African Wildlife and Environment Issue 64

CONSERVATION

CONSERVATION

CONSERVATION EXPANSION

• Lack of adequate communal governance structures for equitable decision-making. • Insufficient support to assist communities in building governance capacity. • Removal of trust deficits between communities and the private sector around securities pertaining to any possible investment. • Delivery of promises made by government on wildlife development. • Capacitybuildingandawarenesswithincommunities around the potential of the biodiversity economy and the ability to generate sustainable socio economic benefits (especially the youth).

provide incentives for people to conserve them (2) . Both consumptive and non-consumptive uses of biological resources are fundamental to the economies, cultures, and well-being of all nations. The IUCN, as well as CITES, also recognise that “the ethical, wise and sustainable use of some wildlife can provide an alternative or supplementary means of productive land-use, and can be consistent with and encourage conservation, where such use is in accordance with appropriate safeguards.” Further to this, in 2015, the South African government through the Department of Environmental Affairs,

The pressing questions are: how can our biodiversity richness translate into financial growth for communities, and is it possible to get rural economic growth by employing a complementary land-use?

Chris Galliers

areas are under private ownership. Some of the main barriers to expansion include cost of land, undefined land tenure, inability of the state to purchase new land for conservation, capacity to manage more land, land claims and possibly not being able to respond fast enough to possible land sales. Many of these challenges have been accepted by the state with the Biodiversity Stewardship Programme being an important mechanism to assist in attaining new key areas. So, the pressing questions are how can our biodiversity richness translate into financial growth for communities, and is it possible to get rural economic growth by employing a complementary land-use? WESSA certainly believes this is possible and is thus a proponent for the sustainable use of natural resources. Such a view is also upheld by the IUCN (of which WESSA is a founding member), which states that using wild natural resources sustainably, is an important conservation tool because the societal and economic benefits derived from such use, can

Conserving biodiversity is now a necessity rather than a luxury due to the life support services that it renders to all living species. Ecosystems are being destroyed and their functionality eroded, at an ever-escalating rate. Correspondingly, species loss is exhibiting the same trend. The accelerated speed at which this is taking place is unfortunately outstripping our ability to adequately address the root causes and drivers of these threats - e.g. population densification, land transformation, poor governance, and political indifference (1) . Therefore, there is a growing view that a more urgent approach to land banking is needed where the amount of conservation land under some level of formal legal protection is rapidly increased while the opportunity exists. South Africa has 10% of the world’s plant species and 7% of the world’s reptile, bird, and mammal species. As an expected safe haven for biodiversity, South Africa’s protected area estate is becoming increasingly difficult to expand as most of the priority

• Capacity building and awareness of municipalities to understand the opportunities and benefits presented by the biodiversity economy and the role that they can play in facilitating its development. • Improved coordination and communication between all relevant government departments. • The development of equitable, efficient, and transparent benefit sharing to beneficiaries. • Ability to document, share and replicate successful economic models. There are already examples of communities which have committed land to conservation through the Biodiversity Stewardship Programme. Some of these have been legally enforced as the land-use was already designated as conservation at the time of receiving the land because of a

restitution land claim. In other cases, it has been a community decision. Unfortunately, the concept of game farming is not a well-accepted, understood or often practiced land use by communities. The reason for this may lie in the historical nature of who had ownership over land and wildlife in South Africa. However today, without landownership rights, it still remains a challenge for communities to conserve wildlife where boundaries and selected practices can be enforced. Extensive areas mean any wildlife can move from one area to another which would result in poaching. On top of this, many communities have been made numerous promises by both the government and private entities and in many cases, very little has materialised. This breakdown in support means trust levels decrease and the ability to set up new projects and ventures becomes increasingly difficult as a result of increased skepticism. It also means that any new investment made in a trust deficit scenario, needs to rapidly result in tangible returns. If trust levels never develop into a collaborative relationship, any project will fail with even more frustration as a result.

launched the National Biodiversity Economy Strategy. This 14-year strategy aims to; (i) optimise the direct and indirect and induced economic benefits from sustainable use of the country’s indigenous biological resources; (ii) provide national coordination, leadership and guidance to the biodiversity economy, and (iii) provide an enabling environment for the transformation of the biodiversity economy in the country. It is WESSA’s belief that the greatest opportunity to get more land and people involved in conservation, is by getting communities to understand that having the land under some level of conservation is an investment that can compete or complement alternative or traditional land-use practices. This should bode well for rural development but before getting the communities aboard, who stand to benefit the most from this opportunity, a few hurdles will have to be overcome. Below are some of the key areas that need attention in order to capitalise on growing rural community economies; • The resolution of land claims and in general, land tenure within South African communities.

Getting communities to see and experience how the wildlife economy can work is vital so that they can develop the capacity needed to successfully develop their own opportunities.

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