FAO.org

The Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation area is home to a great diversity of ecosystems and landscapes. Each year, the area experiences large-scale migrations of megafauna. Whilst rural communities in the Mucheni (Zimbabwe) and Simalaha (Zambia) Community Conservancies have distinct cultures and local governments, they depend on hunting and fishing for both food and income. Community conservancies are legally-recognised, geographically-defined areas that have been formed by communities that have united to manage and benefit from wildlife and other natural ressources.

However, communities’ livelihoods are threatened by erratic rainfall, poor soils, and human–wildlife conflicts. The SWM Project in KaZa is promoting a sustainable use of natural resources, including wildlife and fisheries, by the Community conservancies. It is also developing alternative sources of proteins, such as livestock husbandry and aquaculture. The project is being implemented by CIRAD in coordination with the governments of both Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme is a seven-year (2018–2024) international initiative to improve the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife in forest, savannah and wetland ecosystems. The SWM Programme is an Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) initiative, which is funded by the European Union, with co-funding from the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) and the French Development Agency (AFD). The SWM Programme is being implemented by a dynamic consortium of four partners with expertise in wildlife conservation and food security. These are the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

For more information, please visit the SWM Programme website www.swm-programme.info