**1. Introduction**

Protected areas are defined by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) [1,2]. As such, they are demarcated geographical spaces which are recognized, dedicated and managed through legal proclamation or other e ffective means so as to attain the long-term conservation of nature and its associated ecosystem services, human cultural values and wellbeing [1–5]. National parks are protected areas which are crucial for sustainable development in all environmental, economic, social

and institutional facets. Thus, they are seen as a vehicle for biodiversity conservation at local, regional and global levels [5]. Furthermore, protected areas such as national parks are regarded as tools for the prevention of habitat loss and degradation. They provide a way to prevent species disappearance induced by rapid landscape changes caused by the unprecedented impact of human activities such as agriculture and urbanization [6].

The governance of national parks includes community–based, local, national, regional and global frameworks formulated at the various levels. They include but are not limited to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as SDG 15: life on land, SDG 13: climate action [7] and the Nagoya Protocol [8,9]. The governance of national parks, which draws on a hierarchy of authorities, is complex and challenging. This is even more di fficult if communities which live in the vicinity of the parks are marginalized. Thus, in order to promote sustainable natural resource management, communities have to be involved in decision-making [10–12]. However, the continuous challenge is for the communities and national park managers to establish operational processes and actions which enable sustainable natural resource management.

The creation of national parks [13] brings about social, political, institutional, economic and environmental changes to surrounding communities [10]. For example, communities were displaced for the establishment of national parks such as Yellowstone National Park in USA [14]. In Africa, the creation of protected areas was mostly as a result of colonial, often draconian, policies, where locals were obliged to leave their habitable land to make way for national parks [15]. Other examples include Central Africa, where communities were displaced from rainforests to make way for national parks in the Congo basin [16] and in Uganda where communities were displaced to establish Mount Elgon National Park [17]. In South Africa communities were also displaced to make way for the establishment of the Kruger National Park [18]. The removal of communities for the establishment of national parks was backed by draconian legislation to confiscate land. Local communities were marginalized in the developments leading to and after the establishment of the conservation parks with little or no regard for the communities' livelihoods, role in biodiversity managemen<sup>t</sup> or sustainability. As a result, the relationship between the parks and communities is characterized by ongoing conflicts and unresolved struggles over land and natural resources [17,19]. Currently, 14% of the terrestrial area in Africa is under protected area status, whereas in Zimbabwe 27% is under protected area status [13].

Community resistance to the establishment of the national parks takes many forms. For example, the Masai Mara Nature reserve in Kenya is experiencing anthropogenic disturbances as a result of livestock grazing by the Masai community [20]. Similarly, the Masai in Tanzania encroach into the park to secure their subsistence which has been negatively a ffected by the establishment of the Morogoro National Park [21]. Some communities, like the Ogiek peoples of Kenya [22–24], resorted to the regional courts to reclaim the land they were evicted from [25].

The establishment of the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe resulted in the dispossession of the various communities living on the land. The communities who lost their ancestral land, cultural sites and livelihood resources were not compensated for these losses [26,27]. The pressure on livelihoods and limited access to natural resources caused increased human-wildlife conflict around Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe [28]. In order to address the tensions between communities and protected areas, the authorities responsible for the establishment and managemen<sup>t</sup> of conservation enclaves are increasingly endeavoring to engage with neighboring communities. For example, the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe was formulated to mediate human-wildlife conflict [29]. The program promotes community-based natural resource managemen<sup>t</sup> and has facilitated a mutually beneficial engagemen<sup>t</sup> between rural local authorities, parks management, safari operators and communities. It is a progressive innovation that was duplicated in various forms in other countries [29–31]. However, the CAMPFIRE program's sustainability was undermined by governance challenges that included a lack of trust and transparency. Another example would be the Sangha Transnational Park which seeks to conserve the dense, remote and threatened forests lying between the borders of the Congo Republic, Cameroon and the Central

