VICTORIA FALLS, Jun. 9 (NewsDay Live) — A series of high-level meetings of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) got underway in Victoria Falls on Monday, bringing together member states to review progress on regional conservation programmes and strengthen oversight of the bloc’s initiatives.
The five-day meetings, hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, run from June 8 to 12 and have drawn delegates from Angola, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia.
Environment, Climate and Wildlife Minister Evelyn Ndlovu said the meetings form part of Zimbabwe’s responsibilities as the current chair of KAZA.
“Zimbabwe is the current chair of KAZA, and during this period we are expected to convene such inter-ministerial meetings as part of monitoring systems to track progress in implementing the various programmes being undertaken by the Secretariat,” Ndlovu told NewsDay.
“If there are challenges, we work collectively to help the Secretariat overcome them,” she said.
Zimbabwe officially assumed the rotating two-year coordinating chairmanship of KAZA on August 22, 2025, succeeding Zambia during the 15th KAZA Ministerial Committee Meeting held in Livingstone.
Keep Reading
- Why we fall for disinformation
- Funding for researchers
- Unpacking environmental laws for real estate in Zimbabwe
- Veld fire management strategies for 2022
Under Zimbabwe’s stewardship, the conservation bloc has advanced several major initiatives across the vast 520,000-square-kilometre transboundary landscape, which spans five Southern African countries.
Among the key developments is the formulation of a regional Elephant Action Plan and Zimbabwe’s Elephant Management Plan (2026-2035), aimed at balancing wildlife conservation with the needs of communities living alongside elephants.
The KAZA ministerial committee has also endorsed targeted strategies to reduce human-wildlife conflict, particularly crop destruction and threats to communities in shared wildlife corridors such as the Zambezi-Mosi-oa-Tunya corridor.
Member states are simultaneously expanding cross-border tourism through the KAZA UniVisa programme, which facilitates seamless travel between Zimbabwe, Zambia and participating neighbouring countries.
In a further boost to conservation efforts, the bloc recently secured €6 million in funding from international partners, including the European Union, to strengthen biodiversity protection and support community-based conservation initiatives across the region.