Zimbabwe
25 Years of Impact
AWF’s contribution to Zimbabwe’s conservation journey began in 2001. We are proud of our track record of developing innovative ideas and fostering successful collaborations with government, the private sector, and local communities to conserve the country’s wildlife and habitats. The work has set powerful precedents for how government and local communities manage living with wildlife, how neighboring countries share strategies for caring for wildlife, and how leaders in government and business value nature as a part of economic growth for the country. Our legacy includes more resilient communities, more sustainable wildlife populations, and more intact transboundary ecosystems—important groundwork for locally led, long-term conservation success.
AWF's large landscape approach emphasizes conservation of ecological systems defined by factors such as watersheds, wildlife habitat, and migration corridors versus political boundaries. In Zimbabwe, we contributed to conservation efforts across three different transboundary landscapes and six countries: Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique, and South Africa.
Mid-Zambezi
The Zambezi River and its tributaries form the lifeline of this remarkably biodiverse transboundary landscape, which stretches across Zimbabwe into Zambia and Mozambique. Key threats include human-wildlife conflict, climate change, agricultural expansion, human settlement expansion, infrastructure development, poaching, and artisanal mining.
Over the course of a 9-year partnership with Zimbabwe’s wildlife authorities, ZimParks, AWF deployed a holistic approach of conservation and development interventions here, including:
- Investing in protected area infrastructure and building wildlife law enforcement capacity for Mana Pools National Park
- Kickstarting community enterprises and agriculture improvements to create wildlife-friendly livelihoods
- Collaborating with communities on sustainable, participatory conservation solutions
- Helping rangers and community members prevent and respond to human-wildlife conflict
Southeast Lowveld
Zimbabwe’s Southeast Lowveld region, located within the Savé and Limpopo Valleys, is a critical landscape for black and white rhinos, wild dogs, lions, and elephants. For these populations to thrive, they must overcome threats including poaching, human-wildlife conflict, and unsustainable mining.
We have worked here since 2001. Our current objectives are part of an ambitious strategy designed to build community resilience and safeguard biodiversity. They include:
- Maintenance of ecosystem integrity, with viable populations of AWF’s focal and other species
- Cross-border collaboration in service of conservation objectives
- Progress toward a vibrant wildlife economy
- Human-wildlife conflict mitigation
- Improved community access to natural resources for sustainable use
- Support for community livelihood projects