The perilous 1,000-mile journey to save Africa’s endangered black rhinos
28 October 2022
Peace Parks Foundation works in transboundary landscape restoration with a focus on rewilding protected areas whilst protecting and supporting the communities that live alongside national parks and wildlife reserves. In Mozambique, successful rewilding initiatives have been implemented along with numerous community development programmes to ensure peaceful co-existence.
The Limpopo National Park Livelihoods Improvement Programme
The three-year Livelihoods Improvement Programme, launched in 2023, enables communities within Limpopo National Park to use natural resources sustainably. Effective land-use is encouraged, which includes the establishment of pest-free vegetable nurseries supported by irrigation systems. A total of 350 community members have benefitted from this initiative so far.
Mozambique’s National Administration for Conservation Areas and Peace Parks Foundation are the programme’s implementation partners.
We are changing the little things now, for the wellbeing of people and a healthier environment that will sustain our future. We are targeting approximately 2100 households to benefit from this programme.
Gerald Zakeo, Peace Parks Foundation’s TFCA Livelihoods Coordinator
The programme is being funded by a generous EUR 1.5m grant awarded to Peace Parks Foundation by the SADC TFCA Financing Facility, administered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). These funds were provided by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through KfW Development Bank.
One Health: working for the wellbeing of people, livestock, wildlife and landscapes
Implemented in 2023, One Limpopo One Health looks at conservation, community development, coexistence and resilience to climate change.
This holistic programme contains all the elements to ensure conservation impact at scale, which is at the heart of Peace Parks’ 2030 Strategy. Werner Myburgh, CEO of Peace Parks Foundation
In collaboration with the Southern African Wildlife College, the park’s community development team is equipping ten Natural Resource Management Committees with resources and training to improve community involvement and ownership in park management.
The programme is being made possible through funding of EUR 5m from the French Development Agency, and Fonds Francais pour l’environment Mondial, empowering 32 communities to improve their livelihoods.
Lucrescência ‘Mira’ Macuacua, Peace Parks Foundation’s Gender Compliance Officer for One Limpopo One Health leads the programme’s Rapid Gender Assessment. Mira interviews women and young girls from 22 communities throughout the buffer zone which borders the park. With a deep understanding of their circumstances and limitations, she is helping to create meaningful opportunities for women through the new Gender Action Plan.
“I’m motivated by being able to see and translate what women go through. My role is to sensitise families, with a focus on informing them of the value of the female’s role and work in the household, and encourage their participation in decision making.
Lucrescência ‘Mira’ Macuacua, Peace Parks Foundation’s Gender Compliance Officer for One Limpopo One Health
Mira is particularly excited about the impact that sustainable natural resource management and water infrastructure will have on women customarily expected to walk long distances to collect water. Three new boreholes and six irrigation systems have recently been installed across several local districts.
The nature of resilient rangelands
One Limpopo One Health is integrated with the remarkably successful Herding for Health programme, implemented in Limpopo National Park in 2019 through a partnership between Conservation International and Peace Parks. This is a community-driven livestock management model for rangeland restoration, biodiversity conservation and improved livelihoods. Professional herders equipped with indigenous and new knowledge conduct planned rotational grazing, combined herding and the use of mobile night enclosures. The programme currently enables the management and improved health of over 23,170 livestock in the park landscape.
Together, these initiatives embody Peace Parks Foundation’s cornerstones of conservation at scale and community development. The Government of Mozambique and Peace Parks have been working together since 2001 to support communities, and protect, manage and develop the Limpopo National Park, which occupies 9 259 km2 of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area.
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