Herding for health: restoring rangelands and wildlife corridors, Zimbabwe.

In the dry and wildlife-rich landscapes of Mola in Nyaminyami District, within the Sebungwe landscape of the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area, communities are facing the growing realities of land degradation, climate change, and escalating human-wildlife conflict. Years of unsustainable land management practices, combined with increasingly harsh climatic conditions, have left grazing lands depleted, reduced livestock productivity, and pushed communities and wildlife into closer competition for shrinking natural resources. As wildlife corridors and habitats become encroached upon, conflicts between people and wildlife are experienced, threatening both livelihoods and conservation efforts of communities who are sharing boundary with Matusadona National Park. The proximity of these communities to Matusadona National Park (MNP), further confounds the problem, they often encroach into the park in search of more productive pastures for grazing, intensifying the risk of human-wildlife conflict. The escalating human-wildlife conflict poses significant challenges to both community livelihoods and safety and wildlife conservation.

In response, we are implementing the Herding for Health (H4H) project, a community-driven initiative that is transforming the relationship between people, livestock, and the land. The project empowers local communities living adjacent to Matusadona National Park to adopt holistic livestock management practices that regenerate rangelands, restore wildlife habitats, and strengthen climate resilience. Through improved herding practices, planned grazing, and community-led stewardship, degraded landscapes are gradually recovering, vegetation is returning, soil health is improving, and livestock productivity is increasing.

Beyond restoring the land, the project is rebuilding hope and resilience within communities. Families are beginning to experience improved livelihoods from healthier livestock and more productive grazing areas, while at the same time contributing to the protection of wildlife and the restoration of critical ecosystems. By demonstrating that conservation and livelihoods can coexist, Herding for Health is becoming a powerful source of inspiration across the landscape, showing communities that regenerative land management can generate lasting social, economic, and environmental benefits for both people and nature.

Goal To strengthen the capacity of local communities living around Matusadona National Park to manage their livestock in a holistic manner that results in the restoration of rangelands and wildlife habitats, improved livelihoods and the protection of lions and other wildlife species

Use of funds

We plan to expand our Herding for Health project to increase the scale and impact of landscape restoration efforts around the protected area. The requested funding will support the establishment of two additional Herding for Health clusters to strengthen collective herding and sustainable rangeland management. The project will also recruit and equip additional community herders, provide predator-proof mobile bomas to reduce livestock losses, and supply essential livestock vaccines to improve animal health and resilience. Furthermore, the funding will support capacity building for communities and herders through training and knowledge-sharing initiatives that promote holistic land and livestock management practices.

Challenges

Limited and constrained resources remain a significant challenge, as the Herding for Health model requires continuous investment and support to sustain its impact. Despite this, the approach has proven highly effective in restoring degraded landscapes, improving livestock management, and reducing human-wildlife conflict. As communities continue to witness these positive outcomes, demand for the programme has grown considerably, with many more local communities seeking support to adopt the model and strengthen the resilience of their landscapes and livelihoods.