The Lilongwe Wildlife Trust in conjunction with Nyika National Park and Vwaza Game Reserve on Friday engaged people at Ntchenachena, Traditional Authority Mwalweni in Rumphi District on wildlife conservation.
The theme of the campaign was “Restore the Planet Earth.”
Speaking in an interview after the awareness meeting, Assistant Coordinator for LWT Prince Luhanga said Ntchenachena is one of areas where poaching is happening most.
“Ntchenachena being close to Nyika National Park, people around here are fond of doing a number of practices which harm the wildlife existence, for example we talk of illegal charcoal production and illegal timber production.
“We also have issues of poaching and bush meat trade so the function was about awareness so that people should understand that those resources need to be protected, reserved and conserved,” said Luhanga.
In his remarks, TA Mwalweni said the meeting will help the community to understand their roles in protecting wildlife resources.
“We learnt that these natural resources and wildlife resources need to be protected and we as Chiefs we have the duty to warn our people and teach them how we can protect these wildlife resources, it’s also our duty to take part in restoring the world by protecting wildlife, so the meeting to us was a successful one,” said Mwalweni.
Officer In-charge for Rumphi Police, Inspector Flyton Kundimbule, said cases of poaching are now going down because the police are working hand in hand with chiefs and other stakeholders with awareness campaigns on how to protect the Government protected area.
Ronald Milanzi, one of the people who served jail after being arrested for poaching in a protected area, gave his testimony saying he learnt a lot while in prison. He advised the community to prevent such cases.
Rumphi Magistrate court judge, District Forestry Officer and OC Rumphi prison also spoke at the meeting.
Villagers displayed traditional dances like Vimbuza while Nkhomboli CDSS and Ntchenachena primary school learners did poems and songs.
Lilongwe Wildlife Trust is working in three districts in the northern region namely Chitipa, Rumphi, and Mzimba.
