02 Jun 2024

The Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane has reaffirmed Botswana’s commitment to the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA-TFCA) initiative as epitomised by hosting the secretariat and committing over 30 per cent of the total area.

Speaking at the KAZA Heads of State summit on Friday, Mr Tsogwane said the country’s significant contribution to the Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) safeguarded vital ecosystems and wildlife corridors ensuring the TFCA’s long term success.

He said this year’s summit themed: Leveraging KAZA’S natural capital and cultural heritage resources as catalyst for inclusive socioeconomic development of the ecoregion, resonated deeply with Botswana’s National Transformational Plan.

“Our plan prioritises eight sectors for development with tourism at the forefront. 

A thriving KAZA-TFCA with its abundant wildlife and cultural riches present a significant opportunity to attract more tourists to our region. Botswana is committed to working closely with our partner states to unlock KAZA’s full potential and ensure inclusive economic development across the eco-region,” he said.

To capitalise on opportunities, he said, Botswana had developed a national tourism strategy and master plan which strategically positioned four of the eight tourism development areas within the KAZA-TFCA.

“We are also working to enhance our tourism offerings with strong focus on local community inclusion. This not only ensures that economic benefits are shared but also fosters a sense of ownership and pride in our natural heritage. It encourages all member states to share their best practices so that we can leverage KAZA’s full potential as tourism powerhouse,” he added.

He noted that Botswana’s Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) model empowered local communities living alongside wildlife to participate in its management and share the accruing benefits.

He further said Botswana recently passed the Access and Benefit Sharing of Biological Diversity Act which aimed to ensure that Batswana got a fair share and equal benefit from revenue and any other things arising from the natural resources in their areas.

He thus appealed to the meeting to assist Botswana in its bid to enlighten and raise awareness on the benefits and advantages that people got from the hunting that occurred in such areas.

He explained that due to human wildlife conflict for shared space and resources like water, Botswana had a compensation scheme and spent millions annually on the conflict compensation.

“We have as a result of these challenges developed the National Human Wildlife Conflict Strategy of 2021, which dictates our responses and standard operating procedures for instances of human wildlife conflict. The strategy also challenges and calls for more engagement on the part of the private sector and other non-state actors,” he said.

For his part, President of Zimbabwe, Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa said there was need to have a common voice in defending own conservations policies.

Dr Mnangagwa said the upcoming international engagements like CITES CoP 20 should provide a platform to defend wholeheartedly own policies. ends