An Analysis of the Status of Ecotourism and Related Developments in the Zimbabwe’s Component of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area

This study analysed the status of ecotourism and related developments in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA) with some specific examples drawn from Zimbabwe. The objectives of the study were to: (i) explore the evolution of wildlife conservation and ecotourism related enterprise development by local communities, and (ii) determine factors influencing local community-owned wildlife conservation and ecotourism related enterprises in the GLTFCA. The study was based on two data collection methods, i.e., documentary review of academic literature and reports, and key informant interviews with 30 selected stakeholders from Chipinge and Chiredzi districts conducted between January and June 2018. The findings showed that there is some progress related to initiatives to help improve community-based wildlife conservation and cross border ecotourism. However, some challenges attributed to lack of market linkages and networks, macro-economic challenges faced by Zimbabwe which escalated since the year 2000 and limited institutional capacity of community-based institutions are negatively affecting the achievement of the desired targets. It is recommended that participatory planning and enhanced involvement of the local communities in wildlife conservation and ecotourism related enterprises be prioritized

Ecotourism and wildlife conservation-related enterprise development by local communities within Southern Africa: Perspectives from the greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation, South-Eastern Lowveld, Zimbabwe

This paper seeks to delve deeper and assess ecotourism and wildlife conservation-related enterprises development by local communities within the Zimbabwean component of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA). Transfrontier Conservation was embraced by scientists, policy-makers and other stakeholders in Chiredzi and Chipinge Districts in the southeast Lowveld of Zimbabwe, among other reasons for improved wildlife conservation and community-based cross-border ecotourism development. The study sought to understand factors hampering local communities owned ecotourism and wildlife conservation-related enterprise development. To understand the evolution of ecotourism and wildlife conservation-related enterprise development by local communities in Southern Africa especially within the GLTFCA and to also assess the potential of local community Ecotourism and wildlife conservation-related enterprises development. Various documents such as books, journals, web documents, electronic sources, reports, financial statement and policy documents were reviewed. To buttress the study, 30 purposeful sampled key informants were also interviewed in Chipinge and Chiredzi Districts from January to June 2018 in order to solicit for firsthand data that are very useful for triangulation. The study is important for the further development of district, national and international policies. The study findings showed that Transfrontier conservation have not achieved its objectives towards improved cross-border ecotourism and wildlife conservation-related enterprise development. Hopes by the local community especially on the Zimbabwean side for inclusion ecotourism and conservation-related enterprises chains have not been realized. Most local communities’ members within TFCAs are still living under abject poverty. More still needs to be done towards socio-economic development in the area under study. The study has realized that the transfrontier treaty was operationalized at a higher level thus head of state and ministerial forgetting about the local level. Local institutions are not fully empowered and have clear policy guidelines. Findings from this study will help better plan, structure and execute ecotourism and wildlife conservation-related enterprises involving communities. The success of these initiatives will increase the size of benefits trickling to individual households in line among other objectives which led to the establishment of the Transfrontier Conservation Areas

Application of maximum entropy (MaxEnt) to understand the spatial dimension of human–wildlife conflict (HWC) risk in areas adjacent to Gonarezhou National Park of Zimbabwe

The application of empirical and spatially explicit information to understand the spatial distribution of human–wildlife conflict (HWC) risk zones is increasingly becoming imperative to guide conservation planning and device mechanisms to enhance and sustain the coexistence between wildlife and humans. Spatial information on HWC is scarce in the literature, and previous studies have tended to concentrate more on the human dimensions of HWC. Although normally applied in wildlife studies, species distribution modeling (SDM) is becoming an indispensable tool to predict and visualize potential risk zones for HWC. In this study, we used maximum entropy (MaxEnt), a presence-only SDM to predict the potential distribution of HWC risk zones and to determine ecological variables that significantly explain the spatial distribution of HWC occurrences around the Gonarezhou National Park (GNP) in southeastern Zimbabwe. Our results show that HWC risk zones are not randomly distributed but tend to be concentrated along areas adjacent to protected areas that support potential overlaps and contacts between wildlife and human landscapes. A distinctive HWC high-risk zone is observed north of GNP, around areas such as Chitsa, Mpinga, and Masekesa—communities that should be prioritized for proactive mitigation interventions. In view of limited conservation resources typical of less developed countries, wildlife managers are pressed to explicitly determine zones with the highest HWC risks for effective and targeted interventions. Findings from this study thus provide a crucial baseline for identifying potentially high-risk HWC zones and the main predictors, knowledge that can be streamlined for proactive resource allocation to mitigate the HWC challenge