Zambian Poacher Reformation Program
Partners
In Zambia, Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) provides training and incentives to poachers seeking a new life and new livelihoods.
Life as a Zambian smallholder farmer is incredibly difficult — families are socially and economically vulnerable, especially during the growing season when food is scarce and money is even more scarce. For many living in the wildlife-rich Luangwa Valley of Zambia, these conditions turn small-scale farmers to poaching, a livelihood which is as dangerous as it is lucrative.[1]
The Poaching Crisis
The impact of poaching in the Luangwa Valley has been devastating. Between the 1970s and 1990s, elephant numbers fell by more than half due to intensive commercial and subsistence poaching.[4] Researchers estimate that, at one point, poaching killed over 5,000 animals a year.[3]
The black rhino population, once estimated at tens of thousands across Zambia's Luangwa Valley, was driven to complete local extinction by the early 1990s through relentless poaching for rhino horn.[5] Despite decades of enforcement-heavy anti-poaching efforts, the problem persisted — suggesting that punitive approaches alone were insufficient.[6]
Wildlife Populations: South Luangwa Valley (1973–2024)
Each species shown as % of its 1973 population. Drag the slider right to reveal what happened next.
Sources: IUCN African Elephant Database (AED) aerial survey records; CITES MIKE Carcass Summary 2003–2024; Zambia Department of National Parks & Wildlife (DNPW); South Luangwa Conservation Society annual wildlife monitoring reports. Pre-2003 figures are survey-period estimates with inherent uncertainty.
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Poaching in the Luangwa Valley is driven by a complex web of poverty, food insecurity, and lack of alternative livelihoods. Ethnographic research by Stuart Marks documented how subsistence hunting has deep cultural roots in Zambian communities, and that addressing poaching requires understanding the socioeconomic realities of rural life.[3]
Why Enforcement Alone Fails
A landmark study in World Development examined integrated conservation-development projects (ICDPs) across Sub-Saharan Africa and found that enforcement-only approaches to poaching consistently fail when communities lack viable economic alternatives.[7] This insight — that conservation must be paired with livelihood improvement — became the theoretical foundation for programs like COMACO.
The Luangwa Valley's own history illustrates this. Earlier community wildlife management programs such as ADMADE (Administrative Management Design for Game Management Areas) showed promise in engaging local communities, but struggled with sustainability and equitable benefit-sharing.[8]