Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola, countries of the Kavango-Zambezi (Kaza) Transboundary Conservation Area, will benefit from financial support from Germany. The package of about $15 million will contribute to the efforts of the Kaza countries to protect biodiversity, secure developing activities in the conservation and tourism sector, and safeguard jobs in this sector.
Indeed, the global coronavirus pandemic has highly impacted biodiversity conservation in the Kaza countries. In Namibia, for example, “tourism, which is the main economic force for conservation and that bears the costs of nature protection, is particularly affected,” says Pohamba Shifeta, Namibia’s Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism.
According to this official, the 700 community ecoguards, the 300 conservation staff and the 1,175 local tourism employees may also find themselves out of work, “not to mention Namibia’s communal conservation programme which is under serious threat.
The distribution of funds
The $15 million granted by Germany to the Kaza countries will be spread over several projects. Part of the funding, $5.7 million, will go towards mitigating economic losses in the conservation and tourism sector under the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism’s Conservation Relief, Recovery and Resilience Fund.
US$4.6 million will be used to develop measures to improve Namibia’s parks and protected areas in order to minimize the ecological and economic impacts of Covid-19.
The remaining $4.5 million will be injected into conservation projects in Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola.
Inès Magoum