*4.4. Challenges*

The proceeding discussion examines the challenges faced in the park and limits of the innovation. We draw lessons from the case study of Gonarezhou to contribute to the scholarship in stakeholder engagemen<sup>t</sup> and protected areas. The GCT faces several challenges that include the governance of the park, stakeholder engagement, community distrust and lack of coordination among the governmen<sup>t</sup> representatives in the country. The international protocols for managing elephant populations also undermine the viability and sustainability of the GCT initiative.

The livelihood stresses endured by the poor communities living around the park exert pressure on the communities who may have no option but to resort to unsustainable use of the park to secure their livelihoods. The unsustainable use includes poaching of wildlife for subsistence purposes, unsustainable harvesting of vegetation and biodiversity resources, and the communities' participation in commercial sophisticated poaching networks targeting big game animals such as elephants. Through education and awareness campaigns and supporting livelihoods of local communities, GCT is trying to reverse these trends. The communities argue that more still needs to be done to enhance their livelihoods; nevertheless, under the di fficult economic climate in Zimbabwe this is a challenging task for the GCT.

A further challenge is a lack of coordination between the national and transboundary governance authorities. The key informants mentioned that the Great Limpopo Trans frontier park was formed in 2002 between heads of state of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and overlooked its localized impacts. As an example, the Gonarezhou National Park is supposed to link with the Kruger National Park in South Africa through the Sengwe corridor. However, this is inhabited by communities in villages. Therefore, movement of wildlife around and through the corridor would increase the incidences of human-wildlife conflict which is already rife in the area. This experience highlights the need for improved coordination and policy consistency between the diverse authorities engaged in the governance of conservation areas.

The other challenge is the failure by the GCT to deal with the issues of compensating communities for the losses to wildlife which encroaches on their fields and settlements and has created a long-standing grudge over the historical dispossession of land.

The managemen<sup>t</sup> of protected areas is also facing challenges because of climate change and variability. One of the key informants highlighted this by saying *"just look everywhere you go and turn in this area it's just dry"*. For example, the droughts in 1992, 2002, 2008, 2012 and recently in 2018 have led to food insecurity within communities around the park leading to loss of livelihoods and livestock which increases the rate of small-scale poaching in the park [76]. It was also noted by one of the key informants that there is farm abandonment because of climate change which is exacerbating poaching activities. Climate change induced drought leads to the migration and relocation of animals and their death. More resources are thus required to feed animals as fodder must be prepared or purchased; likewise, the supply of water in natural pans dries up, requiring the need to pump water artificially for animals. However, there are no artificial water pans in Gonarezhou as it is management's approach not to interfere with nature but rather to let the system self-regulate.

Climate change a ffects ecosystem functions because vegetation is reduced or destroyed leading to elephants moving to locations with water. In this process they destroy important ecosystem services such as mopane and acacia woodlands which are important in carbon sequestration and provision of good quality habitats [52,55]. Similarly, extreme events such as cyclones have destroyed infrastructure, in particular the bridge which connects the northern and southern sections of the park. This has undermined tourists' access to the southern section. These droughts and extreme events have affected land use planning and community relations with the park. For example, the key informants indicated that while the GCT encourages people to destock their livestock so as to minimize loss during droughts, some communities still choose to keep them which further fuels human-wildlife conflict. Furthermore, activities in communities outside pose challenges for land use managemen<sup>t</sup> inside the park. For example, some communities outside the park practice streambank cultivation which leads to

soil erosion, disturbing the aquatic systems in rivers through shifting of water pools and affecting the fish population negatively.
