Attachment_6,_Program_Description_-_World_Wildlife_Fund_US_(WWF-US).pdf

Attachment B - Program Description

Acronyms

ACADIR Association of Environmental Conservation and Integrated Rural Development

(Angola) CAMPFIRE Community Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources CBD Convention on Biodiversity CBNRM Community-Based Natural Resource Management CBO Community-Based Organization CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna COP Chief of Party CSO Civil Society Organization CWCP Combatting Wildlife Crime Project CWT Combatting Wildlife Trafficking DEFRA UK Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Enforcement Affairs DNPW Department of National Parks and Wildlife Department, Ministry of Tourism, Zambia GMA Game Management Area GoN Government of Namibia ICCWC International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime IRDNC Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation ISAP Intelligence Support Against Poaching IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN SULi IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group IWT Illegal Wildlife Trade KAZA TFCA Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area KFW German Development Bank LAC Legal Assistance Centre (Namibia) LE Law Enforcement LEAP Law Enforcement and Anti-poaching Strategy LOE Level of Effort M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MEL Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan MET Ministry of Environment & Tourism (Namibia) MOMS Management Oriented Monitoring Strategy NAMPOL Namibian Police Force NGO Non-Government Organization NNDFN Nyae Nyae Development Foundation Namibia NNF Namibia Nature Foundation NP National Park NRM Natural Resource Management PA Protected Area PES Payment for Ecosystem Services PG Prosecutor General PIKE Proportion of Illegally Killed Elephants PMU Project Management Unit

DocuSign Envelope ID: 4E9A5733-AC41-4514-97E9-131F66AFF9A0

POCA Proceeds of Organized Crime Act PSC Project Steering Committee ROUTES Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species SADC Southern African Development Community SADC LEAP SADC Law Enforcement and Anti-Poaching Strategy SMART Law Enforcement Monitoring and Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool SRT Save the Rhino Trust SULi IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group ToC FLoD Theory of Change for Communities as First Line of Defense (IUCN) ToC Theory of Change ToT Training of Trainers TRAPS Trafficking Response, Assessment and Priority Setting UNCC United Nations Convention against Corruption UNCTOC United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime US DOS INL U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law USAID United States Agency for International Development USG United States Government WDA Wildlife Dispersal Areas WWF World Wildlife Fund

AID-674-A-17-00002 with WWF-US

Combating Wildlife Crime in the Namibia and the Kavango-Zambezi Area

1. Development Response

Wildlife crime is a multi-billion dollar illicit business that is decimating Africa’s iconic animal populations. Many iconic species such as the African elephants and rhinoceroses face a risk of significant decline or even extinction. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) African Elephant Status Report (2016)1, the African elephant population has declined by an estimated 111,000 animals in the past decade, primarily due to poaching, while 5,940 African rhinos have been killed since 2008 out of an estimated population of 25,000.2 South Africa currently conserves 79% of Africa’s rhinos, but suffered 85% of the crime, with 5,048 rhinos killed between 2008 and 2015.3 Efforts are being made to reverse the trends through international platforms such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which is a relevant tool to addressing international wildlife crime through monitoring, regulations or banning of international trade in species under threat. International momentum against wildlife crime has increased, with a number of actions and commitments from governments to combat wildlife trafficking. For instance, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2015 committing countries to step up their collective efforts to address wildlife crime and put an end to the global poaching crisis.

At the heart of this international momentum and efforts to combat wildlife crimes is the threat that wildlife trafficking poses to sustainable development across the globe. It is a serious crime that undermines the economic prosperity of many countries, threatening their natural capital and undermining sustainable economic development, including development benefits derived from legal nature-based enterprises like tourism. Wildlife crime threatens social stability and cohesion and impoverishes citizens as their cultural and natural heritage is robbed. Natural resource-dependent communities are exposed to security threats and erosion of their livelihoods.

Furthermore, between 40% and 85% of Southern African Development Community (SADC) citizens live in rural areas where they depend on natural resources for survival.4 The region has a rich natural heritage of global significance, including some of the planet’s largest intact populations of rhinos and elephants. Natural resources are vitally important to the economy of the region and its growth. Approximately US$3.2 billion was generated from nature-based tourism by 10 of the 14 SADC countries in 2000/2001.5 In Namibia for instance, community conservation has contributed more than US$326 million to the net national income since 1991, while conservancies alone generated about US$6 million, facilitated 6,472 jobs and promoted 167 natural

1 Thouless CR, Dublin HT, Blanc JJ, Skinner DP. Daniel TE, Taylor RD, Maisels F, Frederick HL and Bouche P (2016) African Elephant Status Report: An update from the African Elephant database. Occasional Paper Series of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, No. 60 IUCN/ SSC Africa Elephant Specialist Group. IUCN Gland, Switzerland.

2 Department of Environmental Affairs (2016) Rhino poaching statistics update. Pretoria, South Africa.

https://www.environment.gov.za/projectsprogrammes/rhinodialogues/poaching_statistics.

