COMACO Builds a Closer Partnership with Government

In the words of Hon. Charles Shawa, Minister of Eastern Province, “Government cannot sit back and allow conservation to fail the needs of our treasured natural resources or the needs of poor people who depend on them. We must find solutions that we can take down to the level of the household to help build conservation as a core value to our Zambian culture.” Such was the spirit that brought Local and Provincial Government leaders to a Roundtable Meeting in Chipata to seek better strategies for halting the degradation of land and natural resources now affecting much of Zambia’s rural landscape.

The first Chipata Roundtable convened on 7 December 2007, when representatives shared vast insights into the problems causing land and natural resource degradation. Lessons from COMACO were an important part of these discussions, emphasizing that Government could not afford to look at development needs merely through the lens of human needs but rather, through livelihood linkages with the land.

The Roundtable concluded that Government’s machinery at the District level had the necessary leadership and authority to help drive improved land management strategies. Partners like COMACO also have an important role by complementing these efforts and bringing cost-cutting solutions through markets that reach out to all households in the District. COMACO’s cutting-edge strategy is to assess farmer compliance to conservation-based land use practices and to reward this compliance with premium market prices for the commodities they sell to COMACO. The Roundtable proposed Provincial and District leaders reconvene and present strategies that are more formal at a second Roundtable Meeting in May 2008. These strategies would spell out Government’s commitment for conservation and partnerships as part of what the Roundtable called the Luangwa Valley Land Management Initiative.

COMACO recognized the importance of this meeting and the critical opportunity for building stronger commitment by Government to enforce land management practices while using COMACO’s markets as an incentive for farmers to cooperate with these land management regulations in support of District Government’s own efforts. The cost of enforcing regulations is high and probably unsustainable over the vast areas that cover this ecosystem, but with market incentives sustained by a non-profit company, the cost of conservation becomes much cheaper.

In order to intensify COMACO’s level of impact, there is a growing need for Government and other stakeholders to invest in the COMACO business and absorb some of the operating costs to help boost the premium price producers receive for leveraging increased compliances for conservation. The opportunities for conservation could be immense. Wildlife Conservation Society Country Director and Chief Executive for COMACO, Dale Lewis, spoke about this potential, “A dollar investment in COMACO could equate to as much as a $10 return for improved incomes and conservation results. We have not seen this level of efficiency in conservation before in Zambia because we have always based conservation on law enforcement. By working with partners whose cost and profits are tied to conservation success, COMACO becomes a good proposition for investing.”

On 22 May 2008, the Second Chipata Roundtable convened and brought together representatives from 6 different districts as well as leading Provincial and National Government leaders. With the same level of enthusiasm and commitment, the Minister for Eastern Province, Hon. Charles Shawa, chaired the meeting. He opened the meeting with these words:

As District and Provincial leaders, we envision an initiative that will give increased responsibility to District leaders to spearhead practical and effective activities that will help reverse the current trends of environmental decline that we see throughout much of this Province. We also believe it is unacceptable for Government to sit back and watch our watersheds fall into disrepair, allow our precious soils to wash away, and deplete such valued assets as wildlife, fisheries and trees. We said it was time for action, not lip service.

At this Second Roundtable meeting, we officially start our journey to find a better way to live on our land, to care for it and to ensure it is safe for those who will inherit it. This is why we have come to this meeting – to find our footing, direction, and begin our journey together – and it is you, our District and Provincial leaders, who will lead this journey. At our Second Chipata Roundtable meeting today, we ask ourselves to prepare a roadmap for conservation that will address the priority needs of our land and its resources. We ask that this be done for each District and to assign responsibilities and tasks that give us the determination and commitment to forge ahead. We cannot wait for donor money to sweeten this journey – it must be our journey and if it becomes a struggle and full of tiring challenges, then I say the better, because the fight is worth fighting for.

The meeting demonstrated an impressive resolve by a delegation of over 40 people to debate and conclude important decisions that will guide an initiative that will ultimately unit all the Districts in Eastern Province to a process that will repair environmental damage and promote improved land management ethics. A provincial-level committee will oversee this process and will provide technical and administrative back-up for efforts at the District level and led by the District Commissioner. Among the first activities to be undertaken are Chiefdom-based land use plans that will require an active leadership role by the local chiefs. Efforts to gazette these land use plans as District by-laws will enable local authorities to enforce the plans and hold local communities accountable to them. In return, Government will strive to reward compliance with development assistance as will COMACO with its introduction of favorable commodity prices and access to inputs.

In the words of the Provincial Minister, Hon. Charles Shawa, “the journey has begun”. Wildlife Conservation Society heralds the resolve by the Roundtable delegation as a landmark event that brings conservation down to the local level where local partners can work effectively to resolve challenging problems over land and natural resource management. It is, indeed, an important opportunity for COMACO to further its applications to conservation with such a positive will by Government to create synergy with complementary efforts by its partners.