Joint Action NaturAfrica / Climate Resilience and Natural Resource Management (C-NRM) Programme

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Project Description

Africa is facing unprecedented depletion of biodiversity and natural resources due to overexploitation, illegal extraction, and climate change. Growing human populations and increasingly fragmented natural ecosystems are also leading to rising levels of Human-Wildlife Conflict. The SADC region has pioneered the concept of TFCAs, to better conserve and manage connected cross-border ecosystems for both people and nature.

The German Government and the European Union’s NaturAfrica Flagship Initiative, intends to jointly support TFCAs through regional knowledge management, resource mobilisation capacities and institutional strengthening, as well as regional tourism development, via the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implementing the Joint Action NaturAfrica / C-NRM Programme.

Expected Outputs

Increasing capacities and know-how of TFCA stakeholders by strengthening regional knowledge platforms and exchanges, disseminates of best practices and promotes peer-to-peer learning among TFCAs on topics such as HWC prevention and climate-smart agriculture. Capacities on resource mobilisation and climate-smart agriculture are strengthened through physical and electronic training offers.

Enhancing coordination and framework conditions at the regional and TFCA levels: The program aims to improve regional frameworks for climate-resilient transboundary NRM. At the TFCA level, governance and coordination structures are strengthened through innovative finance mechanisms and Member States are supported with the advancement of existing TFCAs and establishment of new ones to expand the connected conservation landscape in the region.

Implementation of the SADC Tourism Programme is enhanced at the regional and TFCA levels: The Programme aims to strengthen the tourism value chain by removal of barriers to tourism through improved air access, visa regimes and border posts. In addition, the Joint Action supports the development of a SADC Tourism Barometer and a SADC Tourism Sustainability Framework to monitor tourism performance and promote evidencebased decision making. At the TFCA level, activities  aim to develop targeted TFCAs as priority cross border destinations for tourism growth for the national, regional  and international markets, developing and using marketing  tools and strategies. In addition, selected TFCAs are supported with the opening of new tourism border posts.