GREATER
KAVANGO
ZAMBEZI
STRATEGIC CONSERVATION
LANDSCAPE
Protecting one of Africa’s most important
transboundary landscapes
We protect threatened wildlife and work with communities and partners across the Kavango Zambezi to reduce threats and strengthen conservation across borders.
Keeping the Greater
Kavango Zambezi
connected
Stretching across Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, this vast transboundary landscape encompasses rivers, wetlands, woodlands and open savannahs
GREATER KAVANGO ZAMBEZI
A JOURNEY
WITHOUT BORDERS
A White-backed Vulture lifts off in northern Botswana. Over the following days, it rides warm air currents across rivers, wetlands, woodlands, farms, protected areas, and international borders, travelling through a landscape that spans Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
For vultures, elephants, lions, African Wild Dogs, and many other species, movement is essential to survival. They follow seasonal rains, search for food and water, find mates, and expand into new areas. Their lives are shaped not by political boundaries, but by the health and connectivity of the landscapes they move through.
This is the vision behind our work in the Greater Kavango Zambezi Landscape. As the world’s largest terrestrial conservation area, it protects one of the last places on Earth where wildlife can still move freely across international borders. Keeping these connections intact is essential for the long-term survival of wildlife and for the rivers, wetlands, forests, and savannas that provide clean water, support livelihoods, and sustain communities across the region.
As we expand our work across the Greater Kavango Zambezi Landscape, we are building partnerships and applying our expertise to help secure these connected landscapes, protect the wildlife that moves across them while helping safeguard clean water, healthy ecosystems, and sustainable livelihoods for communities across five countries.
GREATER KAVANGO ZAMBEZI
WHY THE KAVANGO
ZAMBEZI MATTERS
Where Africa’s wildlife, rivers, and communities remain connected across borders
The Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, commonly known as KAZA TFCA, is the largest terrestrial conservation landscape in the world. Covering approximately 520,000 square kilometres across Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, it supports extraordinary biological diversity and some of Africa’s most important wildlife populations.
More than 3,000 plant species and 600 bird species occur within the landscape. Its rivers, floodplains, forests, and woodlands support a remarkable variety of wildlife, including elephants, lions, leopards, Cheetahs, African Wild Dogs, vultures, reptiles, and amphibians. KAZA TFCA is also home to Africa’s largest elephant population, with nearly 250,000 elephants roaming across the landscape.
What makes KAZA TFCA unique is its scale and connectivity. Wildlife can still move between ecosystems, follow seasonal resources, and maintain wildlife populations across vast areas. These same rivers, floodplains, forests, and woodlands provide clean water, fisheries, fertile soils, and other natural resources that support communities across the region. Protecting these ecological connections helps sustain the wildlife, natural resources, and ecological processes that make KAZA TFCA one of the world’s most important conservation landscapes.
Species we protect
Carnivores
Birds of
Prey
Cranes
Threatened
Endemic Species
GREATER KAVANGO ZAMBEZI
CONSERVATION
IN ACTION
As we expand our work into the Greater Kavango-Zambezi Landscape, our focus is on supporting local institutions and deploying our unique skills and knowledge to deepen support for connected landscapes that sustain wildlife, safeguard natural resources, and support communities across five countries.
Securing connected landscapes
The Greater KAZA Landscapes wildlife depends on connected institutions and places that extend far beyond the boundaries of individual protected areas. We aim to work with governments, conservation partners, and local communities to help secure critical habitats. By strengthening these connections, we aim to keep wildlife moving freely across one of the world’s largest conservation landscapes.
Restoring ecosystems
Healthy rivers, wetlands, forests, and floodplains are the foundation of the Greater KAZA Landscape. We will restore degraded ecosystems through naturebased solutions, including clearing invasive plants, restoring riverbanks and wetlands, and supporting the recovery of native vegetation. These actions strengthen water security, improve climate resilience, and help sustain the natural systems that support both wildlife and communities.
Reducing threats to wildlife
Wildlife across the Greater KAZA TFCA Landscape faces growing threats from poaching, poisoning, snaring and illegal wildlife trade. In Botswana, we have worked with Raptors Botswana and the Government of Botswana for nearly a decade to strengthen the detection of and response to wildlife poisoning across the Okavango Delta and Chobe regions. We also train government staff, veterinarians and other responders to use technology, wildlife tracking and wildlife poisoning first aid to respond rapidly to incidents. We continue to bolster this work by expanding our partnerships and projects in Botswana.
Supporting species recovery
Restoring healthy wildlife populations requires more than protecting habitat. We will support the recovery of key species through strategic reintroductions, translocations, and transboundary population management, helping reconnect populations of African Wild Dogs, Cheetahs, lions, and other species across the landscape. Regular wildlife surveys will help guide conservation action and measure long-term recovery.
Guiding conservation through science
Good conservation depends on good information. We aim to deploy science and innovation to better understand KAZA TFCA’s wildlife and ecosystems through biodiversity surveys, environmental DNA (eDNA), wildlife monitoring, and new technologies that improve conservation planning and reduce the impacts of infrastructure on wildlife. By applying the best available science, we can direct conservation action where it will have the greatest impact.
GREATER KAVANGO ZAMBEZI
OUR CONSERVATION
APPROACHES
Specialist expertise. Greater conservation impact.
Many of the conservation challenges facing the Greater KAZA TFCA landscape are shared across our eight strategic conservation landscapes.
Our Strategic Conservation Approaches bring together the expertise, innovation, partnerships, and tools needed to address these challenges at scale. By combining specialist knowledge with on-the-ground implementation, we apply these approaches across our Strategic Conservation Landscapes and in other priority areas where we can deliver strategic conservation outcomes.
Sustainable Finance
Securing the long-term investment and innovative financing needed to sustain conservation, ecosystem restoration and community stewardship.
Wildlife and Infrastructure
Reducing the impacts of infrastructure on wildlife and nature while promoting development that is better planned, more responsible and compatible with conservation.
Biodiversity and Business
Working with businesses to integrate nature into decision-making, reduce environmental impacts, and support more sustainable business practices.
People in Conservation
Supporting communities, farmers, landowners and local partners to strengthen stewardship, sustainable livelihoods and coexistence between people and wildlife.
Wildlife in Trade
Combating wildlife crime and illegal trade through research, intelligence, partnerships, policy engagement and support to law-enforcement agencies.
