PROTECTED AREA OUTREACH
Communities living around protected areas are increasing and as a result so is the pressure on precious natural resources. High levels of poverty means a reliance on firewood for fuel, subsistence poaching of wild animals is still common, and larger illegal wildlife trade syndicates dealing in products like ivory are recruiting commercial poachers from vulnerable communities. What’s more, with minimal buffer zones, people and wildlife are living in closer proximity, which ultimately results in conflict. Not surprisingly, elephants destroying crops or lions killing livestock doesn’t help to foster support for wildlife conservation.
PEEP (Protected Area Environmental Education Project)
LWT’s Protected Area Environmental Education Project has been developed to raise awareness about environmental issues, the importance of protecting the wildlife within the protected areas and the associated benefits for the communities.
Similar to our LEEP programme our team and international volunteers work with schools and their teachers to deliver environmental education across the following topics:
- Wildlife Welfare & Conservation
- Deforestation
- Waste Management
- Biodiversity
- Wildlife Crime
- Human-Wildlife Conflict
- Climate Change
We are currently rolling out our programme in Kasungu, Liwonde, Nyika/Vwaza and Thuma, adapting each to their area to incorporate the specific issues affecting those communities, with particular emphasis on human-wildlife conflict, wildlife crime and wildlife welfare & conservation.