Below, please find the non-technical summary of the ESDD carried out in Gonarezhou and an update of the progress and impacts achieved in safeguards implementation.
Background
From March to December 2021, SCDS Consultoria em Desenvolvimento Social LTDA conducted environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) for the Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF) in the Gonarezhou landscape, Zimbabwe. The assessment was conducted on behalf of Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau development bank (KfW). For further details on the Gonarezhou legacy landscape (LL), managed by the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust (GCT), a partnership between Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) and Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA), please consult the program page.
The GCT was created in 2016 and with it, mechanisms to access more and diversified funding contributing to the Park’s eventual self-sufficiency and benefits to surrounding communities. GCT is responsible for leading systematic community engagement and addressing human wildlife conflict in non-Campfire areas, as well as managing access to cultural sites in the GNP and Malipati Safari Area.
Methodology
The ESDD included desk-based reviews, virtual interviews, and three field visits with a multi-disciplinary team led by consultants being based in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The team engaged with key national, transboundary and local stakeholders, including local government representatives from the Rural District and District Development Council, District Veterinary Department, Sustainable Agriculture Technology WILD (SAT WILD), NGO members from African Wildlife Conservation Fund, Savé Valley Conservancy and the Malilangwe Trust as well as GCT and FZS staff. On the Mozambican side, communities and Wildlife Service representatives of the Chicualacuala District and local authorities in Mavué, in Massengena District were visited. Around 136 community members, from which approximately half were women, were met in key community areas around the park on the Zimbabwean side.
Main Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts
The ESDD assessed the program-funded activities as well as the contextual risk and impacts. Most substantial risks identified were related to increasing deforestation and land degradation in adjacent settled areas outside of the National Park, primarily due to population growth and expansion. Climate change impacts on the wildlife and the community’s security and livelihood, as well as access restrictions, related to boundary and legacy issues, fencing, and human-wildlife conflict impacts have all placed pressure on communities adjacent to the park.
ESDD Categorization
At the time of the study, the Gonarezhou landscape was classified as a category B+ (substantial risk) based on the criteria of the ESDD. Many of the risks identified are not within the direct responsibility of GCT. The ESDD identified some environmental and social gaps within the Gonarezhou program, notably concerning the program’s limited mandate outside of the park area, as well as some areas of boundary dispute.
Foreseen Mitigation Measures as per ESAP
Main Gonarezhou ESAP actions include reviewing conservation performance agreements and benefit sharing schemes with communities outside the park, revising law enforcement standard operational procedures to improve on international human rights, gender and security related requirements in a security management plan and systematizing grievances mechanisms with staff, and communities, including through the established Mpfhuka (local community engagement) platform. Further foreseen is the development of a stakeholder engagement plan and a process framework to address access to and sustainable use of natural resources, and for the inclusion of communities, local government and NGO partners as part of an integrated land–use, social and environmental resilience planning process.
For more information, please consult the following links: