_{By Kudakwashe Chigodo}

The Southern African Development Community Transfrontier Conservation Areas (SADC-TFCAs) Financing Facility implementation agreement has been signed by IUCN ESARO and SADC Secretariat. The agreement which was signed in August 2020 marks an important milestone in the history of the newly established SADC TFCA Financing Facility project

The signing of the implementation agreement was effected by Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax the Executive Secretary of SADC Secretariat and Luther Anukur, the Regional Director for IUCN ESARO.

The goal of the SADC TFCA FF programme is to use the facility as a new regional financing mechanism to contribute to the sustainable protection of biodiversity and promote trans-frontier conservation areas in the SADC region.

Through the TFCA Financing Facility, investments in tangible measures strengthening ecological, economic, cultural and institutional connectivity within SADC TFCAs will be leveraged in a flexible, demand-and performance driven way. The measures shall integrate three dimensions:

• Improved habitat connectivity, especially for elephants and large carnivores as flagship species (“species” dimension),
• Improved management effectiveness and governance of TFCAs and Protected Areas PAs (“habitat” dimension) and
• Improved livelihoods for communities affected by human-wildlife co-habitation (“people” dimension)
   

Virtual inaugural meeting of the Project Steering Committee

The signing of the implementation agreement was followed by a virtual inaugural meeting of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) held in September 2020. The meeting which brought together SADC Secretariat, SADC Member States (Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe), IUCN ESARO team and KfW. provided the PSC with an orientation to the TFCA FF project and an understanding of their Terms of Reference. 

Speaking at the virtual inaugural meeting, Mr. Domingos Gove, the Director Food Agriculture and Natural Resources, SADC Secretariat said: “High level political commitment is essential for sustainable conservation of biological resources that require transboundary collaboration.” 

“The TFCA Financing Facility is key in securing sustainable long-term financing to improve the resilience of critical ecosystems encompassed by the SADC TFCAs, especially in times of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic which has greatly constrained the flow of resources to protected and conserved areas,” said Luther Anukur, Regional Director, IUCN ESARO.

The virtual inaugural meeting has set the stage for future high level PSC meetings where key decisions for the TFCA Financing Facility will be made. Further, Nils Meyer, KfW Project Manager reiterated that the Financing Facility is expected to create a mechanism that is performance based and effective in achieving results with a focus on impacts at the project level.