africa: Breaking down borders in Africa

One major focus of last week’s World Parks Congress in Durban was the efforts by sub-Saharan nations to create 22 vast transfrontier conservation areas known as ‘peace parks’. The areas designated will span 475,000 sq km of land across 15 countries, stretching from Lake Victoria in the North to South Africa. Peace parks are a way for neighbouring countries to cooperate on a common concern – protecting biological diversity – by pulling down frontier fences in ecologically rich spots that straddle their shared border.