Southern Africa’s Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) and the progress made in advancing conservation regionally will come under the spotlight during the tenth annual meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) TFCAs Network hosted by the National Agency for Conservation Areas of Mozambique in Maputo this week (November 14-17).

This week’s event will begin with a field visit to the newly established Maputo National Park, part of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area.

This comes a decade after the SADC Secretariat hosted its first meeting of Member States, practitioners, and International Cooperating Partners (ICPs) to establish a network for regional TFCA practitioners.

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

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 SADC in varied ways, including:

• The creation of an online platform for the network in a public portal.
• The first 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 co-ordinated 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 Conference of the Parties, the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congresses, etc.
• The organisation of training/exchange trips and opportunities for Member States officials and community members through the network.
• The continued facilitation of partnerships between government, NGOs, communities and donors.

The German Government, through both its technical and financial co-operation, has been a consistent partner of SADC and TFCAs in the past decade, with new partners involved at a regional scale such as the United States Agency for International Development and the European Union.

International and regional NGOs have become more involved in supporting the Member States and the TFCAs’ governance system through operational support and partnerships, such as African Parks, the French agricultural research and co-operation organisation – CIRAD, Conserve Global, UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, Frankfurt Zoological Society, IUCN, Peace Parks Foundation, and the World Wildlife Foundation.

Steve Collins, SADC TFCA Network Co-ordinator, 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. 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.”

Interested participants can click here to register to attend the event virtually.

Background

A TFCA is defined as a component of a large ecological region that straddles the boundaries of two or more countries encompassing one or more protected areas as well as multiple resource use areas. 

SADC acknowledges that TFCAs can be effective vehicles for fostering regional co-operation and integration, and enhancing socio-economic development in rural areas through the sustainable use of shared natural and cultural resources.

Many renowned tourism destinations are already situated within SADC TFCAs and developing tourism at a regional level. TFCA augments their potential to generate employment in rural and marginalised areas, thereby contributing to poverty reduction.  

The role of the SADC Secretariat is to facilitate the efforts of the Member States in the establishment and development of TFCAs. The SADC TFCA Programme, which started in 2013, envisages the region to become "a model of community centred, regionally integrated and sustainably managed network of world-class transfrontier conservation areas" and highlights seven key component areas that need to be addressed to achieve this vision:

• Policy harmonisation and advocacy
• Sustainable financing
• Capacity building
• Data and knowledge management
• Local livelihoods
• Climate change vulnerability
• TFCAs as marketable tourism products