black rhino population in the Intensive Protection Zones and conservancies in the country is now under threat from commercial poaching and other factors.
Although some of the farms adjacent to the wildlife parks areas have stood as buffer zones in the past, most of the farms are no longer sustainable due to increased poaching.
As a response to the crisis, the WWF has been encouraging locals to go into furniture manufacturing as a diversionary tactic. The WWF promised to support the businesses, according to our source. Families living in the area were devastated after 100-year-old trees were felled 'overnight' by villagers, allegedly with assistance from the WWF, to provide raw materials for these furniture businesses.
“People are in shock. It beggars belief that they (WWF) didn't put a preservation order on them, despite claims that they are a conservation body,” said the source. "It's caused disruption. In my area, the trees provided a natural canopy but now the whole area is bare. The aesthetic is being completely destroyed," said the source.
E-mails sent to the WWF head office in Washington last weekend have not yet been responded to.
Post published in: Environment