Zambia Poacher Transformation (Community Markets for Conservation: COMACO)

Researcher: Dale Lewis

Background
Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) is a Zambian-registered non-profit company that forms business partnerships with rural communities living in areas of important biodiversity. In the spirit of conservation, COMACO links villagers with urban consumers through a value chain of environmentally smart products. This drives solutions for conservation, food security, and improved rural incomes. An important subset of people who partner with COMACO are local hunters, whose dependence of wildlife has earned them the title of 'wildlife poachers'. COMACO has worked with 647 such hunters in the eastern Luangwa Valley, and over the past six years has transformed their livelihoods from wildlife destruction to more profitable strategies linked to markets that COMACO helps to build.

The 'poacher transformation' approach has contributed to a significant reduction in poaching in eastern buffer areas surrounding Luangwa Valley's national parks. During the Valley-wide survey in 2009 not a single fresh (0-2 years old) elephant carcass was sighted. The approach also dramatically lowers the cost of removing the poaching threat in a wildlife area. On average, conventional law enforcement strategies cost about $800 for every illegal hunter arrested and convicted in a court of law, whereas the cost of transforming a poacher costs about $250. 

The methodology developed by COMACO to transform a poacher is now refined and far more cost-effective than when the programme started. Trained staff are equipped and able to facilitate the transformation process at a relatively fast pace, and the programme is well-positioned to turn its focus to the western boundary of this important wildlife-rich ecosystem. Throughout this region, stretching from Serenje to Chinsali Districts, localised gangs of poachers continue to hunt and evade wildlife policing efforts. These poachers are well-known to local authorities who work closely with COMACO to identify hunters and pressure them to change their ways with the promise of gaining improved alternative livelihood benefits under COMACO.

Objectives
1. To transform a total of 95 local hunters from Serenje and Chinsali Districts, focusing on those areas from whence serious poaching threats emanate

2. Maintain ongoing monitoring of transformed poachers to verify compliance to programme guidelines

3. Support and link transformed poachers to COMACO-provided market opportunities

Methodology
The poacher transformation procedures are as follows:
1. COMACO regional coordinator identifies the most active and destructive local hunters with the help of traditional leaders, in order to recruit them into the programme.

2. The selected hunters come in pairs, and indentify three other hunters to form a group of five.

3. All five must surrender their firearms to COMACO.

4. The original two hunters, as representatives of their group, travel to a training venue for a six- to eight-week-long training of alternative livelihood skills (carpentry, poultry/goat raising, dry season farming, bee-keeping, fish-farming, and sustainable agriculture skills).

5. After the course, the two hunters return home and disseminate their skills and lessons to the other members of the group.

6. The group then receives approximately $300-$400 of inputs and tools to begin practising  new livelihoods and sign a written agreement to abandon hunting or risk having all tools returned to COMACO.

7. COMACO staff visit groups to assess adoption of skills and compliance to signed agreement.

8. After a year of monitoring and evaluation, selected hunters are asked to return for an advanced course in skills they wish to pursue further.

9. COMACO remains focused on building market links to these hunters.

Tangible Outputs
1. COMACO Better Life Book. A compilation of 'learning' pages on alternative skills.

2. Six regional trading/processing centres (including one each in Chinsali and Serenje) to build market opportunities for transformed poachers.

Please Click Here to see the COMACO Activity Results Map 2009