When Zimbabwe hosts the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCA) International Conference and Summit from May 19 to 23, 2025, it won’t just be another high-level gathering. It will be a litmus test of the region’s political will, conservation vision, and readiness to align nature-based solutions with sustainable development goals. Taking place in Harare under the theme “Transfrontier Conservation Areas – 25 Years of Cooperation for Regional Integration and Sustainable Development,” the summit arrives at a time when the region faces escalating climate risks, strained ecosystems, and rising demands for economic reform.
TFCA initiatives, which are essentially large conservation zones that cut across national borders, have long been championed as both ecological and geopolitical tools. By jointly managing landscapes that are home to migratory wildlife and delicate ecosystems, member states have sought to build peace, strengthen tourism, and empower border communities. Yet the real challenge now lies in scaling these ideals into practical, sustained commitments backed by financing, technology, and regional cooperation.
For Zimbabwe, hosting this milestone event not only affirms its leadership in regional conservation diplomacy but also brings focus to its own ambitions to link biodiversity management with tourism recovery, rural development, and climate resilience. The country’s ecotourism assets—spanning from the majestic Victoria Falls to the vast Gonarezhou, are poised to benefit from enhanced collaboration, if the outcomes of this summit translate into action.
The support from development partners such as the European Union (EU) and the German government, through GIZ, provides a critical foundation. Their backing of the Joint Action “NaturAfrica / Climate Resilience and Natural Resource Management in the SADC (C-NRM) Programme” ensures that the summit will go beyond talk, focusing on investment pipelines, cross-border management frameworks, and disaster risk reduction strategies. These are the practical enablers that TFCAs need to move from concept to impact.
Crucially, the summit is expected to culminate in new agreements, sustainable financing arrangements, and an actionable TFCA roadmap. This will not only determine the pace of implementation but also measure how seriously SADC member states value biodiversity as a development pillar. Political speeches will matter less than whether governments agree to resource and operationalise the joint management frameworks they sign.
At a broader level, the summit offers an opportunity to deepen regional integration through environmental cooperation. TFCAs remain one of the few frameworks where countries voluntarily cede a degree of sovereignty in favour of shared stewardship, a powerful symbol in a region that still grapples with fragmentation in trade, mobility, and infrastructure.
As delegates prepare to descend on Harare, expectations will run high. Will this be the summit that anchors TFCAs firmly within the AU’s Agenda 2063 and SADC’s development blueprint? Will it deliver not just commitments but mechanisms for accountability, community benefit, and adaptive conservation amid climate change? If the answers lean toward “yes,” then this conference will not only mark 25 years of TFCA cooperation, it will mark a new beginning.
