[PCA] Fwd: Zambia: Wildlife poachers trade guns for gardens

[De Angelis, Patricia]

I realize this is "a little" outside of our normal frame of reference, but
it is an interesting example of the important intersections between
livelihoods, sustainable use, and community stewardship of natural
resources.

Zambia: Wildlife poachers trade guns for gardens

Many anti-poaching strategies aim to kill or jail hunters — but this
project puts them to work

May 22, 2015 5:00AM ET
by Bridget Huber
CHAMA DISTRICT, Zambia — On the banks of the Luangwa River in eastern
Zambia, a small group of men creeps through dry grass with guns raised. A
half-dozen hippos laze in the water, antelope graze on the opposite bank,
and, farther off, an elephant is drinking water. The men have killed
hundreds of animals on these grounds. One by one, they take aim, then fire.
The blasts echo and send up acrid white smoke.

But today, there are no bullets in their guns. The men, and scores of
others in the Luangwa Valley, have given up poaching for farming. They’ve
repurposed their weapons by loading them with a nonlethal mix of crushed
chili and gunpowder. They use the spicy blasts to drive off animals that
come to raid their fields.

The men are members of an environmental organization that works with two
groups sometimes seen as obstacles, if not enemies, to conservation:
poachers and farmers. The nonprofit, Community Markets for Conservation, or
COMACO, convinces poachers to hand over their guns and pursue alternative
livelihoods such as beekeeping, vegetable gardening and carpentry, along
with farming. It also confronts the more insidious threat of habitat loss
by helping farmers transition to sustainable agriculture and makes it worth
their while by buying their crops at above-market prices.

Full story: Zambia: Wildlife poachers trade guns for gardens
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