Communities living near Angola’s Quiçama National Park say unemployment is breeding poachers

As first heard on Radio Ecclesia in Angola, here. Produced by Pedro Tchindele.

March 17 2023

Park authorities insist there is a plan in place to balance community needs with wildlife conservation

Quiçama National Park was devastated during the Civil War, and restoration began in 2005 with the Noah’s Ark Project.

Image by Eden Constantino.

The communities living around Quiçama National Park, 70 kilometres south of Angola’s capital, Luanda, have been sensitised by the authorities to participate in the conservation of wildlife. With a well-defined plan, the park's public relations manager, Domingos Índio, says that, for better management of conflicts and confrontations, it is necessary to engage the community, where potential poachers might be living, in order to create awareness about the importance of the species living in the park. The park with 9960 square kilometres

Within the community, we find a population divided between sustenance and the need to safeguard the species. Therefore, they ask for more opportunities for other social occupations, especially for young people, so that they have other sources of income, and do not resort to poaching. Indio added that it was necessary to maintain the right balance, so that there could be healthy coexistence in the community. 

Listen to Pedro’s full broadcast, in Portuguese, here.

This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organisation Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Written articles from the Mozambican and Angolan cohorts are translated from Portuguese. Broadcast stories remain in the original language.