| Abstract |
Africa’s wildlife faces a salient crisis, such as the slow breaking up of habitats that wildlife
depends on to feed, breed, and move. This Policy brief presents ndings from the rst
systematic satellite-based assessment of the Simalaha Community Conservancy (SCC) in
Western, Zambia, a 180,000-hectare community-managed wildlife area that links Chobe
National Park in Botswana with Kafue National Park in Zambia. Using freely available Landsat
satellite imagery analysed across two points in time from 2010 to 2025, the study compared
land cover change inside and outside the conservancy. The results are clear; Habitat inside
the SCC remained largely stable and well connected, while the land surrounding it suVered
accelerating forest loss and breakups, and agricultural encroachment. These ndings
demonstrate the power of the conservancy model and the urgent need to protect the
broader landscape around it. Therefore, urgent policy intervention is required to secure the
broader transboundary matrix for migratory species like elephants. |
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