Page 81 - 40th Summit Brochure 2020

Management of Natural Resources made a commitment to provide initial fund-
Southern Africa is endowed with abundant ing amounting to €20 million, through KfW,
wildlife resources including wild animals, as seed funding for setting up the TFCA Fa-
forests, f sh and aquatic life. T ese resources cility and has already allocated a total of €12
are important for agriculture and the lucrative million for this purpose. Once established,
tourism industry, and provide an opportunity the fund will be open to receive contribu-
to strengthen regional integration. T ey also tions from other interested donors. T e es-
contribute to the socio-economic develop- tablishment of the TFCA Facility as well as
ment of the region through employment and its implementation modalities have been ap-
wealth creation, food security and overall im- proved by relevant SADC statutory struc-
provement of the livelihoods of people. Over- tures, including the SADC Council of
all, natural resources account for 50 percent Ministers in March 2018. SADC TFCA Fa-
of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of cility will provide the basis for more sustain-
SADC region with tourism alone accounting able, long-term funding for TFCAs.
for up to 8.2 percent of regional GDP and an
estimated 6.3 million jobs. Development of TFCA Guidelines
SADC has developed and ratif ed Proto- During the reporting period, the SADC Sec-
cols of Fisheries, Forestry and Wildlife Con- retariat coordinated the process of developing
servation and Law Enforcement which Guidelines on Community Engagement in
provide guiding policy framework for devel- SADC TFCAs as well as Guidelines on De-
oping strategies, programmes and interven- velopment of Tourism Products in SADC
tions for each sub-sector. Various strategies TFCAs. T ese guidelines are aimed at con-
and programmes have been developed to im- tributing to the enhancement of rural local
78 plement these protocols. livelihoods and developing TFCAs into

marketable regional tourism products, re-
spectively. T e SADC/GIZ Project on
SADC TFCA Programme Transboundary Use and Protection of Nat-
T e SADC Secretariat continued to facilitate ural Resources has made signif cant contri-
the implementation of the programme on bution to the implementation of SADC
Trans Frontier Conservation Areas (TFCA) TFCA Programme.
whose aim is to promote cross-border coop-
eration in conservation and management of
shared natural resources. Central to this Support to CITES Process
process is promotion of conservation of bio- T e Secretariat continued to coordinate the
diversity and enhancing socio-economic de- implementation of the strategy, which in part
velopment through the development of contributes to the implementation of the
nature-based enterprises such as tourism. Convention on International Trade in Endan-
SADC facilitation is aimed at addressing some gered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora
of the gaps identif ed by SADC Member (CITES). CITES is an international agreement
States in the establishment and development among governments aimed at regulating in-
of TFCAs such as funding, data and knowl- ternational trade in wild species of f ora and
edge management systems, capacity develop- fauna in order to ensure that trade does not
ment for TFCA stakeholders and tourism lead to overexploitation of wildlife and does
development in TFCAs. not threaten their survival. All SADC Mem-
T e Secretariat, with support from the ber States are party to this Convention and
Government of Germany, is at an advanced participate in implementation, attending
stage of establishing a dedicated regional f - meetings of Conferences of the Parties (COP)
nancing facility for SADC TFCAs (commonly where decisions are made. SADC Secretariat
referred to as SADC TFCA Facility). T e supported Member States to develop a com-
overall objective of the facility is to provide mon position for the 18th Meeting of Confer-
sustainable funding through grants to support ence of the Parties to CITES (CITES COP 18)
conservation, development and management that was held from 17-28 August 2019 in
actions in SADC TFCAs. T e German Min- Geneva, Switzerland, and coordinated their
istry of Development Cooperation (BMZ) participation during the meeting.