In Zambia, battle over future of Victoria Falls
Development nearby offers needed employment, but could also threaten local wildlife.
from the March 21, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
But conservation and civil-society groups called this a dangerously short-term outlook, given Zambia's reliance on its national parks for revenue. After raising their concerns at a contentious public hearing last fall, they used Internet blogs to keep supporters updated and to spread the word internationally.
It worked.
Safari tour operators in Britain threatened to boycott Legacy. The US Environmental Protection Agency wrote to the Zambian government to voice its concerns. The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) let it be known that the project would put in jeopardy the World Heritage site status that the Falls and the park currently enjoy.
In December, the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) handed down a compromise decision. Noting that the Legacy proposal would have "far reaching environmental consequences," the ECZ said that the golf course and villas would have to go. Legacy could keep its two hotels, but would be prohibited from putting up animal fencing or building their hotels higher than the treetops.
"It was a huge victory," says Mike Musgrave, a South African-born businessman and president of the Livingstone chapter of the Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia. "It's the biggest environmental campaign ever run in Zambia."
Legacy lost an appeal to the government, and its investment into Livingstone will now drop to $50 million from a planned $260 million, Mr. Mushinge says. "Thanks to our environmental guys," he says with a laugh.
Legacy may buy up private land to expand their site. And rampant development continues to threaten the Falls, international observers say.
Still, Mr. Musgrave says he is encouraged that at least in this instance, policy-makers took the long view and concluded that development – in the name of tourism – might actually drive away tourists.
"We need to keep the Falls in the way that Livingstone saw them," Musgrave says. "That's what tourists come to see."
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