SOUTHERN AFRICAN PEACE PARKS

Lubombo : Usuthu – Tembe – Futi

The proposed TFCA links conservation and resource-use areas in South Africa and Mozambique. In South Africa these include Tembe Elephant Park and Ndumo Game Reserve, as well as the Tshanini and Usuthu Gorge Community Conservation Areas. This TFCA has been extended to include the Usuthu Gorge (Mambane) area in Swaziland, thereby making this a trilateral TFCA. Plans are also under way to incorporate areas to the east and west of Tembe Elephant Park through partnership with local communities. This has the potential of merging Tembe Elephant Park with Ndumo Game Reserve. In Mozambique the project focuses on the Maputo Special Reserve (Reserve Especial de Maputo) and the Futi-corridor, a swamp system that links the Reserve with Tembe Elephant Park. This TFCA will unite an ancient elephant population that used to move freely between Mozambique and South Africa and will enhance the efficiency of biodiversity conservation in a region with high levels of endemicity.