NEWS
With nature and biodiversity under threat everywhere , bold conservation funding ideas are needed
How can South Africa double the land it has under conservation by 2030 when many of its wildlife reserves are falling apart ? With a limited conservation budget from the fiscus , tax incentives could play a big role .
If South Africa were to meet the conservation targets committed to at the last UN Biodiversity Conference , we ’ d need to protect the equivalent of the Kruger National Park , and then some , every year from now until 2030 .
Julia Evans
Current Address : Our Burning Planet , Daily Maverick Reprinted from : https :// bit . ly / 3XRgxsL
But how is this achievable when our private and state reserves are falling apart and increasingly threatened by declining budgets , understaffing and poaching ?
“ We have recognised that in advancing this vision of 30 by 30 … we must ensure that the existing conservation networks [ are ] also taken care of because that is where our biodiversity is anchored ,” said Mohlago Flora Mokgohloa , deputy director-general ( DDG ) in the Department of Forestry , Fisheries and the Environment ( DFFE ) during a workshop earlier this month to find ways to implement the headline “ 30 × 30 ” protected areas target from the last UN Biodiversity Conference ( COP15 ) agreement . The 30 × 30 target aims to effectively conserve at least 30 % of the world ’ s lands , freshwater and oceans by 2030 , while also respecting the rights and contributions of indigenous peoples and local communities .
Currently , 16.7 % – or just more than 20 million hectares – of the total 121 million hectares of land in South Africa is under conservation .
However , Karl Naudé , the director of protected area planning at the DFFE , explained to Daily Maverick that only 9.8 % of that is considered a “ protected area ”; in other words , formally declared under the National Environmental Management : Protected Areas Act . This includes
Figure 1 . Photos : Unsplash / Nadine Venter | Janine Joles | EPA / Nic Bothma national parks , world heritage sites and nature reserves .
If we were to reach the 30 × 30 target by the deadline , South Africa would have to add an additional 16 million hectares to the conservation estate , which is the equivalent of adding the Kruger National Park and a bit extra every year from now until 2030 , Naudé said .
Provincial ‘ paper parks ’
Daily Maverick previously reported that a conservation assessment by the Endangered Wildlife Trust ( EWT ) cautioned that our existing conservation estates cannot be allowed to become “ paper parks ” – meaning that they exist as areas of conservation on paper only and are not being protected in reality .
On paper , there are more than 400 provincial parks and reserves spanning more than three million hectares of the 20 million protected in SA . But most of these provincial parks are failing due to management issues , insufficient budget or lack of political will .
Mokgohloa , who is the DDG for the department ’ s biodiversity and conservation branch , explained that all South Africa ’ s parks fall into four categories : national parks , provincial , parks , municipal parks and privately owned parks – and while the national parks are doing relatively well , the same can ’ t be said for provincial parks .
Mokgohloa said that “ provincial budgets have declined over the years ”, with national government departments and their entities spending R36.1-billion , or 60 %, on biodiversity from 2009 to 2015 , compared with provincial government departments and entities ( R19.7-billion , or 33 %) and local government ( R4.1 billion , or 7 %), according to the 2016 Biodiversity Expenditure Review compiled by the United Nations Development Programme ’ s Biodiversity Finance Initiative ( Biofin ).
“ We can ’ t continue to expand if we are not addressing the management effectiveness of the existing parks , which is what the management authorities are working on ,” acknowledged Mokgohloa .
For example , the EWT report found that the Ntsikeni Vlei Nature Reserve in Kwa- Zulu-Natal only has a single field ranger to patrol the 9,200ha of land , with more
21 Grassroots Vol 23 No 2 July 2023