Developing Limpopo National Park

Mozambique

Developing Limpopo National Park

Technical Brief

Financing	Agence Française de Développement
Beneficiary	Republic of Mozambique
Grant amount	€ 11M
Date of approval	15 November 2006
Date of agreement signature	23 April 2007
Project duration	2008 to 2012

Objective

The objective of the Limpopo National Park (LNP) development project is:

to create conditions for sustainable economic, social and ecological management of the park and thus contributing to biodiversity and ecosystems preservation at a regional level, while involving local populations,
to contribute to regional integration and enhanced cooperation between South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Project content

The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park was created in December 2002 by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It covers an area of almost 4 million ha and includes the Kruger National Park in South Africa, the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique and the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe.

The project is targeting three types of action:

to improve living conditions for the people living in the park by the development and concerted management of the buffer zone (border area to the east of the park along the Limpopo River) and the rehabilitation of road infrastructure,
to preserve biodiversity by implementing a biodiversity protection and monitoring system in the park and by developing environmental awareness and education,
to strengthen the capacities of park administration in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the park.

Project responsibility comes under the Ministry of Tourism represented by the National Directorate for Conservation Areas (DNAC) and the Limpopo National Park Administration.

Financing plan

AFD financing complements the contributions of other operators, in particular:

external partners (KFW, GTZ, World Bank, South Africa’s Peace Parks Foundation),
park administration thanks to 80 % of tourism revenues reallocated to the park,
population for the 20 % of park revenues they receive,
tax levies paid by government.

Costs for the first two years are entirely covered by these financings. An additional financing should be mobilized for 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Components	AFD(*)	KFW	GTZ	WB	PPF	Tourism revenues	Gov.	Comm.	Add. Fin. 2009/11	TOTAL
Development of Support zone	4.537		50	500			107	331		5.525
Villages Resettlement		3.023					44		8.280	11.347
Roads	3.500			168						3.668
Protection	1.000	867			188	409	80		2.323	4.867
Other components	709			224		84	63		223	1.303
Park administration	661	405			1.081	1.164	96		80	3.487
Miscellaneous and unforeseen expenses	593									593
TOTAL (in thousands of euros)	11.000	4.295	50	892	1.269	1.657	390	331	10.906	30.790

(*) with an additional € 200.000 to finance the road study financed by AFD Project Study and Preparation Fund.

Expected outcomes

LNP has a high potential in terms of biodiversity and tourism and is a driving force for the development of the whole region. There will be a number of positive effects:

economic impact for the inhabitants of the park (road development, employment, eco-tourism) as well as for Gaza province,
social impact by fostering the improvement of socio-economic conditions for inhabitants of the buffer zone (education, health, water etc) and encouraging greater ownership for the population in terms of development,
environmental impact stemming from the protection of biodiversity and natural resources.

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