Africa-Press – Botswana. Vice President Slumber Tsogwane is expected in Livingstone, Zambia today for the inaugural Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) Heads of States summit.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing high level summit programme, Acting Minister of Environment and Tourism, Ms Nnaniki Makwinja said the summit was expected to play a crucial role in shaping the future of conservation in the area, as well as promoting eco-tourism and generating economic opportunities for Botswana.
She highlighted that the summit would bring together Heads of State from KAZA region namely; Angola, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe to discuss critical issues such as wildlife protection, habitat conservation and sustainable tourism as well as formulate strategic models to address common challenges and shared conservation goals.
“Collaboration is very crucial in terms of our shared natural resources. The summit is expected to take stock of where we are today and what is coming up next. We want to see how best we can derive benefits from this abundance of resources especially for communities living within these areas,” she added.
She said tourism was the second biggest revenue earner for Botswana and the participation at the summit was crucial in terms of exploring ways of growing the sector and resuscitating conservation efforts.
“It is important for us during the summit to grow partnerships with other member states and develop policies aligned to the same mandate.
We have done well in terms of movement of wildlife, anti-poaching initiatives and we want to address ease of human movement within the KAZA area, which remains a great challenge,” she said.
Earlier, KAZA executive director, Dr Nyambe Nyambe had indicated that the outcomes of the summit were eagerly awaited as they were expected to have a significant impact on the future of conservation in the region.
Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation area is a large conservation region in Southern Africa that spans five countries comprising Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
It was established following the signing of the KAZA Treaty in 2011. The high level summit was preceded by technical and ministerial meetings.
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