Adelaide Moyo, Group Managing Editor 
ZIMBABWE’S drive to protect its natural heritage received a major boost this week following the announcement of a one million euro grant dedicated to habitat preservation and wildlife protection in the critical Hwange-Matetsi-Zambezi landscape.
The funding, provided by the Postcode Lottery, is set to scale up the long-standing Room to Roam initiative, a joint venture between the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks).
IFAW Zimbabwe country director Alleta Nyahuye said the funding would strengthen ongoing conservation efforts in the region.
“Over the past six years, the IFAW-ZimParks partnership has managed to tackle some of the pressing conservation challenges in and around Hwange, and with this contribution from the Postcode Lottery, we can expand our work and continue building a future in which people and nature can live safely alongside one another,” Nyahuye said.
The contribution from the Postcode Lottery is earmarked to strengthen current rescue and conservation work by IFAW and ZimParks in and around the vast 14 600 km² Hwange National Park, which is home to over 45 000 African savannah elephants.
ZimParks director-general Edson Gandiwa said the funding would help strengthen efforts to protect the country’s wildlife resources.
“We are grateful to our partners for this support, which we believe will help us safeguard our treasured wildlife resource and build resilience for wildlife, habitats, and the people coexisting with wildlife in the greater Hwange ecosystem, in line with Zimbabwe’s national development agenda,” said Gandiwa.
Meanwhile, Lottery Postcode managing director Jonne Arnoldussen said the organisation was pleased to support conservation initiatives in Zimbabwe.
“IFAW can continue and strengthen this important work in Zimbabwe. Together, we are contributing to a world in which people and nature can live in balance,” said Arnoldussen.
The Room to Roam is an urgent vision for Africa’s surviving savannah elephants and the human communities with which they share the land and its resources.
The donation comes as ZimParks recently said human-wildlife conflict claimed 62 lives and left 81 injured in 2025, driven by climate change and intensifying competition for scarce water and grazing resources.
ZimParks attributed the increasing human-wildlife conflict to the worsening climate crisis, which has triggered intense competition between local communities and wildlife for declining resources.
Severe droughts have depleted natural water sources and grazing lands, forcing wildlife out of protected areas and into human settlements in search of food and water.
ZimParks said the increase in cases is part of a wider regional and global pattern where climate change is altering wildlife movement and behaviour, bringing animals and people into closer and more frequent contact.
“Climate change has fundamentally impacted the dynamics of our ecosystems. Our responsibility is to adapt our management approaches while working closely with government agencies, conservation partners and communities to reduce risk and build resilience,” Gandiwa said then.
Between 2024 and 2025, ZimParks said human-wildlife conflict cases surged from 1,654 cases in 2024 to 2,090 in 2025, representing a 26 percent increase, while livestock losses more than doubled over the same period.
In 2025, ZimParks said a total of 556 problem animals were neutralised as a mitigation measure. It added that total livestock losses also increased to 801 in 2025 from 362 in the previous year.
“Human-wildlife conflict hotspots included Kariba, Mbire, Chiredzi, Binga, Hwange, Hurungwe and Nyaminyami Districts, while analysis of the data indicates that hyenas, crocodiles, and elephants remain the most frequently reported species,” ZimParks said.
In line with ongoing policy reforms, ZimParks said the Parks and Wildlife Amendment Act No.4 of 2025 provides for a human–wildlife conflict relief fund as part of the government’s broader efforts to support affected communities.
