02 Jun 2024

The increased wildlife trade restrictions at the international market and at CITES penalise and undermine Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) success in conserving its wildlife and protecting the human population.

This was said by SADC executive secretary, Mr Elias Magosi when addressing delegates on the importance of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) during the KAZA Heads of State summit on Friday.

Such restrictions, Mr Magosi said deprived the region of the critical revenue for sustainable wildlife conservation and enhanced livelihoods for local communities.

“Our key message to the world today during this summit is that we must all find workable solutions for all affected not just wildlife only. We must promote innovative and sustainable wildlife-based value chains to optimise the use of wildlife resources for improved livelihoods of SADC citizens and contribute to socio-economic development,” he said.

Nonetheless, he said the SADC secretariat remained committed to facilitating the plan through the 2022-2026 SADC-CITES Engagement Strategy. He thus applauded efforts by KAZA member states in advocating for the lifting of proposed trade bans which were having serious unintended consequences on wildlife conservation, rural livelihoods and regional socio-economic development.

Mr Magosi said it was critical that member states reflected deeply on past experiences and failures, learn from them and explore different channels, including diplomatic channels to defend the interests of the SADC region and communities prior to the 20th CITES Conference of Parties (CoP20).

“This should include identifying alternative options for trading our wildlife products especially, where reason and objectivity are embraced and not just the often-exhibited rigidity and inflexibility by some of the stakeholders,” he said. 

He further highlighted the need for KAZA to become an important regional asset for sustainable social and economic development by transforming it into a premier tourism destination in the region.

He said the pilot KAZA Univisa implemented from 2016 to date, had been successful with a total of 29 000 and 179 000 issued by Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively.

“This instrument should, therefore, be expanded to all KAZA member states without further delay, to further strengthen tourism development and maximise social and economic benefits of this region and enhance sustainable conservation of wildlife,” he said.

Mr Magosi thanked the German government for all the years of cooperation and investing significant resources in SADC TFCAs, mainly in KAZA.

He said since 2009, Euro 44.5 million had been invested in the region’s TFCAs.  He added that the SADC secretariat had just signed a Financing Agreement with the European Commission (EU) for Euro 33 million through the NaturAfrica initiative. ENDS