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Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls 

ZIMBABWE has won the bid to host the inaugural United Nations Environment World Wildlife Summit in June whose objective will be to deliberate on issues to do with human-wildlife conflict.

The summit, which is being facilitated by the African Union (AU), will be held between June 24-25 in Victoria Falls.

Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Prisca Mupfumira said preparations were already going on well.

“We made a bid to host the first ever Environment World Wildlife Summit to be held here in Victoria Falls on June 24 and 25. This summit is an AU and UN Environment Wildlife Summit and is the first of its kind. It’s being championed through AU and we are the host country,” she said.

The minister was speaking on the sidelines of last week’s Kavango-Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (KAZA-TFCA) Joint Management Committee and Committee of Senior Officials meeting in Victoria Falls. 

She urged players in the tourism industry to start preparing for the meeting in terms of accommodation and activities.

Minister Mupfumira also implored the hoteliers to be price-sensitive so that delegates do not opt to stay across the border in Zambia and Botswana where prices and rates are relatively lower compared to what is charged in Victoria Falls.

“We’re preparing to make sure we are ready to receive the guests who are going to be attending. It will be talking about conservation, community development and participation and making sure that we preserve that which God gave us, which is human and wildlife,” said Minister Mupfumira.

The summit comes at a time when KAZA-TFCA countries, Zimbabwe included, resolved to use scientific management of elephants and wildlife in their national parks to make sure communities around the game parks benefit from natural resources.

In August 2013, Victoria Falls co-hosted the 20th session of the UNWTO General Assembly with Livingstone in Zambia.

The summit, which attracted more than 2 000 delegates and exhibitors, opened floodgates for Zimbabwe’s tourism while also working as an eye opener on what the tourism industry needed to be able to host international occasions.

— @ncubeleon.