African Wildlife Environment Issue 75 FINAL

CONSERVATION

IS THE NATIONAL PROTECTED AREAS EXPANSION STRATEGY FALLING ON ‘DEFF’ EARS?

Rael Loon

The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) was recently renamed the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) in June 2019, incorporating the forestry and fisheries functions from the previous department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). Besides administrative implications, such a reshuffling is thought to align the Protected Areas Act and Biodiversity Act more closely with the Forestry Act and adds the responsibility of coastal resource management to DEFF.

Africa’s biodiversity is indeed our natural heritage and provides an important basis for economic growth

and development and is also vital for ensuring the ongoing provision of ecosystem services such as the production of clean water, prevention of erosion, carbon storage and clean air and is vital and well worth looking after. Recently the South African National Biodiversity Institute which reports to Government brought out the latest National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) which paints a vibrant picture of the value of such biodiversity. The NBA is a requirement of the Biodiversity Act which has as its purpose the co-ordination and aligning of the efforts of the many organisations and individuals involved in conserving and managing South Africa’s biodiversity in support of sustainable development. The NBA is the primary tool for monitoring and reporting on the state of biodiversity in South Africa and informs policies, strategies, objectives and activities for managing and conserving biodiversity more efficiently. One such strategy is the National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy, an ambitious programme which identifies geographic priority areas for expansion of the Protected Areas network with a focus on under- protected ecosystems. The NPAES began in 2008 and represents a 20-year strategy expand the protected areas network in South Africa. We are currently in the second implementation phase of this programme. The goal of the NPAES is specifically to achieve cost effective protected area expansion “for improved ecosystem representation, ecological sustainability and resilience to climate change”. It draws on

T he agriculture function of DAFF is now incorporated into the new Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD). DEFF is mandated to give effect to the right of citizens to an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being and have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations and its primary function is still to “provide leadership in environmental management and conservation for the sustainable benefit of South Africans and the global community”. DEFF is in effect South Africa’s primary environmental custodian of the country’s fauna and flora and natural heritage and is responsible for protecting the environment and conserving natural resources while balancing this with sustainable development and the equitable distribution of natural resource benefits. It does this through the implementation of national environmental policies that address factors including biodiversity management and conservation, climate change, land degradation, sustainable development and poverty alleviation. Rated as the third most biodiverse country internationally (after Brazil and Indonesia), South

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