SADC Wildlife Programme of Action

The SADC Wildlife Programme of Action consists of a portfolio of projects that address some of the regional wildlife constraints identified in the SADC Wildlife Policy and Development Strategy adopted by SADC Council of Minister in March 1997. These are the following constraints:

1. Human Resources Development, and Management;
2. Management of Wildlife in Semi-Arid Areas;
3. Disparity in Knowledge of Resource Base;
4. Inadequate Resource Management and Control Mechanisms;
5. Inadequate Development of, and access to,
6. Land Practices and Conflicts; and
7. Inadequate Co-ordination Among Stakeholders.

The above seven constraints have been updated and detailed in the Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement. Two projects addressing the constraints 1 and 6 have been concluded. These are the Regional Wildlife Training and the Community Based-Management and Utilization of Wildlife projects respectively. Two projects are ongoing and addresses the constraints 3, 4 and 6.

• The SADC Regional Rhino Conservation Project: Contributes to the long-term conservation of the region’s biodiversity by targeting the management of two key species - the Black and the White Rhinos (see http://www.rhino-sadc.org/ for more information).
  
• The SADC Regional Wetlands Conservation Project: Promotes awareness of the role, value and appropriate uses of wetlands amongst policy-makers, resource planners, resource managers, extension workers and users, in particular where they are shared between countries through the formulation of management plans that congregate efforts and cooperation from the riparian countries in implementing of such plans (see http://www.sadc-wetlands.org/ for more information).

Among the pipeline projects, which are requiring funds, three are listed in the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) context for the implementation of the Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement. These are the Regional Wildlife Resources Inventory, the Satellite Tracking of Elephants Populations Crossing International Boundaries and the Law Enforcement in Wildlife Management projects, which addresses the constraints 3, 4 and 5 respectively.

Development of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs)

Apart from the above projects, the individual SADC Member States are committed to the establishment of TFCAs in recognition of the role the TFCAs could play in the sustainable development and poverty alleviation including the promotion of a culture of peace and interstate cooperation.

The core wildlife and biodiversity conservation areas in the SADC region are national parks, game reserves, forest reserves, and hunting and tourism concession areas. These areas are delimited by other land uses and sometimes also by political boundaries – making collaboration between conservation area managers difficult and restricting wildlife as well as tourist movements across international boundaries.

To address this problem, SADC Member States have taken themselves the approach of developing the TFCAs. In terms of the SADC Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement a TFCA is defined as “the area or component of a large area that straddles the boundaries of two or more countries, encompassing one or more protected areas, as well as multiple resources use area”.

The development of TFCAs facilitates dialogue between countries sharing common natural resources and contributes towards the upliftment of communities residing around or between these core biodiversity conservation areas. The equitable sharing of benefits from tourism linkages across international boundaries will enhance community participation in the conservation of natural resources and the wider environment. In real terms, the development of TFCAs will accelerate harmonisation of natural resources management policies and strategies, as well as promote the sustainable and compatible utilisation of natural resources that straddle international boundaries of the entire SADC region.

The SADC Member States have identified 20 existing and potential TFCAs that cut across major biomes and ecoregions of the SADC countries, covering 470,000 km² - almost 50% of the combined size of formally Protected Areas of the entire SADC Region. Of the 20 TFCAs, 11 have already received a mandate from the participating countries and have entered into or are in the process of entering into formal collaborative agreements. The remaining 9 TFCAs are at a conceptual stage of development. Although these TFCAs are mainly between continental SADC Member States, there is great potential for the establishment of Marine TFCAs involving coastal and island SADC Member States. The TFCA concept has also created a new window of opportunity for communities of sovereign states along international boundaries to collaborate and co-operate in localised conservation and tourism initiatives.

Expected results with TFCAs

SADC Member states expects the following results with the Development of TFCAs:

1. Management of the migratory wildlife and biodiversity conservation strengthened;
2. Integrity of natural ecosystems that straddle international boundaries consolidated;
3. Improved utilisation of cross-border tourism opportunities;
4. Increased collaboration and co-operation between local communities, private sector and other stakeholders in natural resources conservation and management across international boundaries;
5. Increased benefits to local communities through job creation and from the sustainable use of natural resources and wildlife management within Protected Areas and adjacent hunting and tourism concession areas;
6. Gathering of consistent and comparable natural resources and tourism-related information across the SADC region; and,
7. Improvement of spatial dimensions of natural resources and tourism management through application of Geographic Information System (GIS) and land-use planning models for evaluating development options.

Socio-economic Benefits and Impact of TFCAs

Although TFCAs are intended to benefit the conservation of biological resources, they also have the potential of providing socio-economic benefits at the community and national levels of the SADC Member States. These benefits will be derived from the following:

1. Economic integration brought about by cross-border trade, the development of “ecotourism hubs” that disperse tourists over a wider area, and packaged destinations that allow tourists to visit two or more countries in one trip. The revenue generated from these activities will mainly be paid in foreign currencies.
2. Direct government and community revenues generated from tourism operations such as lease fees, tourism levies, resource royalties, sale of crafts, local produce and outsourcing of essential services, as well as related taxation;
3. Direct income to households through employment in the various tourism operations with the multiplier effect created by the extended family system characteristic of most rural communities in the region;
4. Utilisation of cultural resources of the region thus diversifying the tourism product and increasing the number of visiting tourists. Cultural tourism also enhances community participation in the tourism industry and helps to restore cultural affinities that have been severed by political boundaries;
5. Economic empowerment of rural communities through the establishment of legal entities or trusts, training on enterprise development and creation of an environment for affirmative action for rural communities; and
6. Reduction in operational costs of law enforcement, marketing, research and monitoring through joint activities and programming.