TITLE:
Game Ranching: A Sustainable Land Use Option and Economic Incentive for Biodiversity Conservation in Zambia
AUTHORS:
Chansa Chomba, Chimbola Obias, Vincent Nyirenda
KEYWORDS:
Game Ranch, Province, Number, Species, Increase, Carbon Emissions
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.4 No.9,
June
25,
2014
ABSTRACT:
The ten provinces of Zambia were surveyed to determine number and size of
game ranches situated in these areas up to the end of 2012/early 2013. Three
classes of game ranches were developed as; 1) ≥500 hectares as game ranch
proper, 2) ≥50 - per year for the period 1980-2012. The
largest number was ornamental 98 (49%); large game ranches were 75 (38%) and
the least was game farms 27 (14%). Thirty seven species of large mammals were
recorded, of which, 15 were the most abundant with impala topping the list with
21,000 individuals (34%). It was found that of the ten provinces, Luapula,
Western and Northern Provinces despite being largely rural with low population
densities except for Luapula did not have any game ranch. The province with the
largest number was Lusaka 71(36%), Southern 59 (30%), Central 31(16%),
Copperbelt 19 (10%), Eastern and Northwestern 9 (4.5% each) and Muchinga was
the least with 2 (1%). The rapid increase in the number of ornamental category
is mainly attributed to the rise in the development of tourist accommodation
facilities and high cost residential properties. This growth provides an
opportunity to convert to game ranching schemes abandoned farmlands which are
not currently useful to agriculture due to loss of fertility and other forms of
land degradation. Similarly, parcels of land with natural ecological
limitations should also be considered for such schemes. Rehabilitation of
degraded land through ranching could also enhance carbon sequestration, a
factor critical in minimizing carbon emissions and other green house gases.