Almost two years after Cabinet discussed the establishment of a Human-Wildlife Conflict Fund (HWCRF), affected people in communities continue to suffer due to gaps in legislation.
In 2023 alone, more than 35 people were killed by wildlife and more than 80 were injured countrywide.
Responding to a question from Hwange East opposition MP Joseph Bonda on government's policy regarding the compensation for communities living around Hwange Parks, who lost domestic livestock and human lives due to human wildlife conflict, Environment Minister Sithembiso Nyoni said:
"On compensation to people who lose life, recalling Cabinet's decision of 4th November, 2022 to establish a Human-Wildlife Conflict Fund, (HWCRF) to provide monetary relief to verified and proved victims of Human-Wildlife conflict.
"The current Parks Act does not have any provision of compensation of victims or the afflicted, hence the need to expedite the Parks and Wildlife Amendment Bill, which provides for the establishment of the Human Wildlife Conflict Relief Fund."
Nyoni said it was felt that the compensation of life or a limb was not possible, hence the use of the term "relief" instead.
"At the moment, parks, Rural District Councils (RDCs) and stakeholders are assisting people affected by human wildlife conflict in various ways.
"My ministry is seized with, and is in a process of establishing the Human Wildlife Conflict Relief Fund. A point of emphasis to the Hon. Members is that there can never be any compensation for any lost life. I commiserate with the loss of human life in encounters between humans and wildlife.
"However, the communities that live close to national parks face tragedy from the increased wildlife population. To give you a vivid picture Madam Speaker, in Matabeleland North, the elephant population has increased from 49 310 to 61 531.This was from 2021 to 2022 an increase of 12 221 and this was based on an aerial survey."
She revealed that most of the elephants were in Hwange National Park and regularly destroyed people's crops, but a relief fund was being set up.
"They kill people when they are irritated or encounter people. Government is setting a Human Wildlife Conflict Relief Fund that will provide relief for the remaining family members of those killed and relief for those injured and maimed.
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"The fund will be managed by ZimParks, our entity with the involvement of the communities. In this regard, we have a programme of community consultation on how they want this fund to be structured, how it will be managed and the design of the necessary modalities for evaluations and technical assessments.
"As we provide this relief, we must not forget the challenges we have as a nation and African States as a whole with the only global biosphere with growing wildlife populations. Otherwise other countries allowed their wildlife to disappear," Nyoni told the Acting Speaker last Wednesday during a question and answer session in the National Assembly.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) banned international ivory trade in 1989.
"In 1997 and 2008 recognising that some Southern African elephant populations were healthy and well managed.
"CITIES permitted Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to make a once-off sale of the ivory stocks but, however, as I speak, we have a whole pool of ivory with a stock net worth of USD 700 million that we are not allowed to sell..
"As an international law-abiding country we have complied and are being pushed to keep this stock," said the minister.
