Bio-diversity

The project is based in the South East Low veld, and the conservation takes place around the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier park. The Sengwe and Xini wards lie within the proposed "biodiversity corridor" which link Gonarezhou in Zimbabwe, Kruger in South Africa and Gaza in Mozambique. Although the sites are limited in extent, they provide the community with the opportunity for training in ecological surveying and monitoring of biodiversity already in use. These sites have been selected as demonstration sites and have room for scaling up after the pilot phase. The area is rich in various biodiversity elements that include the following: 1) The Zambezian and Mopane woodlands interspersed with acacia grasslands 2) A variety of landscapes that include mountains, river valleys, undulating plains, rocky outcrops, cliffs and " the famous cliff called Chilojo cliff" in Gonarezhou. 3) There are 1000 plant species, 100 mammal species and 500 bird species. One of the critical elements for the project is to shift emphasis from subsistence cropping and animal husbandry to wildlife management. despite its high value potential as a land use option biodiversity is still being lost through low economic land use options. it is hoped that this ptroject will play a catalytic role in empowering local communities and indeed the locval authorities with a sufficient knowledge base of the biodiversity they live with to enable them to make informed decisions and choices. the potential impact of this initiative is to consolidate the following fragmented protected areas - the Gonarezhou national park in Zimbabwe, the Kruger National park in south Africa, and Coutada 16 in Mozambique. a wildlife corridor will be created between Gonarezhou National park and Kruger national park. this will result in onwe of the largest transfontier conservation areas in the world approximately 50sq km. this could result in biodiversity conservation of global significance and will transform the local and national economies by increasing the land area under conservation and therefore potentially increase the opportunity for wildlife based tourism which is the highest valued land use for the region. the successful implementation of this huge conservation initiative will form a locus for investment and the proposed project will provide an opportunity for promoting alternative sustainable livelihood options amongst rural communities in and around the park.

Zimbabwe