Livingstone, Zambia – We, the Ministers responsible for environment, wildlife, natural resources, hotels and tourism of the Republics of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and the SADC Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration met in Livingstone, Zambia on 15th November 2012 to review progress on the development of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA).

We note with great satisfaction the progress achieved since the signing of the KAZA TFCA Treaty which includes, construction of infrastructure to support protected area management and capacity building of partner countries in procurement and financial management and, law enforcement and sharing of conservation knowledge and best practices and procurement of motor vehicles and other equipment.

We also note with appreciation the identification of the wildlife migratory routes including scoping for conservation enterprise development projects, implementation of various human wildlife conflict mitigation measures including the Human Wildlife Conflict Self Reliance Scheme and commissioning of two community conservation areas.

We further note with satisfaction the progress made towards the ongoing demining and the development of economic and social infrastructure in the Angolan component of the KAZA TFCA.

We acknowledge with appreciation the initiation of the development of the KAZA TFCA Master Integrated Development Plan, progress towards the completion of country Integrated Development Plans and initiation of the pilot project on the development of the KAZA TFCA VISA to facilitate seamless travel of tourists across the KAZA landscape.

We also note with appreciation the signing of the Financing Agreement by the Government of Botswana for the €12 million grant provided by the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW towards the development of the KAZA TFCA. We further note the continued support by the Federal Republic of Germany and the invitation extended to the KAZA TFCA Ministers by the Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany to attend the tourism fair in March 2013 in Berlin, Germany.

We note and congratulate Botswana for ratifying the KAZA TFCA Treaty and depositing the instruments of ratification with the KAZA TFCA Secretariat and urge the other partner countries to complete ratification of the Treaty and deposit the instruments of ratification by 31st December 2012.

We agreed that an annual amount be considered as contributions towards the KAZA TFCA fund by partner countries. We applaud Zambia for the two year tenure as Chair and successful coordination of the KAZA TFCA programme.

We warmly welcome Zimbabwe as the incoming Chair for the KAZA TFCA for the next two years and have every confidence that Zimbabwe will excel in her new role.

We further wish to register our profound gratitude to the government and the people of the Republic of Zambia for hosting the meeting and for their warm hospitality. We agreed to hold our next meeting in June 2013, in the Republic of Angola.