Botswana’s outsized contribution of land to the Kavango -Zambezi Trans frontier Conservation Area (KAZA) to create room to roam for wildlife, has turned the country into a giant child smuggling corridor – information presented at a Francistown court has revealed.
Francistown Principal Magistrate Tshepo Magetse, last week, raised alarm about the surge in child trafficking incidents within the KAZA region, describing Botswana as “a key and terrifying transit route.”
Situated in the Kavango and Zambezi river basins where the borders of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe converge, KAZA is the world’s largest Trans frontier conservation area in the world, spanning approximately 520,000km². It covers 36 proclaimed protected areas such as national parks, game reserves, forest reserves, community conservancies and game/wildlife management areas. Of this land, 17% is in Angola, 30% in Botswana, 14% in Namibia, 25% in Zambia, and 14% in Zimbabwe thus making Botswana the highest contributor of land for conservation in KAZA.
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