One of the most ambitious and potentially significant conservation developments taking place in southern Africa today is the formation of transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs). Incorporating national parks, game reserves, hunting areas and conservancies embedded within a matrix of land under traditional communal tenure, TFCAs provide extraordinary biodiversity conservation and sustainable development opportunities and are a top priority for SADC (the Southern African Development Community).
The AHEAD (Animal & Human Health for the Environment And Development) Program is working to address problems facing biodiversity conservation and development in these large, transboundary landscapes by focusing on the critically important linkages among wildlife health, domestic animal health, and human health and livelihoods. Through its "Beyond Fences" project, AHEAD is focusing efforts on southern Africa's Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), perhaps the world's largest conservation-oriented landscape. KAZA is also home to many of the world's most charismatic mega-vertebrates, including the largest contiguous population of elephants (~250,000) on the continent.
This collection of images from KAZA attempts to highlight both the stunning beauty and remarkable biodiversity of the region while at the same time capturing some of the harsh reality of life in this semi-arid region.
The images in these galleries were captured by Dr. Mark Atkinson, who coordinated the activities of AHEAD in the KAZA TFCA (map). AHEAD (Animal & Human Health for the Environment And Development) is a convening, facilitative mechanism, working to create enabling environments that allow different and often competing sectors to literally come to the same table and find collaborative ways forward to address challenges at the interface of wildlife health, livestock health, and human health and livelihoods. We convene stakeholders, help delineate conceptual frameworks to underpin planning, management and research, and provide technical support and resources for projects stakeholders identify as priorities. AHEAD recognizes the need to look at health and disease not in isolation but within a given region's environmental and socioeconomic context. For more information visit the AHEAD webpage.
The photographs included in these galleries are available for use by our sponsors and other interested parties. To find out how to access any of these images for non-commercial use, please contact Mark Atkinson directly through the contact link provided.