A Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) is defined as a component of a large ecological region that straddles the boundaries of two or more countries encompassing one or more protected areas as well as multiple resource use areas. TFCAs are founded with the aim of collaboratively managing shared natural and cultural resources across international boundaries for improved biodiversity conservation and socio-economic development. The Southern Africa Development Community Secretariat facilitates the efforts of the Member States in the establishment and development of TFCAs. The SADC TFCA Programme (2013) envisions the region to become "a model of community centred, regionally integrated and sustainably managed network of world class transfrontier conservation areas".