The Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, signed an agreement with Zimbabwe and Zambia this Thursday (18) to create the ZIMOZA Transfrontier Conservation Area, aimed at promoting the sustainable use of natural resources in the region.
According to the Lusa news agency, the agreement was signed in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe, and reflects the commitment of the three countries to the ‘effective and sustainable’ management of natural resources.
‘With this act, we witness our union for a noble cause in favour of the conservation of life, the conservation of the environment and natural resources on planet Earth, through shared landscape approaches,’ said Filipe Nyusi, stressing the biological richness of the area.
The creation of the ZIMOZA Transfrontier Conservation Area, which covers a total area of 29,859 square kilometres of national parks and protected areas, is the result of 25 years of talks between the three countries. The region is inhabited by 600,000 people and has a diversity of fauna and flora that is unique on the African continent.
According to Mozambique’s National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC), the ZIMOZA area falls within the Zambezi landscape. ‘The discussion between the three member states began in August 1999 with the meeting in Harare,’ ANAC recalls.
The director-general of Zimbabwe’s Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, Fulton Mangwanya, also emphasised the importance of the agreement, explaining that ZIMOZA ‘will strengthen the monitoring and protection of the three countries’, benefiting local communities in the preservation of biodiversity. ‘We hope to receive support from donors and international partners who will assist in the implementation of ZIMOZA, so that it becomes operational, as it has been in other cross-border conservation areas,’ said Mangwanya.
