SADC TFCAs Brochure

This booklet invites the reader to a journey through Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Conservation is more than protecting rhinos and elephants, the controlling of illegal logging or managing overfished waters. Progressive management of natural resources is about finding a balance between using the natural resources for economic development, keeping them in good stewardship for future generations whilst enjoying them for their beauty, natural wonders and recreation. This is not an easy task, and is rarely creating instant rewards. Many people around the globe have started to engage in conservation activities. They may join to clean their nearby creeks, they buy organically produced fruits and vegetables from local farms and they donate money to organisations that promote the protection of the environment.

Lakes, forests or animals do not know national borders and therefore there is now a call for the people and the governments of neighbouring countries to work together to conserve river basins, large expanses of tropical forests, or water bodies bordering more than one country. What happens at the source of large rivers affects people at the far end where they join the ocean. So transfrontier conservation is more than conserving the environment, it is an opportunity for working together, lower barriers between people and countries and to promote peace and stability across the region.