Hwange, Zimbabwe – The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) recently concluded a crucial workshop in Hwange to review and update the Zimbabwe Elephant Management Plan (2021-2025).
The gathering, held on June 26, 2025, brought together diverse stakeholders to assess the plan’s implementation, address emerging issues, and explore more effective management strategies for the nation’s burgeoning elephant population.
The original plan, established in 1992, seeks to balance elephant conservation with broader biodiversity goals and national socio-economic development. Key issues highlighted during the review included the management of excess elephant populations, fostering human-elephant co-existence, securing research funding, building community resilience, and sustaining local livelihoods.
A significant development was the unprecedented attendance of five Chiefs from the Hwange district. These traditional leaders voiced deep concerns regarding the lack of tangible benefits for communities living alongside elephants, who frequently experience crop raiding, resource competition, and incidents of injury and property damage.
They highlighted the ongoing poverty exacerbated by these conflicts and the urgent need for a relief fund for injured community members.The workshop acknowledged that increased elephant populations and localized overabundance have intensified human-elephant conflicts.
Compounding these challenges is severe underfunding for conservation efforts. Hwange National Park’s current annual budget of under US500,000 pales in comparison to the estimated US21 million required for effective management, based on benchmarks from other Southern African protected areas.
While elephant poaching for ivory has declined, sustainable utilization remains hampered by global trade restrictions.
ZimParks emphasized the necessity of collective stakeholder efforts in elephant conservation and invited broad participation in the review process, which will transition into a ten-year management strategy.
