The Zambezi Society promotes responsible management of the precious natural resources and wild nature of the Zambezi River basin for the benefit of its biological and human communities. Formed in 1982, this small, international NGO has headquarters in Harare, with fund-raising bases in the United Kingdom and Japan.

The Society's focus is the basin of the Zambezi River which flows through Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique before pouring into the Indian Ocean in a spectacular delta. This is one of the finest and least spoilt rivers in the world. Its has many important ecosystems and habitats; wetlands, riverine woodlands; montain forests; dry forests; savannahs and aquatic ecosystems.

Its wide diversity of species includes black rhinoceros; elephant; cheetah; lion; leopard; crocodile; lechwe; over 600 bird species; and a great variety of trees and plants. Some of these are protected in a series of magnificent National Parks, but many valuable Zambezi species, ecosystems and wilderness areas still survive outside these parks as well. The biodiversity and wild nature of the Zambezi are threatened by unplanned human settlement; illegal wildlife hunting; hydroelectric projects, minerals exploitation and ill-advised tourism development. But the biggest threats are lack of knowledge and lack of co-ordinated planning.

The Zambezi Society, through advocacy and project work, promotes awareness about the Zambezi river’s values, encourages coordinated development planning for the whole river basin, undertakes research into the biodiversity and wilderness values of the Zambezi, and disseminates the resulting information as widely as possible.

At a grassroots level, the Society helps Zambezi valley communities develop self-help projects to conserve valuable forest patches in their areas, provides equipment for anti-poaching scouts in protected and settled lands, and reinforces mechanisms to protect important species such as the black rhinoceros which are at risk of extinction through illegal hunting activities.