The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE has called on its counterparts under the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCA) to invest in communities so that they appreciate the value of biodiversity conservation work being done.
On 09 December 2002, the three heads of state for Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe signed a Treaty that enabled the management of landscape as an integrated unit across the three international borders, which gave birth to the Great Limpopo TFCA.
The establishment and development of the TFCA was and is still recognised as the best mechanism appropriate for the conservation and sustainable utilisation of natural resources beyond national boundaries.
Recently speaking at the Great Limpopo TFCA 20th Anniversary in Mozambique last week Friday, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Deputy Minister Barbara Rwodzi said:
“It is my desire that we start to invest in our communities so that they appreciate the value of biodiversity conservation work they are doing. The governments of the three Great Limpopo TFCA partner states, hear this clarion call, our good conservation efforts have brought us this far.”
She questioned what they were benefiting from their efforts at the end of the day and who was going to enjoy the wildlife resources that they are sweating to conserve.
Deputy Minister Rwodzi said there was need to start to think and act so that they enjoy the fruits of their sweat.
She added: “While we are celebrating this journey of two decades since the birth of Great Limpopo TFCA, it is important also to reflect on the challenges that we are facing. Our communities are yet to benefit from the TFCA initiatives although we are twenty years down the road.”
She said communities were still living in poverty while the wildlife populations are ballooning, they were losing more human lives than ever before through human wildlife conflicts.
Deputy Minister Rwodzi said as a trilateral agreement, the three countries have collectively managed to keep the transboundary conservation flame within the region alight.
“It is a fact that the area where our beloved Great Limpopo TFCA is found today suffered de-colonisation process and liberation struggles that raged in Mozambique, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South Africa.
“The area of the Great Limpopo TFCA was central to these conflicts and the legacy of war remains evident today with minefields and old battlefield sites still visible, especially between Zimbabwe and Mozambique,” she added.
“These landmines made it impossible for both wildlife and tourists to move freely from one country to another within the Great Limpopo TFCA landscape. With the TFCA initiative’s emphasis being on free and seamless movement of tourists and wildlife within the landscape, today we can boldly say, strides have been made in the demining exercise along our borders.”
She said besides pulling down fences and demining along the borders, they talk of improved land access within the landscape with the Giriyondo Access Facility opened in 2006, allowing visitors to the Great Limpopo TFCA Cross-border access within the perimeters of the park for the first time.
Deputy Minister Rwodzi said currently, a complementary facility was being pursued between Zimbabwe and South Africa.
“It is my hope that before the end of this year, we will be celebrating the long-awaited launch of the Limpopo Tourism Access Facility between Zimbabwe and South Africa.”