3 SADC (2015) SADC Law Enforcement and Anti-Poaching Strategy 2015 – 2020. Gaborone, Botswana.

4 SADC (2015) SADC Law Enforcement and Anti-Poaching Strategy 2015 – 2020. Gaborone, Botswana.

5 Vernon R. Booth (2010): The contribution of hunting tourism: How significant is this to national economies in contribution of wildlife to national economies. Joint publication of FAO and CIC. Budapest.

resource-based enterprises.6 Wildlife tourism is an increasingly important and growing industry that brings benefits to national economies of the region and local people alike. The decimation of wildlife species and destruction of natural ecosystems threatens this prosperous development sector and livelihood security. Organized criminal networks also threaten the peace and security of the SADC region.

Addressing wildlife trafficking is necessary and relevant for generating prosperity and expanding development efforts within the SADC region. There is a need to strengthen enforcement in the region to combat wildlife crime. In particular, efforts to support regional coordination among enforcement agencies and to prioritize wildlife trafficking across enforcement, regulatory and intelligence agencies are needed. The reduction of corruption and improvement of transparency and accountability through the wildlife enforcement chain is also necessary. In addition, there is a need to support appropriate institutional capacities to detect, deter and apprehend would-be poachers and dismantle criminal networks. There is also a need to strengthen capacities to prosecute and adjudicate crimes relating to wildlife trafficking. It has also become evident that the success of wildlife crime prevention lies with engagement of communities in effective local governance in the management of their natural resources and derived benefits. Expanded support is necessary to shift incentives so communities can legally and sustainably benefit from wildlife and expand their role as effective conservation stewards.

2. Background

The SADC region is facing an unprecedented increase in the poaching of elephants, rhinos and other wildlife for illegal financial gains. The increased trend in elephant and rhino poaching is largely due to the high value of ivory and rhino horn on the international black market. For example, rhino horn is estimated to fetch US$60,000 to US$80,000 per kilo (US$30,000 per pound); a commodity that is more lucrative than gold and platinum.7 Illegal harvesting of other important species such as pangolins, lions, marine mammals, cycads, teak, rosewoods, and turtles is also a concern in the region. Illegally harvested wildlife is traded on the black market skins, leather goods or souvenirs, food or traditional medicines, pets, and in many other forms.

Southern Africa is endowed with exceptional natural landscapes and wildlife, containing a rich diversity of species. The region supports the greatest number of elephants and rhino in the world, with the largest elephant population found in Botswana, while South Africa boasts the highest number of rhinos. Other notable species occurring in large numbers include lions, leopards, buffalo, and antelopes. Wildlife is an important economic asset in the region, contributing significantly to gross domestic product. Yet, poverty remains one of the greatest challenges in the SADC region, with approximately half of the population living on less than US$1 a day.8 Of these poor people, between 40% and 85% live in rural areas where they depend on natural resources for survival.9 If wildlife crimes continue unabated, the region will not only lose critical species and experience associated ecological erosion, but the impacts will be most felt by poor communities

6 Riehl B, Zerriffi H and Naidoo R (2005) Effects of community-based natural resource management on household welfare I Namibia. PLoS ONE 10(5): e0125531.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0125531.

7 CITES (2012) Annual Report. London.

8 SADC (2016) Poverty Reduction and Policy Dialogue.

http://www.sadc.int/themes/poverty-eradication-policy-dialogue/.

9 SADC (2015) SADC Law Enforcement and Anti-Poaching Strategy 2015 – 2020. Gaborone, Botswana.

that are heavily reliant on nature-based economies.

Addressing the illegal wildlife trade Approaches to address the illegal wildlife trade span the enforcement continuum, from prevention and apprehension to prosecution and adjudication. Combating the illegal wildlife trade requires a holistic approach that combines stronger law enforcement (LE) (including crime prevention) with improved wildlife management. To be successful, these efforts must include actors from across government, civil society, and the private sector, and must be coordinated within countries and across geopolitical boundaries.

Improved enforcement alone, while necessary, will not slow the illegal wildlife trade in time to save many critically endangered species. Addressing the current crisis requires harmonized efforts, incorporating on-the-ground cross-border cooperation, and a high-level enabling environment that prioritizes conserving wildlife for economic development and local, national and regional stability. In addition, communities living near protected areas (PA) and other biodiversity hotspots that bear the costs of living with wildlife need to obtain an increased share in benefits and play a stronger role in decision-making around wildlife management.

Collaboration with communities is critical to deterring poaching, but the conditions for effective community engagement to fight high-value wildlife crime in different contexts remain poorly understood, hampering the implementation of effective strategies. Crime prevention approaches are based on identifying and addressing the drivers of wildlife crime. But, without understanding and addressing the socio-political drivers and key causal pathways for wildlife crime, strengthening LE alone will not succeed. Partnerships and building trust among communities, civil society, business, and LE is also critical to help develop community-oriented crime prevention approaches and support intelligence gathering, information sharing, and investigation of wildlife crimes. However, prevention approaches can only succeed when there is also effective and credible deterrence to continued illegal use of wildlife. This means capable, effective apprehension, prosecution and adjudication combined with appropriate penalties for violators.

