Upbeat480 birds, one wetland, new eyes: Zambia gives the Kafue Flats a monitoring system
The Kafue Flats, one of Zambia's great wetlands, just gained a memory. The country has launched three linked tools — a Wetland Information System, an Ecological Monitoring Plan, and the 2025 dry-season aerial survey of large mammals and waterbirds — built with ZMW 4.9 million (about $200,000) from the JRS Biodiversity Foundation. The online database already documents 480 bird species alongside records of mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians. Thirteen wildlife officers have been trained in SMART, the standard monitoring software, and three University of Zambia master's students supported through the programme, developed since 2022 by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife with the International Crane Foundation and WWF Zambia. The work lays the groundwork for a roughly $9 million Global Environment Facility project to come.
SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: institutional program