Description
Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ) is a non-profit organisation committed to the protection of wildlife and the sustainable use of natural resources in the Lower Zambezi, Zambia. Established in 1994, CLZ’s mission focuses on three main pillars of support:
- Wildlife Protection,
- Environmental Education and
- Community Empowerment.
CLZ works closely with the local communities living adjacent to the Lower Zambezi National Park (LZNP), and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW). DNPW the wildlife agency mandated under the Zambia Wildlife Act of 2015 to manage and conserve Zambia’s wildlife and is one of CLZ’s key partners and collaborators.
This collaboration is committed to promoting integrated and participatory approaches to wildlife resource management, in both the LZNP and the surrounding Game Management Areas (GMAs).
Impact
Conservation Lower Zambezi has used funds provided by the Elephant Charge to support their Environmental Education Programme (EEP) and critical operational costs. CLZ’s EEP has been running for 17 years and reaches approximately 3,500 school children and teachers from 65 conservation clubs in the Game Management Areas (GMAs) that surround the Lower Zambezi National Park (LZNP) annually.
Elephant Charge funding has benefitted CLZ immensely over the last 13 years, providing:
- Support for School Visits – 6 Environmental Education Centre visits are conducted annually, 24 pupils and 4 teachers from each of 5 different regions around the LZNP, attend conservation lessons, and engage in game drives and boat cruises into the national park to facilitate practical learning and positive wildlife interactions.
- Support for Outreach Visits – 5 outreach visits to 5 different regions around the LZNP are conducted annually.
- Support for the Environmental Education Program Manager’s salary – integral to the running and continuity of the program.
- Curriculum/Student Booklet printing and iSchool subscriptions – annually, hundreds of CLZ’s EEP curriculums and students’ booklets are printed for distribution to schools during the Outreach Visits.
- Supporting critical operational costs – including essential camp infrastructure and contributions towards CLZ’s ongoing aerial patrols, vital to wildlife protection activities both in and around the LZNP.
