The Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) is situated in the Kavango and Zambezi River basins where the borders of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe converge.

It spans an area of approximately 520 000 km² and includes 36 proclaimed protected areas such as national parks, game reserves, forest reserves, community conservancies and game/wildlife management areas.

A key objective of KAZA is to ensure connectivity between wildlife areas, and where necessary, join fragmented wildlife habitats to form an interconnected mosaic of protected areas, as well as restore trans-boundary wildlife migratory corridors between wildlife dispersal areas (WDAs).

These corridors re-establish and conserve large-scale ecological processes that extend beyond the boundaries of protected areas. Within the KAZA TFCA, six geographically specific WDAs have been identified. These areas offer critical ecological and wildlife movement linkages between protected areas across the landscape. 

The six wildlife dispersal areas include the Zambezi-Chobe Floodplain; Hwange-Kazuma–Chobe; Kwando; Zambezi-Mosi Oa Tunya; Hwange-Makgadikgadi-Nxai; and Khaudum-Ngamiland.

The Chobe-Zambezi Floodplain Wildlife Dispersal Area:

One of the prioritised wildlife dispersal areas is the Zambezi-Chobe Floodplain WDA, a large wetland shared between Botswana, Namibia and Zambia, of which the Simalaha Community Conservancy, the eastern Zambezi region in Namibia, and the wetlands of the Chobe National Park in Botswana form the core regarding connectivity between the Chobe National Park in Botswana and the Kafue National Park in Zambia.

The overall objective is to develop a sustainable wildlife economy in the Zambezi-Chobe Floodplain WDA within the KAZA TFCA based on strong community ownership, benefit sharing, resource protection and integrated management of agriculture, settlements and services. This will enhance livelihoods, secure wildlife corridors and dispersal areas and expand the wildlife economy in the area between Chobe (Botswana) and Kafue (Zambia) national parks.

There are currently several community conservation areas and community development initiatives which support the development of this wildlife dispersal area on both sides of the Zambia and Namibia border.

Source:  www.peaceparks.org