Paper short abstract:

The Community Based Conservation Approach (CBC) has been used in managing natural resources such as wildlife around the world especially in Africa. However, there are questions on whether the approach is a success or not. This paper presents some problems affecting the success of the approach.

Paper long abstract:

The Community Based Conservation Approach (CBC) has been used in managing natural resources such as wildlife around the world. Kupika et al. (2018) define wildlife as all forms of undomesticated flora and fauna while Gren et al. (2018) define wildlife as all land-based mammals and birds. In this article wildlife will mean all land and water-based mammals and birds. From time immemorial wildlife has been a very important resource to indigenous people, especially in Africa. The African people for a long time depended on wildlife for food and cultural purposes, one of the services provided by ecosystems (MA, 2005). Wildlife is very important in supporting human wellbeing hence the need to effectively conserve it.

However, from the late 1970s, there has been a significant loss of various wildlife species in most African countries. Some scholars have argued that this is attributed to inadequate participation of local people in wildlife management and the increase in poverty levels. To prevent the rampant loss of wildlife conservation advocates and scholars recommended the involvement of local communities in wildlife management. This saw the introduction of the CBC programmes. In the 1980s the Community Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) Programme was introduced (Wainwright and Wehrmeyer, 1998).

This paper argues that CBNRM in Zambia has not been successful due to challenges such as inadequate capacity and elite capture. Success could be measured in terms of increase in wildlife numbers and improvement of local community livelihoods. This article will draw examples from Mumbwa Game Management Area.