The Challenge
The man-made borders of Africa divide unified landscapes, animal populations and human societies. These geo-political boundaries minimize the areas where animals traditionally roamed and restrict access to the natural resources historically used by man and fauna to survive. The borders have no ecological functional, but rather complicate biodiversity and ecosystem conservation by fragmenting ownership, governance, and management.
Our Solution
We encourage political will and support for cooperation between countries on efficient and effective management of cross-border ecosystems. We get the role players around a table to discuss the official establishment of ‘peace parks’ and take the idea through the decision-making processes required to formalise a memorandum of understanding, and ultimately a treaty.
Peace Parks Foundation has been actively involved with the establishment and development of ten of the 18 TFCAs in southern Africa, all of which are in various stages of development.”
The foundation provides planning support to the TFCAs as a whole, as well as for specific components where an individual country requires additional support. This includes:
- motivation documents to support the initial lobbying for political support in and between the partner countries;
- integrated development plans that serve as the guideline documents for a TFCA’s development;
- protected area or park management plans for the components of a TFCA;
- tourism development plans;
- strategic business plans; and
- any other plan deemed necessary to attain the objectives of the TFCA.