African Parks to invest K18bn in wildlife conservation

African Parks (AP), a private sector firm managing three of Malawi’s parks and wildlife reserves under a public-private partnership (PPP) concession with government, says it will invest $24 million (about K18 billion) in the next five years.

Speaking during the 2017 stakeholders meeting on Wednesday in Liwonde, AP Malawi board chairperson Francis Mbilizi said: “African Parks believes that if we want our conservation programmes to be sustainable in the long-term, then they have to make sense to the local people. Communities should be given incentives to conserve the protected areas.”

In his remarks, AP country director Patricio Ndadzela commended the strides made by government through the Department of National Parks and Wildlife to strengthen its legislation and the positive response from the Judiciary, police and the community in dealing with wildlife crimes offenders.

He added that the organisation intends to bring 13 lions into the country towards the end of this month to  increase the population in Majete and Nkhotakota wildlife reserves. n