Webinar: Strengthening the Wildlife Based Economy in face of an El Nino induced drought in Southern Africa

Main Lessons
1. Drought is a threat multiplier — not just a climate event
All three presentations converge on this: drought doesn't simply reduce rainfall. It triggers a cascade — crop failure, livestock loss, water scarcity, food insecurity, habitat degradation, and increased human-wildlife conflict. The Zambia community impact presentation (Muyunda) puts the most human face on this, documenting malnutrition, child deaths, and community members risking their lives poaching to survive. The AWEI/Stellenbosch presentation frames it structurally: climate shocks erode assets and push households into poverty traps. The lesson is that responses must be systemic, not siloed. 2. Drought drives poaching — and this is a conservation crisis, not just a social one
Both field-level presentations (COMACO and Muyunda) identify poaching as a direct consequence of drought-driven hardship. When communities have no food or income, wildlife becomes a survival resource. Muyunda notes that buffalo and hippo populations are particularly at risk, and that game meat-for-cash exchanges provide short-term relief at long-term conservation cost. COMACO's preparedness strategy implicitly addresses this by reducing the drivers of desperation. Addressing livelihood vulnerability is inseparable from protecting wildlife. 3. Community resilience must be built before the crisis hits
COMACO's entire framework is about anticipatory action — training cooperative leaders, disseminating early warnings, stocking drought-tolerant seeds, and mapping water sources before El Niño arrives. Muyunda's presentation is largely a record of what happens when communities are not prepared. The AWEI/Stellenbosch presentation reinforces this at the policy level: most wildlife economy strategies and TFCA management plans were designed for stable climates and lack climate risk management. Pre-drought preparedness is far cheaper than post-drought humanitarian response. 4. Diversification is the central adaptation strategy
All three presentations, from different angles, point to the danger of mono-dependence — on maize, on a single water source, on tourism alone, on wildlife for protein. COMACO promotes a portfolio of drought-tolerant crops (sorghum, cassava, cowpeas), water harvesting options, and poultry as a fallback asset. AWEI/Stellenbosch advocates for wild foods (mopane worms, marula, baobab), restoration economy jobs, and regenerative tourism alongside game meat. Muyunda calls for alternative livelihoods to reduce pressure on wildlife. Income diversification is both a livelihood strategy and a conservation strategy. 5. Water is the keystone resource — and it needs active management
Water scarcity sits at the centre of nearly every problem described: dying wildlife, crop failure, human health risks, conflict over resources, and forced migration of both people and animals. COMACO maps boreholes and water tables and assigns appropriate technology (solar pumps vs. treadle pumps) based on depth. Muyunda calls for dam construction and borehole drilling in both farming and wildlife areas. AWEI/Stellenbosch frames this as water security for wildlife, communities, and enterprises, requiring catchment management and restoration. Water infrastructure is foundational to any climate resilience strategy in GMAs and TFCAs. 6. Indigenous and local knowledge should be actively integrated
COMACO explicitly convenes community elders alongside cooperative leaders to share indigenous drought coping strategies. This is a model often overlooked in technical climate responses. The AWEI/Stellenbosch presentation references co-producing actionable advisories with communities. The lesson: local knowledge systems are a resilience asset, not just a consultation box to tick. 7. Finance, information, and policy are the missing enablers
The AWEI/Stellenbosch presentation adds an important layer absent from the field presentations: even when communities and conservancies know what to do, they often can't act at scale without dedicated climate finance (blended finance, insurance products, PES mechanisms), reliable climate information services (early warning, downscaled forecasts), and enabling policy that mainstreams adaptation into wildlife and TFCA frameworks. Technical solutions exist; the bottleneck is finance, data access, and policy alignment. 8. TFCAs and transboundary landscapes offer scale advantages
The AWEI/Stellenbosch presentation makes the case that TFCAs like KAZA and GLTFCA provide natural platforms for joint climate adaptation planning, shared water governance, and wildlife corridor protection — things no single country can do alone. The community-level presentations illustrate why this matters: drought, wildlife movement, and poaching don't respect national borders. Landscape-scale responses require landscape-scale governance.

The link below is for a report done on The 2015/16 Drought in Kruger National Park.