Another €15.5 million for Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) TFCA

BMZ State Secretary Hans-Jürgen Beerfeltz handing the cheque for €15.5 million to Deputy Executive Secretary of SADC , Mr João Caholo, with the Ministers from the five KAZA TFCA partner countries—Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe—looking onOn 8 March 2013, State Secretary Hans-Jürgen Beerfeltz of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) handed a symbolic cheque to the amount of €15.5 million to the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Mr João Caholo, in presence of the government Ministers of the five countries partnering in the KAZA Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA). → read more…

Background

The Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area is situated in the Okavango and Zambezi river basins where the borders of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe converge. It is set to become the world's biggest conservation area and will eventually span an area of approximately 520 000 km² (similar in size to France). It will include 36 national parks, game reserves, community conservancies and game management areas. Most notably, the area will include the Caprivi Strip, Chobe National Park, the Okavango Delta (the largest Ramsar Site in the World) and the Victoria Falls (a World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World).

Kavango Zambezi promises to be southern Africa's premier tourist destination with the largest contiguous population of the African elephant (approximately 250 000) on the continent. Conservation and tourism will be the vehicle for socio-economic development in the region.

Please support the creation of a wildlife dispersal route for this elephant population at PIFWorld

Progress

A memorandum of understanding towards what is set to become Africa’s biggest conservation area and the world's largest transfrontier conservation area was signed in December 2006. To guide its development, the five governments had commissioned a pre-feasibility study, facilitated by the Foundation. A Secretariat was appointed to steer KAZA TFCA’s development.

On 18 August 2011 at the SADC Summit in Luanda, Angola, the Presidents of the Republics of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe signed a treaty which formally and legally establishes the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA).

Current Projects

Namibia handed the coordination role of KAZA TFCA, which rotates bi-annually between the five partner countries, to Zambia on 3 February 2011. The rotational system offers every partner country the opportunity to lead the process of developing and implementing the TFCA.

The KAZA TFCA Ministerial Committee approved the TFCA’s financial sustainability and stakeholder engagement strategies that would boost the programme’s finances and assist partner countries in their communication with partners.

The Ministers also approved the Kavango Zambezi TFCA website, set to raise the TFCA’s profile and improve its marketing. The website was subsequently launched by the five partner countries and the KAZA TFCA Secretariat at the ITB Conference in Berlin on 10 March 2011.

The highlight for the year occurred on 18 August 2011 at the SADC Summit in Luanda, Angola, when the presidents of the Republics of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe signed a treaty that formally and legally established the Kavango Zambezi TFCA. The surface area of the KAZA TFCA is almost 520 000 km² (similar in size to France), making it the world’s largest terrestrial transfrontier conservation area.

On 26 August 2011 the KAZA TFCA Secretariat's offices were officially opened by Mr Kitso Mokaila, Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism of Botswana, and Mr Dirk Niebel, Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany.

Zambia continued to implement its integrated development plan (IDP) projects, which included the fencing of the Ngonye Falls Community Partnership Park, the rehabilitation of the visitors’ centre at Ngonye Falls, the construction of Sioma Ngwezi National Park headquarters, the training of Zambia Wildlife Authority staff and the procurement of vehicles. The IDP for the Angolan component of KAZA TFCA was completed and approved, while the Botswana draft IDP was completed and submitted to stakeholders for input and approval. Work has started on the IDP for the Namibian component of KAZA TFCA and on the master IDP for the entire TFCA.

Late in the year, Peace Parks Foundation, on behalf of the KAZA partner countries, entered into contracts with Deloitte to conduct the financial sustainability study, and with Conservation and Tourism Project Management Ltd. to harmonise partner countries’ policies on, inter alia, natural resource management and tourism development.

Donors supporting this TFCA

German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
KfW
Netherlands Directorate-General of Development Cooperation (DGIS)
The Rufford Foundation
Dutch Postcode Lottery
Swedish Postcode Lottery