Trans-boundary Environmental Actors: The Zambezi Society’s Campaign for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Zambezi Bioregion

Abstract

This paper analyses the changing roles of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) as trans-boundary actors in environmental management and sustainable tourism development in Southern Africa. It specifically examines the lead role played by the Zambezi Society (ZAMSOC) in campaigning for, and promoting, sustainable tourism in the Zambezi ecoregion. ZAMSOC has made significant strides in key areas, notably safeguarding the wilderness and wetlands of the Zambezi River system by opposing environmentally damaging tourism infrastructure; developing guidelines for wilderness-sensitive tourism practices; encouraging greater cross-border cooperation; designing pollution control measures and lobbying for more profound partnerships between the tourism industry and local communities to achieve a fairer distribution of tourism profits for host communities. In this regard, ZAMSOC’s pioneering concept of trans-border ‘People’s Conservancies’ is but one example. While acknowledging ZAMSOC’sachievements, the paper argues that the workload for the NGO may undermine its effectiveness in the long term considering that it operates in a context where new social movements, especially the environmental movement, are not deeply rooted among indigenous communities. However, despite these challenges, ZAMSOC’s activities are reflective of how environmental activism transcends geophysical and geopolitical boundaries effectively championing the quest for sustainable tourism in ecologically sensitive bioregions.

Keywords:

• bioregion
• ecoresort
• environment
• transboundary
• Victoria Falls
• wilderness