There is an urgent need to protect and expand the conservation estate in Africa through Game Management Areas (GMAs) and community concessions that create connectivity in larger biodiverse landscapes. Effective management results in thriving wildlife areas with robust nature-based economies that can deliver tangible and enduring benefits to perpetuate long term protection and stewardship. Conserve Global is working with Tondwa Conservation Limited (TCL), an entity that brings together government, community and private sector, in the Tondwa Game Management Area in northern Zambia.

The ecological baselines and monitoring capacity proposed will improve decision making and adaptive management while collecting concrete evidence of benefits of the GMA model that can be confidently replicated in other landscapes. Alongside other baseline assessments, Conserve Global will develop a better understanding of plant diversity, habitat, and land cover across Tondwa GMA (and surrounds), as well as the extent of plant and timber extraction and other threats to habitat integrity such as uncontrolled burning. JRS Biodiversity Foundation support is key for undertaking habitat assessments while simultaneously raising the capacity of the Tondwa conservation community.

Specific goals for the Advancing Community Conservation Management through Integrated Habitat Monitoring in Northern Zambia Game Management Areas project include:

1. Established floral biodiversity baselines required to effectively monitor and manage Tondwa and Kaputa GMA over time as well as to support the development of carbon projects and biodiversity tokens.
2. Confirmed 5-year management plan and targets based on consultations and baseline assessments of local biodiversity
3. Enhanced capacity within Nsama Chiefdom in data collection and analysis.
4. Retained and promoted ethnobotanical knowledge in Nsama Chiefdom as evidenced by focus groups and feedback sessions and direct observation.
5. Improved governance and involvement of local communities in decision making and management and monitoring of protected
6. Refined overall model of working with community associations to advance national and global biodiversity plans to reach 30×30 targets through information and presentations shared with national policy makers.

Mark Ghaui is an ecology and environmental management professional with 10 years of experience in natural resource conservation and utilization across the philanthropic conservation, environmental consulting, and forestry sectors. Skilled in people and project management in remote areas, with technical knowledge in community conservation, environmental management of natural resource-based development investments, and multi- stakeholder engagement fields. Ghaui was educated in South Africa and holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Botany.