24 OCTOBER 1999: Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe signed a Memorandum of Understanding on transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) in Maputo at the weekend.

The agreement supports the establishment of a TFCA that will bring the parks of Gaza in Mozambique, Kruger National Park in South Africa and Gonarezhou in Zimbabwe together under a joint management, creating one of the biggest conservation areas in the world.

The agreement (signed by the Mozambican Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Carlos Agostinho de Rosario, the South African Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mohammed Valli Moosa, and the Zimbabwean Deputy Minister of Mines, Environment and Tourism, Edward Chindori-Chininga, on Saturday) established a ministerial committee and an international TFCA technical committee to oversee the implementation of the agreement.

In the agreement, which notes that "ecosystems transcend national boundaries and in recognition of the need for transborder cooperation in the conservation and management of the shared natural resources for the benefit of the people of the region", the three ministers declared their support for a TFCA to promote biodiversity and socio-economic development in the area.

The technical committee, which will comprise officials from all three countries, will submit a conceptual plan and draft agreement before 31 January 2000. The ministers will work towards agreement on 31 March 2000. The final management plan will be completed by the end of 2001.

This will be the second TFCA in southern Africa. In its current session Parliament agreed to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Protocol, which makes the adjacent Gemsbok National Park (in Botswana) and Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (in South Africa) a single ecological unit to be formally known as the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

The agreement protocol was endorsed by the National Assembly and the NCOP this month, as required by our Constitution. The park will be formally opened by the presidents of the two countries in February next year. A one-stop border post will be build at Twee Rivieren for access to the new park.

It formalises previous arrangements to ensure that no barrier to wildlife movement exists along the international boundary which separates the 9 591 km² Kalahari Gemsbok National Park and the 28 400 km² Gemsbok National Park. It establishes the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Foundation (KTPF), a section 21 company under the South African Companies Act, to promote conservation through the joint management of the area, and to develop the potential of the park as a tourist destination.

For more information contact: J.J. Tabane (Head of Ministry)
Mobile: (082) 655-4755 | E-mail: tabane@iafrica.com