Hand-in-hand with strengthening incentives and opportunities to promote wildlife conservation is strengthening the disincentives to participate in wildlife crime.

3. Geographic scope

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) aims to combat wildlife crime in the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) and the northwestern region of Namibia. KAZA encompasses areas within the borders of Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and the specific project focal regions include the Panhandle of the Okavango Delta in Ngamiland, northern Botswana; Zambezi, Kavango, and Otjizondjupa regions in northeast Namibia; the Silowana Complex 10 in southwest Zambia; and northwest Matabeleland and Sebungwe regions of Zimbabwe (the Hwange-Sanyati Biodiversity Corridor). These areas also incorporate the priority KAZA transboundary wildlife dispersal areas (WDA) of Khaudum-Ngamiland, Kwando and Zambezi-Chobe-Hwange-Kazuma, the latter providing links to both the Greater Kafue Ecosystem in Zambia and the Sebungwe in Zimbabwe. In northwestern

10 The Silowana Complex encompasses Sioma Ngwezi National Park and the southern portion of the Lower Zambezi Game Management Area.

Namibia, efforts to combat wildlife crime will be invested in the Kunene and Erongo regions and Etosha NP. Challenges across much of this area include pervasive poverty, community-conservation disconnect, corruption, poor governance, upward poaching trends of iconic species and limited cross border LE capacity.

4. Regional response

The KAZA countries (Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola) are Parties to CITES and as such, are bound by the provisions of this Convention for wildlife trade with other countries.11 In some cases, such as African elephants, populations are listed in different appendices of CITES, meaning trade in these animals has varying limitations depending on the listing within an individual country. As an example, elephant populations from Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe are listed under Appendix II, which limits but does not ban trade (however these countries may not apply to sell ivory until submission of a renewed proposal to CITES, which could only happen at CoP 18 at the earliest). In contrast, elephants in Angola and Zambia are listed under Appendix I, meaning they may not export ivory as their populations are threatened with extinction. The current poaching trends in the KAZA region are a great concern to the development of these countries because many of them rely extensively on the wildlife-based tourism sector to grow their economies.

The KAZA countries play an important role in the regional efforts to curb poaching and protect wildlife. These countries adopted the SADC Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement in 1999. That protocol embodies regionally-agreed approaches to conservation, management and the enforcement of wildlife laws. It aims to foster regional cooperation, protect wildlife, promote national and regional capacity building and facilitate community-based wildlife management.12

Recognizing the trans-regional and transnational nature of wildlife populations, SADC also supports the establishment of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCA) to promote wildlife conservation. TFCAs are founded with the aim of collaboratively managing shared natural and cultural resources across international boundaries for improved biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development, and are embedded in the Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement. In the SADC region, there are 18 TFCAs in both terrestrial and marine environments in various stages of development covering over 700,000 km2.13 Some of the priority locations of this project form part of the KAZA TFCA, which was established in 2011 through an international treaty signed by the five KAZA countries. Notable successes of KAZA include the establishment of the first TFCA Secretariat in the SADC region to facilitate the implementation of projects and programs of partner countries.

Another regional response emanating from the Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement is the development of a five-year regional SADC Law Enforcement and Anti-Poaching (LEAP) Strategy (2016-2021). The strategy provides a framework for country and regional cooperation, together with international engagement on natural resource management

11 SADC (2015) SADC Law Enforcement and Anti-Poaching Strategy 2015 – 2020. Gaborone, Botswana.

12 SADC (1999) Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement. Gaborone, Botswana.

13 SADC (2016) SADC Transfrontier Conservation Area. Gaborone, Botswana. www.tfcaportal.org.

(NRM) and wildlife-related LEAP issues. The KAZA partner countries adopted the strategy in 2015 and this project will support the development and implementation of activities aligned with the SADC LEAP strategy and the related KAZA LEAP strategy.

Activities from this project will contribute to the KAZA vision 14 and build upon KAZA networking and communication platforms, while concomitantly engaging local of communities in NRM across targeted portions of the KAZA landscape.

5. Project Goal and Theory of Change

The overall goal of this project is to increase the black rhino population in Namibia and stabilize and contribute to range expansion of KAZA elephants over the next five years.

The Combatting Wildlife Crime in Namibia and Kavango Zambezi Area Project, hereafter referred to as the CWCP (Combatting Wildlife Crime Project), seeks to counter growing threats from transnational wildlife crime to globally important populations of black rhino and elephant found in northwest Namibia and KAZA. Most of CWCP’s efforts will be aimed at connecting anti-poaching and community support with anti-trafficking and legal actions. A multi-partner, multi-country approach to countering wildlife crime and trafficking will be used to foster improved knowledge on wildlife crime dynamics and impacts, and enhanced sharing of related information and data among LE agencies, civil society, and private sector within and among countries. An informed understanding of drivers and trade routes will guide multi-country responses to wildlife crime. Active involvement of communities and building stronger relationships among communities, the private sector, conservation authorities and LE agencies will be critical to success. CWCP will address wildlife crime through improved engagement with communities around PAs, noting that poaching hotspots in KAZA and Namibia are often in PAs.

