Zimbabwe’s conservation efforts are set to receive a major boost with the announcement of a €1 million grant aimed at enhancing habitat and wildlife protection in the Hwange-Matetsi-Zambezi landscape.
The generous contribution from the Postcode Lottery is earmarked to strengthen current rescue and conservation work by IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) and Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) in and around the vast 14,600 km² Hwange National Park, which is home to over 45,000 African savannah elephants.
The investment will, among other things, support wildlife rescue efforts, enhance ranger capacity, and secure critical wildlife migration routes.
Since 2019, IFAW has been working collaboratively with ZimParks and local communities under the Room to Roam initiative to secure the Hwange–Matetsi–Zambezi ecosystem—one of Southern Africa’s most important conservation landscapes.
“Over the past six years, the IFAW-ZimParks partnership has managed to tackle some of the pressing conservation challenges in and around Hwange, and with this contribution from the Postcode Lottery, we can expand our work and continue building a future in which people and nature can live safely alongside one another,” says Alleta Nyahuye, IFAW Zimbabwe Country Director.
“Thanks in part to our participants, IFAW can continue and strengthen this important work in Zimbabwe,” says Jonne Arnoldussen, Managing Director of the Postcode Lottery. “Together, we are contributing to a world in which people and nature can live in balance.”
“We are grateful to our partners for this support, which we believe will help us safeguard our treasured wildlife resource and build resilience for wildlife, habitats, and the people coexisting with wildlife in the greater Hwange ecosystem, in line with Zimbabwe’s national development agenda,” says ZimParks Director General Professor Edson Gandiwa.
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