Riverside Developments at Victoria Falls Threaten World Heritage Site

The Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls World Heritage Site has been added to the list of Sites to be discussed by the World Heritage Committee at the forthcoming 48th session of World Heritage Committee, to be held at Busan, Republic of Korea over 19th-29th July 2026. The nomination of the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site for discussion by the Committee follows a growing list of conservation issues relating to increasing tourism development pressures, failures in State Party reporting and ongoing delays in the finalisation of a joint management plan for the Site (Keep Victoria Falls Wild, January 2026).

The World Heritage Committee has repeatedly warned over the cumulative impacts of tourism developments at the Victoria Falls, with recent controversy centred on the Baines Restaurant development, constructed over 2022 and opened in 2023 within the World Heritage Site and without notification or disclosure to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. The development, together with the neighbouring 'Rock Pool' development, developed and operated by the National Park Authority, are located within the World Heritage Site 'HESZ' which supposedly prevents all new development zone.

The developments are within an area which has been protected against development since 1904 with the formation of the Victoria Falls Park. It was declared a National Monument in recognition of its cultural heritage significance in 1937, and protected as a National Park in 1952 in recognition of its conservation and environmental importance. In the mid-1970s it was part of an area declared 'permanently protected' against all new development under the 1975 Victoria Falls Outline Plan, before being designated as a World Heritage Site in 1989. Under the 2007 and 2016 joint management plans the area was declared part of the 'Highly Ecologically Sensitive Zone' (HESZ) which prevents all new development. Yet despite all these protections the developments were pushed ahead during 2022/3, without prior notification or disclosure to UNESCO and despite a legal challenge against the developments in the Zimbabwean courts (raised in 2022 before the main construction started and still to be heard), and have been operational since 2023.

The 1975 'Permanently Protected' Area, Victoria Falls

Critically, the 1975 'permanently protected' area has also not been fully disclosed to UNESCO within the joint management plans, leaving the World Heritage Committee in the dark over the protected area (Roberts, 2026).

In April campaign group Keep Victoria Falls Wild called for a moratorium on all developments within and surrounding the Site until finalisation, and agreement by the World Heritage Committee, of a new joint management plan for the Site (Keep Victoria Falls Wild, April 2026).

Read more on the 1975 permanently protected area on the Keep Victoria Falls Wild website.

References

Keep Victoria Falls Wild (January 2026) Reaction and Response to 2025 State of Conservation Report and 2025-2030 Draft Joint Integrated Management Plan [pdf, direct download from the KVFW website, 0.6mb, opens in a new window].

Keep Victoria Falls Wild (April 2026) Serious Concerns Over Management of Victoria Falls World Heritage Site [pdf, direct download from the KVFW website, 1.3mb, opens in a new window].

Roberts, P (2026) Paradise Lost? Conservation and Development of the Victoria Falls (1900-2025). Zambezi Book Company / CreateSpace Independent Publishing. [external link to Zambezi Book Company website, opens in a new window].