The collective impact of this project will be an increase of rhino populations in Namibia and promotion of cross-border movement and stabilized elephant populations in KAZA. This will entail a reduction in wildlife crime in Namibia and four neighboring countries (Angola, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).

The goals, outcomes, and activities are premised upon the following Theory of Change (ToC):

As communities strengthen wildlife stewardship, derive increased benefits from wildlife, and pride in their wildlife grows, they will become less likely to engage in poaching and more likely to report offenders. Collaboration with communities is critical to preventing poaching. There is a need to increase the motivation and capacity of communities to work with (rather than against) LE agencies in the fight against rhino and elephant poaching. To achieve this, it will be important to expand traditional Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) models prevalent in the southern Africa region, to include an enhanced understanding of the socio-political conditions under which community engagement against wildlife crime does and does not work. This will, in turn inform and contribute to strengthening disincentives (social and legal) for illegal behavior, increasing incentives for

14 The KAZA vision is to establish a world-class transfrontier conservation area and tourism destination in the Okavango and Zambezi River Basin regions of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe within the context of sustainable development.

stewardship and pride in wildlife, and decreasing costs of living with wildlife.

Enhanced deterrents (stronger penalties, heightened surveillance/controls) will lead to greater risks to poachers and therefore deter poaching. Conventional LE (anti-poaching) coupled with substantial penalties is required to deter individuals who are prepared to break the law, particularly where the rewards for illegal activity are potentially high. However, strengthened anti-poaching and surveillance capacity must build upon participatory wildlife stewardship, rather than risking alienation of communities from heavy-handed and/or militaristic forms of LE.

Strengthened capacity and collaboration among community rangers, and PA and LE officials will lead to better crime detection, improved case-building, and more arrests. If communities are engaged and supportive of efforts to combat wildlife crime, LE will be less likely to find itself operating in a hostile environment, which reduces chances of success.

Strengthened capacity and collaboration among community rangers, and PA and LE officials will lead to better crime detection, improved case-building, and more arrests.

By training and/or educating investigators, prosecutors and judiciaries on the seriousness of wildlife crime, and by understanding trafficking networks and targeting senior players in criminal syndicates, more high-level offenders will be prosecuted and appropriately penalized nationally and across borders. For successful stewardship and anti-poaching efforts to endure, they must be coupled with efficient investigations and successful prosecutions.

Given that rhino and elephant poaching is driven by trafficking syndicates, investigations and prosecutions need to be responsive to, and capable of dealing with, international organized crime—and the corruption which often accompanies it. Investigations and prosecutions need to become more proactive—specifically targeting persons higher up the chain rather than simply putting low-level poachers behind bars. Critical to these efforts will be the use of information to better understand criminal and trafficking networks so persons involved with criminal syndicates—both within Namibia and beyond—are caught and convicted.

Effective multi-agency coordination will improve knowledge on wildlife crime dynamics and impacts, and enhance sharing of information and data among agencies, civil society, and the private sector, within countries and among countries. Within governments, there are multiple ministries and departments, each dealing with a subset of LE, and unless they work seamlessly together, these ministries and departments will be inefficient and out-manoeuvred by criminal syndicates. Civil society and the private sectors with their competitive advantages also have extremely important roles to play. Coordinating this disparate group of stakeholders into a cohesive partnership to achieve the required degree of synergy is an essential prerequisite for success.

Collaboration among KAZA partner countries will lead to disruption of cross-border illegal wildlife trade networks. KAZA partner countries need to work together to prevent criminal syndicates and other illegal actors from exploiting disparate capacity weaknesses, porous borders, and communication gaps among countries. Imperative to these efforts is an informed understanding of drivers and trade routes that will guide multi-country responses to wildlife crime.

Collectively, the project’s efforts will be aimed at connecting anti-poaching and community support with anti-trafficking and legal actions through targeted on-the-ground activities, reinforced by cross-cutting thematic interventions at the national, transboundary and regional levels. A multi-partner, multi-country approach to countering wildlife crime and trafficking will be used to foster improved knowledge on wildlife crime dynamics and impacts, and enhanced sharing of related information and data among agencies, civil society, and private sector within and among countries.

The CWCP partners are cognizant that the reduction of corruption and improvement of transparency and accountability needs to be injected into the full wildlife enforcement chain if efforts to curtail rhino and elephant crime in the region are to be successful. During the project inception period, partners will assess how to introduce more transparency and checks and balances into activities using references such as the TRAFFIC/World Wildlife Fund (WWF) primer on strategies to fight corruption in wildlife conservation and the potential inclusion of anti-corruption expertise at the inception workshop. The Consortium (the members of which are described in the section below) will also tap into the knowledge of existing and potential new partners such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), World Bank, and national anti-corruption and judicial commissions.

