Kateka blames Gov’t for growing human-animal conflict

By NATION REPORTER

WITH the growing national population, town planning needs should put into consideration the need for a buffer zone between humans’ residences and game management areas to reduce the growing number of incidences of human-animal conflict, New Heritage Party president Chishala Kateka has said.
Ms Kateka said in 2024 alone, at least 11 people were killed by elephants, and recent attacks have been on the increase in Livingstone – with one incident claiming the life of a Grade 11 teenager last Friday.
“While it is not possible to completely eliminate human-wildlife conflict, it should be possible to reduce its incidence to a minimum by the measures that we take,” Ms Kateka said.
She explained that elephants, which have lived in game areas for hundreds of years, migrate within large home ranges to find shelter, food, and water. “In the Zambian context, elephants are wild animals and cannot therefore be reasoned with to live in harmony with human beings,” she said.
Ms Kateka said Livingstone’s population is growing rapidly, leading to increased demand for land for domestic and commercial purposes.
“This is where town planning comes in. Our town planners know the land that has been allocated for wildlife, however a lot of times, land for human settlement is allocated, not in accordance with the law, by our municipal councils and as a result, people end up building in undesignated areas,” she said.
She said that Zambia had abundant land, and there was no need to allocate land “next to a game park.”
Ms Kateka reiterated the need for adequate buffer zones between humans and animals, warning that elephants would always roam freely, especially that game management areas were not fenced.
“In Livingstone, elephants go in search of easily accessible food into land unlawfully allocated to humans and in the process fatal encounters occur tragically and unnecessarily. People try to chase the elephants away by stoning them, and as a result, the elephants view humans as enemies,” Ms Kateka said, adding that the same problem is found in most game parks where encroachment is widespread.
She warned that carelessness and corruption in land allocation were putting lives at risk and contributing to broader environmental problems.
“This carelessness, and corruption in land allocations in our country must stop, because not only are we endangering people’s lives through attacks by wild animals, but there are wider issues of deforestation, land degradation and pollution of water aquifers, as is the case in Forest 27 in Lusaka,” Ms Kateka said.
Ms Kateka called for enforcement of buffer zones between human settlements and game parks, a ban on land allocation in protected areas, and prosecution of offenders beginning with those who have encroached on Forest 27.
She also urged the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Zambia to intensify community sensitisation on how to respond to elephant and other dangerous animal encounters.
“We cannot continue needlessly losing lives due to our inability to enforce our own regulations. Equally, it is not right that humans begin to displace wildlife in areas that have been designated for them when we have enough land as a country for human settlement,” Ms Kateka said.
She blamed the crisis on “government incompetence, lack of effective capacitation for our understaffed and overworked wildlife officers, and finally endemic official government corruption by this UPND government.”