10 years of Southern Africa’s Transfrontier Conservation Areas celebrated in Maputo

The five-day event will begin with a field visit to the newly established Maputo National Park, part of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area.

TFCAs says this comes a decade after the Southern African Development Community SADC Secretariat hosted its first meeting of Member States, practitioners and International Cooperating Partners (ICPs) to establish a network for regional Transfrontier Conservation Area practitioners. 

Since then, the network has grown in strength and membership, advancing transfrontier conservation as a land-use planning framework, and being able to positively impact sustainable natural resource management, socio-economic development and regional integration, according to TFCAs. 

Currently, there are 12 TFCAs across the region at various stages of development, with the network having contributed to the evolution of TFCAs in the Southern African Development Community in varied ways, including:

• the creation of an online platform for the network in a public portal
• the 1^st SADC TFCAs Symposium in 2016 with presentations from ICPs, Member States and implementing partners on co-management models and agreements
• the creation of communities of practice for emerging issues
• the establishment of the SADC TFCA Financing Facility as a means of enabling more coordinated support across the landscape
• support for the development of revised SADC TFCAs Programme 2023-2033 and several guidelines, toolkits and studies to support various aspects of TFCA development
• the projection of SADC TFCAs into the international arena through hosted events and pavilions at various tourism fairs, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Conference of the Parties, The Convention on Biological Diversity COPs and International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN Congresses
• the organisation of training / exchange trips and opportunities for member states officials and community members through the network, and
• the continued facilitation of partnerships between government, NGOs, communities and donors.

According to TFCAs, the German Government — both through its technical cooperation (GIZ) and its financial cooperation (KfW) — has been a consistent partner of SADC and TFCAs in the past decade, with new partners involved at a regional scale, such as the USAID and the European Union.

TFCAs adds that international and regional NGOs have become more involved in supporting the member states and the TFCA's governance system through operational support and partnerships, such as:

• African Parks
• the French agricultural research and cooperation organisation (CIRAD)
• Conserve Global
• UN Food and Agricultural Organisation
• Frankfurt Zoological Society
• IUCN
• Peace Parks Foundation, and
• World Wildlife Foundation.

Says Steve Collins SADC TFCA Network Coordinator, says, "During the session in Maputo, TFCA Focal Points from each member state will have the opportunity to discuss the updates provided on each TFCA."

Collins adds, "The SADC secretariat will also provide feedback on its activities and engagements to foster transfrontier conservation, while new funding opportunities will be presented and explained by the different international cooperating partners. Further, independent projects and action research activities will present their work and progress." 

"The event, which will also be in hybrid format, will be packed with opportunities for knowledge creation, cross-thematic and transboundary learning. Such is its importance that it has drawn the attention of other sectors operating at transboundary scale, such as shared river basins and water sources," Collins concludes. 

Register to attend the event virtually by clicking here.

For more information, visit www.tfsaportal.org. You can also follow SADC Transfrontier Conservation Areas on X.