Wildlife management in Gonarezhou National Park, southeast Zimbabwe: Climate change and implications for management

Climate change is not a new phenomenon; the only constant about climate throughout Earth’s history is that it has changed (Marchant, 2010). An earlier study in Africa indicated that some Southern African ecosystems are highly sensitive to climate change (e.g., Magadza, 1994). Climate change in Africa is expected to lead to higher occurrence of severe droughts in semiarid and arid ecosystems (Foley et al., 2008). For instance, a severe drought associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon was recorded in 1991–92 in Southern Africa. In Zimbabwe, the most affected areas in terms of wildlife and ecological systems in the 1991–92 drought were recorded in the southeastern parts of the country (Magadza, 1994).