World Bank Project
The Extension of Kasanka Management System to Lavushi Manda National Park

Lavushi Manda National Park

Kasanka and Lavushi Manda National Parks

In the north of Zambia lie the Lavushi Manda and Kasanka National Parks. Both parks are of important biodiversity value within a key ecosystem of interlinking protected areas which is currently neglected and increasingly threatened by encroachment and illegal resource harvesting. Together with the adjacent Bangweulu wetlands they offer a prime location for conserving the rich biodiversity of the significant "Central Zambezian Miombo Woodland" ecoregion (listed as a WWF Global 200 Ecoregion), a currently underrepresented ecosystem in the Zambian National Parks.

 

Kasanka National Park (KNP, 400 km²) has been managed by Kasanka Trust in cooperation with the Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) since 1986. The park holds an exceptional variety in habitats, including miombo and other woodland types, rich riverine floodplains, dambo’s and other seasonally wet grasslands, papyrus swamps and mushitu gallery forest. It holds an amazing diversity in wildlife. The once severely depleted populations of large mammals have largely recovered. The park is home to the world’s densest population of the Sitatunga and hosts a migratory colony of eight million Straw-coloured Fruit Bats, one of the largest mammal concentrations in the world. An astonishing 440 bird species have been recorded in the park to date.

Lavushi Manda National Park (LMNP, 1500 km²) holds vast stretches of pristine hill miombo woodlands, large dambo wet grasslands, as well as gallery forests along the headwaters of the Lukulu and Lulimala rivers. A 40 km long dramatic rocky massif runs through the centre. The park covers a large part of the Lukulu and Lulimala river catchments immediately above the ecologically richest part of the Bangweulu floodplains/swamps. The park is of major importance for African and paleartic migrants, and serves as an upland wildlife refuge for ungulates of the Bangweulu in the wet season such as the Roan, Sable and Hartebeest. Although largely depleted, recent visits show there is still an excellent variety of large mammals present in small numbers, including Lion and Leopard. Possibly the last observation of a wild Black Rhinoceros in Zambia was made in LMNP in the late eighties, suggesting the park is highly suitable for reintroduction of the species.

 

The adjacent Bangweulu wetlands, which are fed by rivers from the LMNP, are home to the total world population of Black Lechwe and a genetically distinct form of Tsessebe, as well as internationally important populations of endangered bird species such as the enigmatic Shoebill and the Wattled Crane. In 2007, the new Chikuni Partnership Park was established which will enable the core area of the swamps to be well protected.

Kasanka National Park

Tourism -  northern route

Tourism based on wildlife and landscape assets has been identified as the second most important growth sector for the country and as one of the three priority industries for economic development. National tourism has grown on average 10% per year over the past 10 years but there is potential for accelerating this growth. For now, 90% of tourism revenues relate to the Victoria Falls and to tourism routes in southern parks. The northern routes - where the project's intervention area is located - are beginning to be exploited but still well below the tourism potential. It should be noted that the development of the northern tourism routes is the second objective, after Kafue National Park, under tourism development in the Fifth National Development Plan covering 2007-2012 and high on the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism's list of priorities.

 

Kasanka Trusts PPP experience

The project executed by Kasanka Trust and partly funded by the World Bank Zambia will develop and implement an effective protected area management system based on the existing and successful public-private partnership model in Kasanka National Park (KNP). This project builds on the impressive progress made in KNP due to an efficient management scheme, introduced and administered over the past 20 years by the non-governmental Kasanka Trust (KT), under a special public-private partnership (PPP) agreement with the state Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA). The PPP is a growing model for managing public assets over the world. In Southern Africa more and more parks are now managed through PPPs, each unique and adapted to the specific flied, commercial and institutional conditions, as in the case of this one.

 

Project objective

The objective of the project is to expand Kasanka Trust’s management to include the restoration of the Lavushi Manda National Park (LMNP). The sound and effective management of the LMNP together with the adjacent Bangweulu wetlands and neighboring Kasanka National Park (KNP) present an excellent opportunity for conserving prime biodiversity of the "Central Zambezian Miombo Woodland" ecoregion in Zambia. Global environmental benefits are the conservation of key biodiversity habitats and associated endangered species, and the protection of important watershed and catchment areas for the Bangweulu wetlands (Ramsar site).

Due to its close proximity to globally important areas, the Bangweulu wetlands and the well managed KNP, LMNP has a significant comparative advantage over other degraded and unmanaged national parks.

 

The project has three components:

1.   To put in place systems and infrastructure for sustainable conservation management in Kasanka National Park and to begin restoration of Lavushi Manda National Park.

2.   To increase community and other stakeholder support for the conservation of the Kasanka and Lavushi Manda National Parks.

3.   To improve institutional and financial capacity of Kasanka Trust to manage partnerships for Kasanka and Lavushi Manda National Parks.

 

Financing the project

 The World Bank Zambia as the executing agency for the Global Environmental Fund will financially support the project with US$835,000. The funding is based on the co-funding principle. Kasanka Trust is currently looking for sponsors for the above mentioned components at a total of US$1,000,000.