Wildlife of
Zambia

Primary Threats

• Poaching for bushmeat and opportunistic killing of protected species persists around major parks (notably Kafue and the Luangwa Valley), driven by poverty, demand for wild meat, and access via road networks. While anti-poaching has improved in some landscapes, snaring and firearm poaching still impact antelope populations and can injure lions, leopards, and wild dogs through indiscriminate snares.
• Zambia has been used as both a source and transit route for illicit wildlife products, particularly ivory moving through regional corridors toward international markets. Enforcement gains have occurred, but trafficking networks and cross-border movement with neighboring countries keep pressure on elephants and other high-value species.
• Conversion of woodlands and savanna to crops and settlement is most pronounced along fertile river valleys and at protected-area boundaries (e.g., parts of the Luangwa Valley and Kafue's periphery). Encroachment fragments wildlife dispersal areas and reduces buffer zones that historically supported seasonal movements.
• Smallholder expansion and commercial agriculture (including irrigation in suitable catchments) increases land clearance and can intensify conflicts with wildlife where fields abut park boundaries. In some areas, agricultural growth is reinforced by road improvements and market access, accelerating edge effects around parks and game management areas.
• Unsustainable harvesting for charcoal and timber in miombo woodlands is a major driver of landscape degradation in many provinces, increasing fragmentation and fire risk and reducing habitat quality for woodland-dependent species. Charcoal supply chains to urban centers indirectly pressure conservation landscapes.
• Copperbelt and Northwestern Province mining footprints, plus exploration in broader regions, create localized habitat loss, road expansion, and pollution risks. Increased access and in-migration can raise hunting pressure and land conversion, and tailings/effluent can affect downstream aquatic systems if poorly managed.
• Road upgrades, new access tracks, power lines, and associated development can open remote areas to settlement and poaching and create barriers or mortality risks for wildlife. Hydropower and water infrastructure on major rivers can alter flow regimes that sustain downstream floodplains and fisheries.
• Altered fire regimes (more frequent late dry-season fires), river regulation around hydropower operations, and catchment land-use change modify savanna-woodland structure and aquatic habitats. These shifts can reduce forage quality, affect breeding areas for aquatic species, and change predator-prey dynamics in key ecosystems.
• Elephants, hippos, buffalo, and carnivores frequently damage crops, threaten human safety, or depredate livestock near the Luangwa, Lower Zambezi, and Kafue systems. Retaliatory killing and rising negative attitudes toward wildlife can follow, especially where communities see limited benefits from tourism or slow response to incidents.
• Localized overharvest of fish in heavily used rivers and floodplains and intensive collection of fuelwood and non-timber forest products near settlements can reduce ecosystem resilience. Where alternative livelihoods are limited, dependence on natural resources increases pressure around protected-area edges.
• Mining-related contamination risks (heavy metals, sediment) and urban/wastewater pollution around growing towns can degrade water quality in tributaries feeding the Kafue and Zambezi systems. Agricultural runoff (fertilizers/pesticides) is an emerging localized issue in more intensified farming zones.
• Greater rainfall variability, hotter temperatures, and more frequent drought/flood cycles threaten water security and habitat stability in river-dependent ecosystems. Climate stress can amplify human-wildlife conflict (as wildlife concentrate near water and crops) and increase wildfire intensity in miombo landscapes.
• Wildlife-livestock interfaces near park boundaries can facilitate disease risks (e.g., anthrax events in some wildlife areas, and other transmissible diseases affecting ungulates and carnivores). Limited veterinary capacity in remote regions can slow detection and response, increasing ecological and livelihood impacts.
• Aquatic weeds and invasive plants can proliferate in disturbed wetlands and river margins, especially where nutrient inputs rise and flow patterns change. Invasive species can alter fish habitat and impede water access/use for communities and wildlife in localized areas.
• Growing tourism nodes and settlement pressures near flagship parks and the Victoria Falls/Livingstone corridor increase noise, off-road driving impacts, and river traffic in sensitive habitats. Disturbance is most pronounced where visitor concentration is high or enforcement of zoning is weak.
• Urban growth (notably Lusaka and regional centers) increases demand for charcoal, timber, water, and bushmeat, indirectly driving extraction from surrounding landscapes. Expansion of peri-urban agriculture and informal settlements can also encroach on wetlands and forest patches important for ecosystem services.
• Fishing pressure rises in productive systems like the Kafue Flats and major river channels, with risks from illegal gear, fishing in breeding areas, and weak enforcement in some stretches. Declining catches can push fishers to intensify effort, creating a feedback loop that further depletes stocks.