Birds of the Magaliesberg 2023

Conservancies turning the tide on our everchanging landscape Daily, in South Africa, one is faced with the loss of vast tracts of land, green belts and important green spaces in cities and towns. In many cases essential green corridors for all types of wildlife are being lost in man’s quest to utilise every remaining piece of open space. This is coupled with inadequate. resources and expertise to manage such areas.This short sighted attitude, along with in many cases, lack. of political will, necessary funding, lack of staff and loss of expertise, is amplifying the problem. More and more one hears of the need for alternatives to government structures to be put in place, to ensure that there will be “ A world worthy of our children “ in time to come.The viable alternative is the establishment of Conservancies in all provinces, thus adding to the existing 750 plus conservancies today, covering over 3 million ha throughout Southern Africa What is a Conservancy? In short, a conservancy is a registered voluntary association, established between landowners, residents and other users with the shared aim of managing their natural resources in an environmentally sustainable manner, without necessarily changing the land-use of their properties. In short it has no red tape or hidden agendas, no direct state involvement, but provides the platform for all residents of a special area to conserve for posterity. The main characteristics of any South African conservancy will always include: • Natural resources or green spaces, corridors on an identified geographical area that are worth protecting. • Owners, land users and possibly other stakeholders that have agreed to pool resources and work together for achieving sustainable usage and conservation objectives, as set from time to time in their environmental management plans. • Varying levels of success, commitment and awareness of what is going on, what is being done and what the real risks are at any given time. A well-run or optimally functioning conservancy will be characterised by: • Visible leadership shared among residents and possibly some specialists who communicate openly and contribute unselfishly, for the greater good of all the members. • Functional projects and activities for promoting the community and conserving resources in a planned manner, supported widely by residents who are positive and involved. • Provision of opportunities for research projects for local universities. An excellent example of this is research work conducted on the Aloe peglerae by the University of Witwatersrand in the Peglerae conservancy over a number of years. • Harmony and mutual respect among the different population groupings who trust each other through the fairness and caring rather than indifference and exclusion. • A positive experience of the natural features such as clean roadsides, well-maintained facilities, indigenous plant flourishing, improved security, proudly preserved historical features and tourist friendly services and signage. Positive attitudes from local public and other service providers who are aligned with the values of a positively inclined community.

The first conservancy to be registered in South Africa was in the Balgowan district of the KwaZulu Natal midlands in 1978, born out of an appeal to the erstwhile Natal Parks Board for help due to the increased pressure of illegal hunting within rural areas and within the regions dominated by organised agriculture. This appeal was answered and through the work of interested members of the public, the Wildlife Society (now WESSA) and the well known conservationist, Nick Steele (at that stage employed by the Natal Parks Board), the conservancy movement was born. The concept was so successful that other districts within the province started their own conservancies. As the movement began to grow it became apparent that there was a need to consolidate the interests of all conservancies under a single umbrella body. This mobilization of common interests gave rise to the establishment of the Natal Conservancies Association (the NCS, now the KwaZulu Natal Conservancies Association, KZNCS). The NCS became the portal through which the conservancy movement could liaise directly with the provincial nature conservation agency and link up with other non governmental organisations (NGOs) with common interests in conserving their natural environment. Since these early days of the conservancy movement there have been many changes. The most significant has been the expansion of the concept from its earlier focus on the preservation of flora and fauna in rural areas, into its current state which encompasses a broader range of urban and rural habitats and applicable issues. As the issues affecting nature conservation in South Africa have changed drastically from the 1970’s to present day, so too have the issues important to the conservancy movement.With the conservancy movement well established in KwaZulu Natal, other provinces like the OFS. began to adopt the model and soon a number of conservancies were established in other provinces. However, as there was only one province with a constituted provincial association, there were often divergent and sometimes conflicting viewpoints as to what a conservancy ought to be. Some believed that it was a concept that was exclusive to rural districts and concerned itself purely with the preservation of indigenous game species. Others believed that the name “conservancy” was just wrong! This led to another great milestone in the evolution of the conservancy movement in South Africa. In August 2003 a group of dynamic individuals from the (then) newly formed Gauteng Conservancies Association (GCA) hosted a conference at Cullinan in Gauteng. People from all over the country, involved. in environmental conservation in one form or another, were invited.At this conference, the idea of establishing a national body to represent the interests of all conservancies in the country was tabled. Although, at that stage, only Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal had properly constituted provincial conservancy associations, the idea was accepted and those provinces without associations nominated people to represent their interests on the association until such time as they were able to form their own. provincial associations. This was the inception of the National Association of Conservancies of South Africa NACSA (now known as the National Association of Conservancies and Stewardship of South Africa). The term “conservancy” is not unique to South Africa and can be found in other countries, both in Africa and globally. The Save Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe was at one time the largest conservancy (in terms of land area) on the African continent. The movement has also become popular in Namibia that has established its own national conservancies. association, CANAM (Conservancies Association of Namibia). The United States of America has the Nature Conservancy movement. However, this differs from what we commonly know as a conservancy. Instead of residents of a community or district taking responsibility for the environmental management of their surroundings,

In the beginning

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