African Republic [32]. Trust, accountability and transparency tenets of good governance are often cited as crucial in natural resource managemen<sup>t</sup> [33]. When stakeholders involved in the managemen<sup>t</sup> of a protected area trust each other, there are positive outcomes for conservation [34–36]. The inclusion of communities in the managemen<sup>t</sup> of protected areas has the potential to increase the sustainability of protected areas and ensure that there are mutual benefits from, for example, wildlife tourism [37]. These community partnerships are known to yield better conservation and community benefits. Thus, accountable, inclusive, transparent, and legitimate collaboration can increase the sustainability of such partnerships [19]. These experiences from CAMPFIRE and Sangha have provided valuable lessons to inform the formulation of stakeholder engagemen<sup>t</sup> in the managemen<sup>t</sup> of protected areas [38]. One of the initiatives that draw on these lessons is the partnership between the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA) and Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) which was established to manage the Gonarezhou National Park. This partnership is working with surrounding communities to establish inclusive meaningful managemen<sup>t</sup> of the national parks. This study focuses on that partnership. This study has been initiated to complement existing knowledge on the managemen<sup>t</sup> of protected areas. There have been many studies on livelihoods and poaching in Gonarezhou [39], ecosystem services [40,41], climate change [42,43], human-wildlife conflict [28] and tourism [44]. There is, however, a dearth of studies focusing on stakeholder relationships and collaborative managemen<sup>t</sup> in Gonarezhou [27]. This study therefore (1) assesses recent innovations in the managemen<sup>t</sup> of the Gonarezhou National Park, (2) evaluates the relationship between the park and communities, (3) examines and highlights challenges faced in the park and limits of the innovation, and (4) draws lessons from the case study of Gonarezhou to contribute to the scholarship in stakeholder engagemen<sup>t</sup> and protected areas.

## **2. Study Area**

The Gonarezhou National Park situated in South Eastern Zimbabwe covers an area of 5053 km<sup>2</sup> [45] and is the second largest protected area in Zimbabwe. Gonarezhou was established as a game reserve in 1935 and declared a national park in 1975. The park consists of an undulating low-lying area, with the lowest elevation point starting at 165 m above sea level, peaking at 578 m (Figure 1) [45]. The area is considered a dryland with an average maximum annual temperature of 31 ◦C. It has winter day maximum temperatures averaging 27 ◦C and summer day temperatures averaging over 31 ◦C. The mean annual rainfall of 466 mm is classified as natural region 5 of Zimbabwe which is considered a dryland region [45,46]. The Runde, Muwawa and Save Rivers are in the northern section of the park, whereas the Mwenezi is found in the Southern section (Figure 1). The name Gonarezhou literary means "the place of elephants" due to the large numbers of elephants found in the park. The current elephant population in Africa is estimated at 415,428, with Southern Africa accounting for 293,447 of the herd. It is important to note that Southern Africa's elephant population is rebounding due to protection programs [47], and Gonarezhou has a reputation as a premier destination for quality wildlife viewing. The park is an integral part of the Greater Limpopo Trans frontier Park (GLTP), a transboundary conservation area spanning South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The GLTP combines the Kruger National Park in South Africa, Limpopo National Park in Mozambique and Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe. The GLTP also consists of private land and concessions as well as communal areas in all three countries.

The park shares boundaries with the settlements under communal tenure such as Malipati, Save and the Chikombedzi. The demarcation of the Gonarezhou National Park in 1975 encroached on land belonging to the indigenous Shangaan ethnic group and resulted in the displacement of communities in its vicinity. These communities include the dominant Shangaan ethnic group as well as some Ndebele and Shona speaking communities [26,48]. Among the Shangaan groups who were evicted was the Chitsa community. The Chitsa community have continued to resist eviction and are currently settled within the park boundaries [26,48].

**Figure 1.** Location of Gonarezhou in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe governmen<sup>t</sup> exercises a mandate over the governance of the park through the Parks and Wildlife Act of 1975. The Governor in Masvingo Province where Gonarezhou is located is the governmen<sup>t</sup> representative and oversees provincial affairs and is appointed by the President of Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWA) is a governmen<sup>t</sup> agency administering national parks in Zimbabwe. Accordingly, the ZPWA has a mandate to manage the entire wildlife population of Zimbabwe, whether on private or communal lands. The Gonarezhou Conservation Trust (GCT), a partnership between the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and the Frankfurt Zoological Society was formed in 2017 and now manages the Gonarezhou National Park. The GCT Board of Trustees promotes conservation, commercial viability, community engagement, connectivity and cooperate governance of the Gonarezhou National Park (45).
