More than 400 delegates gathered in Livingstone, a Zambian resort town on the north side of Victoria Falls, for the inaugural summit of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) (KAZA), where the five southern African countries that make up this The conservation initiative is reviewing its progress and charting its future.

Delegates from Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the five countries that make up the KAZA-TFCA conservation region, joined wildlife, conservation and tourism experts during the five-day event (May 27-31).

The summit started with the technical teams. detailing the health of this vast grassland most populated by wildlife in the world.

The summit will be held under the motto: “Harness the natural capital and cultural heritage resources of KAZA as catalysts for the inclusive socioeconomic development of the ecoregion..”

The KAZA region

The KAZA region, a 520,000 square kilometer wetland paradise straddling these five southern African nations that have common international borders along the Okavango and Zambezi river basins, is home to a high concentration of wildlife species, including the largest population of elephants.

The KAZA states signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2006 which resulted in the 2011 KAZA Treaty, followed by its immediate implementation. The KAZA-FTCA area is a partnership focused on “a common vision to conserve biodiversity at scale by promoting integrated transboundary management and commercialization of landscape biodiversity using nature-based tourism as an engine of growth and development rural economic”.