6. The CWCP Consortium

To implement this project, WWF will bring together a group of highly qualified national and international partners selected based upon their ability to mitigate wildlife crime/ trafficking at either a geographic or thematic level.

In Namibia, the Consortium is comprised of six sub-grantee partner organizations in addition to WWF Namibia: Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC); Legal Assistance Center (LAC); the NACSO (Namibian Association of Community-based Natural Resource Management Support Organizations) Natural Resources Working Group (NRWG);

Namibian Nature Foundation (NNF); Save the Rhino Trust (SRT); and TRAFFIC. A strong partnership will be forged with the Government of Namibia (GoN) through its Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET). MET provides the national umbrella framework for wildlife crime activities through its National Strategy on Wildlife Protection and Law Enforcement. All Consortium partners for the Namibia component already have complementary roles under this coordinating structure and, with the exception of TRAFFIC, have worked closely with MET for over two decades on rhino management and the nation’s communal conservancy program. The National Strategy also provides a platform for important collaboration with other relevant agencies including the Namibian Police Force (NAMPOL), the Ministry of Justice, and the Prosecutor General office (PG), among others.

A similarly impressive array of Consortium partner organizations will be engaged in targeted areas within KAZA: the KAZA Secretariat; TRAFFIC; IRDNC; IUCN; WWF (Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia offices); and Ecoexist. A provisional partner, the Association of Environmental Conservation and Integrated Rural Development (ACADIR), has been identified to work with communities in Angola, but additional time is required to determine their specific contributions.

Each KAZA partner will be responsible for engagement with government agencies, project beneficiaries and other partners in their respective country, i.e. ECOEXIST in Botswana; IRDNC and WWF Namibia in Namibia; WWF Zambia in Zambia; and WWF Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe.

These organizations will also act as the entry point for the crosscutting transboundary activities of TRAFFIC and IUCN. The KAZA Secretariat with its mandate to coordinate and oversee the transboundary activities of KAZA will act as the coordinating body for transboundary activities particularly among government ministries and agencies. Finally, the organizations engaged in both Namibia and KAZA components (IRDNC, WWF, and TRAFFIC) will ensure cross-learning across the two focal areas. Letters of Commitment from all Consortium members, supporting governments, the KAZA Secretariat and SADC are available in Annex 1.

CWCP will be implemented through a Cooperative Agreement having a total contribution of approximately US$16 million for a five-year performance period, contingent upon availability of funding. The Cooperative Agreement, through this program description, will support the specific objectives described below and be part of USAID’s regional efforts to combat illegal trade in wildlife. CWCP objectives will contribute to the implementation of the United States National Strategy to Combat Wildlife Trafficking, and complement current regional and bilateral programs managed by USAID and other USG agencies in Southern Africa, as well as ongoing responses by donors, governments, private sector and other organizations.

WWF will award grants to seven national organizations and four international non-governmental organizations (NGO), including WWF Zambia and WWF Zimbabwe. Grantees will cumulatively receive 74.2% ($11.87 million) of the total budgetary allocation, with the remaining 25.8% ($4.13 million) being used by WWF to cover programmatic management, coordination costs, monitoring, and technical advice. Project funds will be allocated at 33% ($5.22 million) to rhino related activities in central-western Namibia and 67% ($10.78 million) to elephants in the KAZA Landscape.

7. Project Objectives

CWCP seeks to significantly reduce poaching and illegal trade in wildlife, enhance LE capacity, and promote sustainable natural resource utilization over the next five years. Piloting of new ideas, sharing of best practices, and information exchange will be facilitated through Consortium members and the KAZA TFCA to build capacity for wildlife management, enforcement of wildlife laws, and incentive-based conservation models.

CWCP will build capacity at multiple levels of the LE chain, commencing with enhanced community awareness and engagement, to more timely and effective investigations, to strengthened prosecutions, to increased recognition of the seriousness of wildlife crime by the judiciary. Where possible and appropriate, contributions to the strengthening of relevant policies and legislations will be made at the transboundary and national levels. CWCP will align with the SADC and KAZA LEAP strategies by establishing national and transboundary level collaborative anti-poaching networks and engaging communities in the prevention of wildlife crimes. Namibian experiences on community involvement in conservation, and the nexus with combatting wildlife crime, will be captured and shared in the geographies identified above across the KAZA region. And where possible and with the necessary funding, similar approaches may be replicated in other parts of the KAZA region. CWCP will test new approaches, including closer collaboration with private sector partners from the tourism and hunting industries, in community-based wildlife monitoring, wildlife crime monitoring/reporting and the piloting of innovative income streams from payment for ecosystem services (PES)-related wildlife credit schemes.

This overall goal of CWCP will be achieved through the following project objectives:

• Objective 1: Improve community engagement in combatting wildlife crime through increased benefits, strengthened wildlife stewardship and greater pride in their wildlife.

