Namibia

Founded in 2003 by contractual agreements between the governments of Nambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Angola, the KAZA Transboundary Park (see figure 5) comprises more than 20 national parks, 85 forest reserves, 22 communal conservancies, 11 game sanctuaries, and 103 wildlife management areas. In total, around 371,000 km2 are under conservation management while 149,000 km2 are under agricultural use. KAZA thus is the largest conservation project in Africa, integrating five national approaches to land-use rights and governance. The signatory countries aim at a large transnational protection zone for wildlife and vegetation. Former land users are pushed out of the core conservation area. Their resettlement entails population concentrations on the fringes, namely along the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor (WBNLDC). The corridor passes through KAZA linking the Namibian Port of Walvis Bay with Zambia, the southern DRC and Zimbabwe. Having started as a mere transport route, it recently expanded its scope to include a broader perspective for economic development. In this narrow corridor, a growing number of land users, but also organizations catering for tourists, are establishing a livelihood on increasingly restricted space. The resulting demand for food but also the concentration of agriculture entails intensification strategies that are rather similar to those occurring in SAGCOT. However, in KAZA they may partially be considered non-planned side effects of a future vision of conservation.