Elephant survey underway

THE Kavango Zambezi Trans-frontier Conservation Area’s US$3 million elephant survey has commenced in the region with the group at Hwange National Park for three weeks before they cross over to Botswana to complete an exercise which wildlife conservation experts and stakeholders believe will come in handy in informing various conservation efforts.

The exercise uses artificial intelligence technology to provide data to help ascertain the number of elephants, animal corridors and human settlements around the conservation areas in its member states. Kavango Zambezi Transfontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) confirmed in a statement the commencement of the survey.

“Following the November 2021 project launch, months of careful planning and preparation, and the successful implementation of a workshop to train and select observers in Kasane in July 2022, flying for the KAZA Elephant Survey began in the Sebungwe Region of northwest Zimbabwe on the 22nd of August 2022. Not long after, following the mounting of high-resolution oblique digital (MWS) cameras on the planes, flying began in Kafue, Zambia on the 26th of August 2022. Plans indicate an anticipated 3 weeks to complete the northwest Matabeleland area in Zimbabwe before crossing over to Botswana where flying is expected to start mid-October 2022. In parallel, the survey operations room, hosted by the Republic of Botswana’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) is in full swing in Kasane,” reads the statement.

The last available estimates indicated 220 000 elephants across the expansive KAZA landscape of some 520 000km², representing more than half of the remaining savanna elephants (Loxodonta Africana) found in Africa — a species Red Listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered.

KAZA says the survey is being implemented by an experienced technical coordination team.

“The survey aims to determine the numbers and seasonal distributions of elephants, elephant carcasses, and other large herbivores in KAZA. The survey protocol has been designed to comply with the revised Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme’s aerial survey standards. The KAZA Partner States comprising the Republics of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are supporting and participating in the survey as a unified and co-ordinated effort. Given the magnitude of the survey, implementation is supported by an experienced technical coordination team, contractors, as well as 25 survey biologists, observers, data managers, and operations rooms technicians, largely made up of personnel seconded by the KAZA Partner States,”

Results of the survey will inform the development of collective policy and practice concerning the world’s largest contiguous elephant population. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is one of the stakeholders who are looking forward to the census results as they believe they will come in handy to their Room to Roam conservation project. — @nyeve14