• Objective 2: Strengthen anti-poaching and surveillance capacity and collaboration among communities, private sector, and PA and LE officials.

• Objective 3: Support more effective investigations and prosecutions in Namibia and among

KAZA countries through strengthened capacity, heightened awareness of the seriousness of wildlife crime and increased penalties.

• Objective 4: Catalyze and/or strengthen coordination and information sharing on wildlife crime among LE agencies, civil society, private sector and donors, as appropriate, within countries and among countries.

• Objective 5: Integrate improved understanding of both: i) the dynamics of wildlife trafficking;

and ii) community engagement into combatting wildlife crime in regional, national, and community-level responses to wildlife crime.

The project goal and objectives will be achieved using the Management Approaches and Guiding Principles outlined in Section 11.

8. Target Communities and Focal Areas

Geographic areas for CWCP support have been identified based upon the need to address threats to key Namibian rhino populations and targeted populations of elephants in KAZA (Figure 1).

CWCP rhino interventions rhino will focus on communities (18 conservancies), Etosha National Park (NP), and the Palmwag Tourism Concession (with the potential to expand to Mangetti NP over time).

Figure 1. Proposed Project sites for on-the-ground interventions.

Elephant-related interventions in KAZA will target select communities and PAs with high densities and/or vulnerable or expanding populations of elephants. Recipient communities will include community trusts in the Botswana Panhandle area of the Okavango Delta, the Lower Zambezi Game Management Area (GMA) in Zambia, the Sebungwe CAMPFIRE area of Zimbabwe, 19 communal conservancies in Namibia, and still-to-be defined Angolan communities. In addition, strong emphasis will be placed on two existing (Salambala Conservancy/Chobe Enclave and Kwandu Conservancy/ Sioma) and two formative (Bwabwata/Luiana and Bwabwata/Okavango Panhandle) transboundary community conservation forums as a means of promoting transboundary awareness, coordination and cooperation to counter wildlife crime in KAZA. Varying degrees of support will be provided to PAs in KAZA, including: Luiana NP in Angola; Botswana’s Okavango Delta; Namibia’s transboundary parks of Bwabwata, Khaudum, Mudumu, and Nkasa Rhupara; Sioma Ngwezi NP in Zambia; and Chizarira NP in Zimbabwe.

Interventions have been agreed upon with all existing Consortium members. Negotiations are ongoing with ACADIR, an Angolan NGO, related to support activities with communities living adjacent to or within Luiana NP. A level of effort (LOE) budget of US$400,000 has been allocated to support ACADIR activities, tentative upon final approval of grant activities and USAID authorization.

9. Project Activities (by Objective)

As described by the project ToC, combatting wildlife crime is a complex process necessitating interventions at multiple levels of the LE continuum. As the primary thrust of CWCP is aimed at countering wildlife crime, resources have been balanced and spread across five objectives (Table 1).

Table 1. Allocation of Project Level of Effort over Project Objectives.

Project Objectives: LOE

(USD)

Percent Allocation

Objective 1: Improve community engagement in combatting wildlife crime through increased benefits, strengthened wildlife stewardship and greater pride in their wildlife

4,246,958

26.5

Objective 2: Strengthen anti-poaching and surveillance capacity and collaboration among communities, private sector, and PA and LE officials

4,524,760

28.3

Objective 3: Support more effective investigations and prosecutions in Namibia and among KAZA countries through strengthened capacity, heightened awareness of the seriousness of wildlife crime, and increased penalties

3,501,740

21.9

Objective 4: Catalyze and/or strengthen coordination and information sharing on wildlife crime among LE agencies, civil society, private sector and donors, as appropriate, within countries and among countries

2,323,113

14.5

Objective 5: Integrate improved understanding of both: i) the dynamics of wildlife trafficking; and ii) community engagement into combatting wildlife crime in regional, national, and community-level responses to wildlife crime

1,403,429

8.8

Totals 16,000,000 100

9.1 Objective 1: Improve community engagement in combatting wildlife crime through increased benefits, strengthened wildlife stewardship and greater pride in their wildlife.

As the frontline of defense against wildlife crime, it is essential that communities are incentivized, empowered and capacitated to be responsible wildlife stewards. Optimal community-based conservation efforts create democratic governance structures that increase community empowerment and equity, and promote improved management of communal resources, resulting in enhanced community development. Activities for this objective will be organized around three interconnected sub-objectives designed to amplify community engagement in combatting wildlife crime: 1) strengthening the flow and linkage between wildlife and community benefits as a means of incentivizing wildlife management and countering poaching; 2) enhanced community governance and leadership over the management of natural resources; and 3) creation of community pride in community wildlife assets and achievements. Each of these elements is critical to the ability of the project supported community-based organizations (CBO) to counter wildlife crime and improve natural resource stewardship. Inputs into these sub-objectives will be guided by community situational assessments facilitated by the KAZA Secretariat for representative areas of KAZA. Activities under this objective will be further informed by the results of the action research (sub-objective 5.1) on better understanding factors contributing to community engagement in combatting wildlife crime.

