Conservation cannot succeed in isolation from the people who live alongside these lands
Along the ancient arid borderlands where Botswana and South Africa meet, the European Union has committed €2.5 million to a 30-month effort to reconcile the survival of a rare ecosystem with the livelihoods of the people who have always lived beside it. The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park — a landscape of red dunes and dry riverbeds that pioneered cross-border conservation in southern Africa — now becomes the site of a deeper experiment: whether protected wilderness and human prosperity can genuinely sustain one another. Managed by African Parks and the IUCN alongside both national governments, the initiative asks a question that conservation movements everywhere are still learning to answer.
- A fragile arid ecosystem spanning two nations faces mounting pressure, and a quarter century of transfrontier cooperation has not been enough to secure its future without fresh investment.
- Local communities — including the ǂKhomani San, whose roots in this landscape predate any modern border — have too often been left outside the economic logic of conservation, creating tension between protection and survival.
- The €2.5 million project moves deliberately to close that gap, building infrastructure, drafting management plans for four surrounding Wildlife Management Areas, and designing tourism strategies that extend beyond the park's formal edges.
- For the first time, revenue pathways are being embedded directly into conservation practice, so that wildlife and tourism generate income for the people of Botswana's side of the park rather than bypassing them.
- The initiative is now formally underway, with African Parks, the IUCN, and both governments working in declared partnership — its success to be measured over the next two and a half years in both biodiversity outcomes and community economic resilience.
On May 12, 2026, in Gaborone, the European Union formally launched a €2.5 million conservation initiative centered on the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park — a sweeping landscape of red dunes and ancient dry riverbeds straddling the border between Botswana and South Africa. Funded through the EU's Global Gateway NaturAfrica initiative and implemented by African Parks alongside the IUCN, the 30-month project carries the ambitions of both governments and draws additional support from the Dezzy Foundation and Global Wildlife Fund.
The park holds a singular place in the region's conservation history. When it was established more than twenty-five years ago, it became the first transfrontier conservation area in the Southern African Development Community — a pioneering model of cross-border stewardship in one of the continent's most demanding environments. That legacy now requires renewed investment to endure.
The project concentrates its core work on the Botswana side of the park, strengthening day-to-day management, improving infrastructure, and developing individual management plans for four surrounding Wildlife Management Areas. Tourism and community development strategies will be crafted for this wider landscape, extending conservation thinking beyond the park's formal boundaries.
What sets this initiative apart is its insistence that conservation and community prosperity must be built together. The project creates direct revenue pathways for local populations through wildlife and tourism activities, recognizing that protected areas survive only when the people living beside them benefit materially from their existence. Selected activities also reach into the South African section, including engagement with the ǂKhomani San community, whose ancestral ties to this land are profound.
African Parks CEO Peter Fearnhead described the approach as working shoulder to shoulder with government and local partners — a signal that external expertise is meant to serve local priorities rather than supplant them. Over the next two and a half years, the project's measure of success will lie not only in species protected and hectares managed, but in whether communities can build their futures through the park's existence rather than around it.
In Gaborone on May 12, 2026, the European Union formally launched a conservation project worth €2.5 million aimed at protecting and revitalizing one of southern Africa's most distinctive landscapes. The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, which straddles the border between Botswana and South Africa, became the focus of a 30-month initiative titled "Integrated Management for Biodiversity Conservation and Community Resilience in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park." The funding flows through the EU's Global Gateway NaturAfrica initiative and will be implemented by African Parks in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, working alongside the governments of both nations. The Dezzy Foundation and Global Wildlife Fund contributed additional partial support.
The park itself is a landscape of extremes—red sand dunes, ancient riverbeds that no longer flow, and open savannah stretching across an arid ecosystem that has existed as a transfrontier conservation area for more than a quarter century. When it was established, it became the first of its kind in the Southern African Development Community region, a pioneering model for cross-border environmental stewardship. Today it remains one of the continent's most important repositories of biodiversity in a harsh environment where survival depends on careful management and sustained commitment.
The new project concentrates its primary efforts on the Botswana side of the park, with a mandate to strengthen how the protected area is managed day-to-day. Infrastructure improvements form a central pillar of the work. Equally important is the creation of individual management plans for four Wildlife Management Areas that surround the park, extending conservation thinking beyond the park's formal boundaries into the broader landscape. Tourism and community development strategies will be crafted for this wider region, recognizing that conservation cannot succeed in isolation from the people who live alongside these lands.
What distinguishes this initiative from many conservation efforts is its explicit focus on generating sustainable income for local communities. The project creates pathways for people on the Botswana side to earn revenue directly from wildlife and tourism activities, embedding economic incentive into conservation practice. This approach acknowledges a fundamental reality: protected areas endure when the communities living near them benefit materially from their existence. The initiative also extends selected activities into the South African section of the park, including direct engagement with the ǂKhomani San community, whose ancestral connection to this landscape runs deep.
Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks, framed the initiative in terms of partnership rather than imposition. He spoke of working "shoulder to shoulder with government and local partners," a phrase that signals a collaborative model where external funding and expertise serve local priorities rather than override them. The work ahead involves strengthening the park's management infrastructure, protecting its biodiversity from ongoing pressures, and ensuring that the landscape continues to provide tangible benefits to the people whose futures are bound to it. Over the next two and a half years, the success of this project will be measured not only in species counts and hectares protected, but in whether communities can sustain themselves through the park's existence rather than in spite of it.
Citas Notables
Working shoulder to shoulder with government and local partners, strengthening park management, protecting its biodiversity, and ensuring it continues to deliver real benefits for people— Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does a transfrontier park need this kind of intervention now, after 25 years of existence?
Because management and infrastructure decay without sustained investment, and because the communities living alongside the park have largely been excluded from its economic benefits. This funding allows for real upgrades to how the park operates while creating revenue streams for local people.
The emphasis on community resilience—what does that actually mean in practice here?
It means moving beyond the old conservation model where parks were fenced off and communities were kept out. Here, people can earn income from wildlife tourism, from sustainable use of resources. It's about making sure their livelihoods don't depend on the park failing.
Why involve the ǂKhomani San specifically in the South African section?
Because they have lived in and with this landscape for centuries. Their knowledge of the ecosystem is irreplaceable, and they have a stake in its future that goes beyond economics. Excluding them would be both unjust and practically foolish.
Is €2.5 million enough for a project of this scale across two countries?
It's a significant commitment, but it's also catalytic funding—meant to establish frameworks and partnerships that will attract additional support and demonstrate what's possible. The real measure is whether it creates conditions for longer-term investment.
What could go wrong?
Unequal benefit distribution between communities, tourism development that damages the ecosystem it's meant to protect, or management plans that look good on paper but aren't enforced. Success depends entirely on whether local voices actually shape decisions, not just participate in them.