Introduction and Background
The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) program organized a series of webinars on community forestry, women’s land rights, and private wildlife estates and community game ranching from May to September 2021. The webinar series replaced in-person research symposiums held in previous years; the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic necessitated the shift to webinars. The goal of the webinar series was to provide a platform to share research and field experience from the land and natural resource governance sector in Zambia, bringing together academics, practitioners, civil society, traditional leaders, community organizations, government officials, and students from different sectors and geographical locations.
Sessions on community game ranching and private wildlife estates were held in June 2021. The objectives of the sessions were to:
- Develop an understanding of the current states of private wildlife estates (PWEs) and community game ranches (CGRs) in Zambia;
- Provide a venue for stakeholders, including communities, the private sector, and government, to share their experiences with CGRs and PWEs;
- Give insights on the challenges and opportunities for CGRs and PWEs in Zambia; and
- Provide an opportunity for practical commitments to promote CGRs and PWEs.
The Zoom webinar sessions were well-attended, with an average of 60 participants at each session. Each session included three to four presentations of 15 to 20 minutes, followed by a discussion period for participants and presenters to follow up on the content of the presentations.
This report summarizes the presentations and discussion from the two sessions on PWEs and CGRs. Full recordings of the sessions can be found on YouTube.