24 May 2018

A 15.5 million Euros (P154.7 million) financing agreement for the Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) transfrontier conservation area was this week  signed to mark a commitment by Germany to further support the programme.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Mr Thato Raphaka signed the agreement on behalf of the five partner states of Botswana, Angola, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, while the German Ambassador to Botswana, Mr Ralph Breth represented Germany.

Speaking prior to the signing of the agreement, Mr Raphaka said the five partner states had long awaited the momentous occasion, marking the beginning of a five-year period in which Germany would fund Phase 3 of the KAZA transfrontier programme.

He noted that with the KAZA region being expansive and also having pockets of land characterised by poverty as well as sensitive ecosystems, the funding would go a long way in driving sustainable conservation practices.

Mr Raphaka commended Germany for its support for the programme and described as humbling the latter’s interest in the KAZA region’s developmental issues.
He also thanked the partner states for their commitment to seeing the programme succeed, saying if they had acted individually, none of them would have succeeded in efforts to achieve the programme’s objectives.

For his part, Mr Breth pointed out that one of the objectives of the KAZA transfrontier conservation area was to ensure a win-win situation for both the region’s communities and its flora and fauna.
Ambassador Breth stated that there was urgent need to protect and safeguard the interests of both instead of protecting those of one group at the expense of the other.

He noted that the agreement was important as it recognised that unlike people, wildlife knew no borders hence the need for partner states to ensure that wildlife movement continued without impediments.

Dr Nyambe Nyambe, the executive director of KAZA transfrontier conservation area, also hailed the German government for its support for the programme.

Dr Nyambe said it was gratifying that Germany had for years continued to support the programme.

Highlighting some of the desired outcomes of the programme, he said one of its aims was to unlock the tourism potential of partner states.

He said another aim was to help communities within the region, saying it was disheartening that some of the poorest people in the region were those whose communities living alongside wildlife.

Dr Nyambe also highlighted how issues of forestry, climate change and fresh water resources continued to form a big part of the programme’s objectives. Ends