The information was disclosed Tuesday by the President, João Lourenço, during his speech at the Annual Gala of the International Foundation for Conservation of the Environment (ICCF), held in Washington, United States of America.
"Angola has started negotiations with African Parks for a public-private partnership for the long-term co-management and development of the Luengue-Luiana and Mavinga natural parks, located in southeastern Angola, which form a connecting corridor to other protected areas of the protected transfrontier Okavango-Zambezi region," he said.
The head of state considered that this region "is the last wild frontier in southern Africa that includes rivers and lakes that supply the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and critical natural habitats for migration of the largest remaining populations of elephants in Africa, and that are beginning to return to Angola from Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia".
He said that the american company "will bring funding and technical expertise needed to conserve and manage these vast areas that are under increasing threat from deforestation, fire, and poaching".
He also said that the partnership will work as a "umbrella, under which will act" some international and local partners, "such as Panthera, Acadir, DBDS, being these the ones that provide us support in the preservation of felines and the communities that are there".
João Lourenço used the occasion to thank Panthera for creating community guards who work to preserve wildlife and human life in the Luengue-Luiana National Park.
"We also believe that the Peace Parks Foundation, of which Angola is a member, will continue to support the Executive Secretariat of the Okavango - Zambezi Project, and to implement, in the future, actions in partnership, in the format that we intend," he said.
João Lourenço announced that Angola will be the third signatory of the Protocol against Illicit Traffic of Wild Flora and Fauna Species, adding that "Angola and other signatory States are committed to adopt adequate legislation that typifies as a crime the illicit traffic of wild life and parts of wild animals".
He also mentioned that the Government of Angola and several international agencies, such as USAID, Global Environment Facility and Conservation International, are working to ensure "technical and financial support to establish programs to protect eco-systems and the environment in general, while creating jobs for local communities."
Besides the announcement of the partnership with African Parks, during the Angolan delegation's visit to Washington, the Ministry of Energy and Water and the American company SUN Africa initialed an investment agreement.
You can read the President's speech in full here.