Sub-objective 1.1: Strengthen the flow and linkage between viable wildlife populations and community benefits: Where possible, the flow of natural resource income and benefits will be increased, with particular emphasis being made to enhance community awareness of the threat wildlife crime poses to their livelihoods. Measures will be taken to ensure greater benefit streams to community households, thereby strengthening the linkage between the presence of wildlife and livelihoods. Concomitantly, the impacts of living with elephants and other wildlife will be mitigated by reducing the costs of human wildlife conflict. The project will diversify the range of income-generating options, including testing adapted approaches to PES to secure wildlife corridors through the piloting of a wildlife credit scheme. This activity will be largely implemented in Namibia with opportunities for sharing lessons across the KAZA region. Efforts to link PES to positive behavior change and decreased illegal activity will be monitored. Special effort will be made to ensure women are appropriately targeted as beneficiaries through nature-based enterprises and benefit distribution procedures.

Illustrative Activities:

Identify and develop new and innovative PES mechanisms (e.g. wildlife credits) that create a rhino economy (Namibia).

Identify enterprises, income-generating activities to create an elephant economy in the

Panhandle region of Botswana (KAZA).

Review and draft new benefit distribution plans for target conservancies (Namibia).

Establish partnerships between conservancies and private sector partners from the tourism and hunting industries (Namibia, KAZA).

Develop and pilot a new model of joint venture concessions on state land and NPs

(Namibia).

Build community understanding of the increased value of wildlife gained through partnerships with the private sector (KAZA).

Sub-objective 1.2 Enhance community governance and leadership of CBOs in wildlife management and stewardship: Training, technical assistance, and mentoring will be applied to strengthen the ability of CBO members (e.g. conservancies, GMAs, etc.) to hold their management and governance committees accountable and to exert greater leadership and ownership over NRM and stewardship. Where required, technical, administrative and management capacities in CBOs will be strengthened by mentoring managers, bookkeepers, community game guards and wildlife specialists. The level of capacity of both men and women and indigenous groups (San, Himba) will be considered in the planning and design of capacity-building activities. Mechanisms will be introduced to strengthen the rights of members, improve the flow of information, and enhance the role of full community constituencies in decision-making processes and allocation of community benefits. Lessons learned from this process will be used to adapt similar capacity-building efforts for communities in neighboring KAZA countries.

Establish and/or strengthen local governance structures (KAZA, Namibia).

Empower women and disadvantaged groups to actively participate in decision making

(Namibia).

Develop capacity building programs [e.g. training modules, curricula, training of trainers

(TOT)] (Namibia, KAZA).

Provide targeted leadership training for CBO management structures and staff (Namibia).

Hold courses on rhino monitoring and tourism.

Provide capacity building to CBOs on governance, wildlife stewardship and enterprise management (KAZA, Namibia).

Introduce approaches to mitigating human-elephant (and other wildlife) conflict (KAZA).

Sub-objective 1.3: Build Community Pride in Wildlife: Pride campaigns will build widespread awareness among community members of the value of their wildlife and their achievements and contributions to improved wildlife management and combatting wildlife crime. Expanded community pride will catalyze and extend community wildlife stewardship, resulting in increased eyes and ears on the ground monitoring and reporting acts of wildlife crime. Targeted efforts will be made to engage women and disadvantaged groups in pride campaigns. Women’s engagement is critical not only because they represent thousands of new pairs of eyes and ears, but because they frequent different parts of the landscape (e.g. when collecting water or indigenous plants) and are often active in wildlife-based commercial enterprises such as bushmeat trade.

Conduct community sensitization and awareness campaigns for CBO committees and staff on the role of communities in combatting wildlife crimes (KAZA).

Develop methodology and conduct survey on community awareness about wildlife crime

(Namibia).

Mainstream community pride messaging into community-based activities (Namibia).

Promote pride and value in indigenous knowledge, especially in such indigenous tribal groups as the San and Himba (in KAZA and Namibia, respectively) who are renowned for their tracking and hunting skills.

Organize targeted awareness campaigns on wildlife crime (Namibia, KAZA).

9.2 Objective 2: Strengthen anti-poaching and surveillance capacity and collaboration among communities, private sector, and PA and LE officials.

There is an urgent need to bolster the capacity of government conservation agencies, communities and support organizations to rapidly and effectively address on-the-ground poaching and trafficking threats and events. Our Consortium will work closely with governments, partner organizations, and the private sector to strengthen anti-poaching and surveillance capacity and collaboration through the following three sub-objectives: 1) the introduction of new approaches, tools, and technologies; 2) training and capacity building of LE staff; and 3) enhanced communication and information sharing. Cumulatively, the measures supported by this Objective will increase the speed at which poaching incidents are detected or prevented, ensure appropriate crime scene management, and improve the likelihood of apprehensions and successful prosecutions. Activities under this objective will be supported at specific site levels within communities, PAs, and targeted transboundary areas based upon specific site needs and opportunities.

Sub-Objective 2.1: Leverage new approaches, tools, and technologies for field-based LE activities: High-level government officials from KAZA countries will be exposed to tools and best practice in combating wildlife crime, including the UNODC International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit; IUCN Wildlife Law Enforcement Best Practices in Protected Areas: SADC Protocol on Wildlife Management and Law Enforcement; and SADC LEAP Strategy, among others. These events will also be an opportunity to promote good governance and improved transparency and accountability through the management and enforcement chains, while acknowledging the importance of confidentiality for certain types of wildlife-crime related information. Stemming from this activity and subsequent discussions, countries will document specific in-country and cross-border needs that will in turn be used to inform CWCP activities and country action plans spearheaded by each country’s Law Enforcement Task Force.

The use of sniffer dogs in Etosha NP to assist in law-enforcement (detection of illegal arms, ammunition, and wildlife contraband) will be co-funded with the Combatting Wildlife Trafficking in Namibia project of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), but expanded with CWCP funding. The introduction of new technologies such as night vision scopes, fixed cameras and metal detectors will improve monitoring of human movement, and detection of unlawful activities.

Hold workshops to: 1) introduce government officials from KAZA countries to tools, best practices on wildlife crime; and 2) document in country and cross-border capacity and resource needs (KAZA Secretariat, WWF, TRAFFIC).

Expand the number of dogs and capacity of the Etosha dog sniffer program (Namibia), co-funded with INL support.

Develop and utilize gunshot detectors to identify potential poaching events in a timely manner.

Training on the use of new technologies (Namibia).

Sub-objective 2.2: Strengthen and improve anti-poaching and LE efforts: For Namibia and KAZA countries to successfully respond to growing threats to their rhino and elephant populations, significant investments in on-the-ground LEAP capacity of PA personnel, communities and other LE agencies are critical. CWCP will introduce and reinforce fundamental approaches to anti-poaching activities in parks and on communal lands. Rapid response capacity in a limited number of poaching hotspots will be coupled with the use of new technologies (see sub-objective 2.1) to increase detection and response time to illegal activities. Skills in crime scene management will be introduced to both park and community personnel as a critical first step in building cases for successful prosecution of criminals.

Training of park rangers and staff in anti-poaching efforts and improved patrolling will initially be provided to park staff in Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, with potential extension to Angola and Botswana over time if requested.

Special efforts will be made to strengthen community capacity in anti-poaching work. In Namibia, community engagement in LE will be amplified through the development and application of a comprehensive LEAP training program that will benefit community game guards (approximately 400) across targeted conservancies. Accreditation of related anti-poaching training modules will institutionalize anti-poaching efforts in Namibian conservancies, and allow lessons learned from this process to be shared with communities in Zambia’s Silowana Complex, Zimbabwe’s Chizarira/Sengwa Complex, and other KAZA communities as appropriate. In parallel, community members and their traditional authorities will be sensitized to the implications of wildlife crime to their socio-economic and cultural well-being.

Train community game guards and conservancy managers in LE, crime scene investigations, anti-poaching strategies, patrol management and data collection using GPS (Namibia).

Equip LE rangers and community game guards with appropriate equipment, uniforms, etc. (KAZA, Namibia).

Develop a comprehensive LEAP training module and program for PAs (KAZA).

Create guidelines for crime scene management (KAZA).

Provide crime scene investigation capacity in the Kunene region as a technical support service to NAMPOL and MET (Namibia).

Conduct transboundary ranger training on standard cross-border pursuit protocols, standard operating procedures (SOP) for crime scene investigations, etc. (KAZA).

Create a group of elite government (MET, NAMPOL, PRU) anti-poaching staff through advanced training at MET’s Waterberg Anti-poaching School (Namibia).

Provide LE training and support to staff in Sioma Ngwezi and Chizarira NPs (Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively (KAZA).

Offer training course on anti-poaching to identified community game guards at the MET Waterberg Anti-poaching School leading to “Honorary Warden” status (Namibia).

Develop and manage a national and Etosha level Patrol Tracking and Monitoring system to allow rapid assessment of patrol frequency, distribution and quality (Namibia).

Sub-objective 2.3: Enhance communications and sharing of information among PA managers, LE officials, communities and the private sector: Informer systems will be established using a series of discrete/confidential systems to facilitate the gathering of low-level local information on poaching and trafficking from rural and urban citizens. These systems will be managed by the relevant LE officials for their own use, but the project will provide analytical assistance as required. Importantly, the project will assist with developing mechanisms that ensure this local-level data is consolidated and used for more sophisticated national-level analysis by government LE agencies. Informer systems will be supported and/or introduced in communities in all project-supported areas in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (and ultimately, Angola). In particular, transboundary informer networks will be promoted as a means of reducing cross-border poaching.