Annual Review 2000-01: Biodiversity and Heritage

For years, no one in South Africa connected biodiversity with job creation and economic growth. But now it's becoming clearer that preserving our natural wealth can often mean growing the country's bottom line.

South Africa has an incredibly rich biological diversity, but it’s only recently that the country started quantifying the direct and indirect benefits.

In doing so, DEAT has found that while there is a proud record of conservation, a large number of protected areas have been mismanaged and neglected.

Many of them were chosen as a result of opportunism - they were not required for anything else, and many were not ecologically viable.

DEAT has embarked on an unprecedented effort to expand existing parks and to link them, where possible, to other areas. Underlying this is the need to conserve our seven major biomes.

These are: fynbos, forest, thicket, Nama Karoo, succulent Karoo, grassland and savanna.

The Karoos, grasslands and forests, especially, have not been adequately protected. It’s only recently become better known that grasslands rival fynbos and rainforests in richness of species.

Nature provides and filters our water, supplies us with food, air, everything we need to survive, and more. The benefit in that is inestimable. But some things can be calculated in money terms.

Foreign birders annually bring R10 to R25 million into the economy. The Cape wildflower industry is estimated at R150 million a year, of which 80% is foreign exchange.

South Africa has one of the highest succulent plant concentrations in the world

The local trade in medicinal plants alone is estimated at R1,6 billion a year. The value of indigenous plants for food and beverages is not yet quantified.

But this biodiversity is at risk because of previous neglect, mismanagement and a lack of understanding about its importance.

There are a series of initiatives to consolidate or expand the national network of protected areas.

INTEGRATED NATIONAL PROTECTED AREAS

National Conservation Strategy. South Africa has some 403 protected areas (national parks, provincial parks and their equivalents) under the control of 13 different agencies, falling under 11 pieces of national legislation, and nine pieces of provincial legislation.

The situation has been worsened by the fact that provinces, because of the vast needs they have to satisfy, often cut conservation budgets to serve other priorities. Overall, this situation clearly suggests the need for a more coherent national approach that will ensure proper management of protected areas. During the past year, DEAT designed a practical, overarching, holistic approach to its protected areas - the National Conservation Strategy. This strategy is informed by an inventory that was done to identify the gaps in conservation needs, and to legally empower the Minister to work more proactively with provinces on conservation.

The Pondoland Park. The Wild Coast is a major, globally significant natural asset that has so far not been transformed into a viable tourism attraction. Biological resources are not being used to the benefit of the local population, and in many cases are being exploited at an unsustainable rate by private or commercial interests.

Yet marine, coastal and terrestrial biodiversity is extremely high, and in many cases, unique to the area.

The Wild Coast Spatial Development Initiative has been transferred from the Department of Trade and Industry to DEAT. We are working on a scoping exercise that could ensure protection for the entire coastline. It could stretch for over 110km, from just south of Port Edward almost all the way down to Kei Mouth. The Park will protect more than 60 000 hectares, with Mkambati Nature Reserve as a core area. DEAT has been looking at potential conservation models, including those of World Heritage Sites and Biospheres, as well as a National Park option. Tourism opportunities and job creation are to be given high priority.

The N2 road linking Durban to Umtata will take a new alignment closer to the coast, but will avoid the coastal degradation problems of the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.

Authorities are doing their best to turn this area into a model for future developments. All construction of resorts and infrastructure will adhere to bioregional planning principles. In other words, all development will be designed to complement the environment and have a minimal impact on nature.

The tourism component, anchored around Port St Johns, will cater for a broad tourism market, from backpackers to luxury tourists.

Cape Action Plan for the Environment (CAPE). The biodiversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom is internationally famous.

Of its 9 000 plants, 6 000 are found nowhere else in the world. Many of these plants are thought to have valuable medicinal properties. It is one of the world’s most important biological “hotspots”.

Various government agencies are involved with CAPE, together with World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF-SA), the Global Environmental Facility, and other stakeholders. They have devised a long-term strategy to conserve the biodiversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom and the seas that surround it.

DEAT has thrown its weight behind this project, and DANCED has added an additional R10 million in funding. Processes are underway to apply for major protected areas in the CAPE region to be declared World Heritage Sites.

Baviaanskloof is a huge wilderness area, protected under the Forest Act. It is largely pristine, and some of the best examples of eastern mountain fynbos are found there. It has great potential for tourism and its associated job opportunities.

Formal protection of the area will also benefit water users downstream. Managing the catchment properly could delay the building of a new dam by 20 years.

The new Cape Peninsula National Park is currently being consolidated.

The Cederberg Wilderness and Tankwa-Karoo National Park could be linked by means of a Biosphere Reserve. This would provide an east-west link along a climate gradient, linking mountain fynbos to succulent Karoo.

The Swartberg, possibly linked to the Garden Route Initiative, could combine mountain fynbos with succulent and Nama Karoo.

The Garden Route Initiative intends consolidating various areas now fragmented under various authorities. The area includes the largest part of our country’s forest biome.

The proposed Agulhas National Park will conserve a hotspot of critically threatened lowland fynbos, with its wetlands and fauna. Agulhas is also important in a cultural and historical sense. There are many traces of the Khoi people who lived along these shores.

The Greater Addo National Park. Addo is to be expanded to some 398 000 hectares in size, and will be the most biodiverse park in South Africa (see the SA National Parks section for more details). It will also create enormous potential for socio- economic development in the economically depressed Eastern Cape.

Working with DWAF. DEAT and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry have been working together on a number of projects over the past year because of overlap in the two departments’ priorities. For example, both departments are beginning to work together on the conservation of water catchments, indigenous forests, and the implementation of aspects of the National Water Act.

Where SAFCOL land forms part of a conserved area, the state forest company is rehabilitating and handing over the land to conservation areas - as is being done on the western shores of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park. The Tokai and Cecilia forests in the Western Cape have been secured for incorporation into the Cape Peninsula National Park. The Woody Cape indigenous forest has been delisted for incorporation into the Greater Addo.

MAN AND THE BIOSPHERE PROGRAMME

Wakkerstroom will be the centre of a biosphere protecting over one million hectares of grassland

DEAT is convinced that conservation of natural resources should not just happen inside fenced areas. All human activities should centre around the principles of sustainable social, cultural and ecological development. There are few tools as perfect for this as the Biosphere programme.

Biospheres can incorporate development, as long as it is sustainable, at the same time as protecting terrestrial or coastal ecosystems. They evolve from the ground up, and by their very nature are very democratic and inclusive, representing all stakeholders.

Biospheres help to conserve natural resources, but the spin-off is that they enable effective and cohesive planning. They often include a core conservation area (sometimes a national park), a buffer zone and a transition area. There is a World Network of these Biospheres, protecting ecosystems all over the world.

In the past year, South Africa’s second Biosphere Reserve, the Cape West Coast Biosphere, was accepted by UNESCO.

The first was Kogelberg, also in the Western Cape. Apples grown in the region for export are now branded as having been grown in an eco-friendly area. A number of other potential Biospheres are being readied to join the list.

The Waterberg Biosphere Reserve has just been signed into existence.

The Kruger to Canyon Biosphere will probably link into the Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Transfrontier Conservation Area.

One million hectares of grassland sprawling over three provinces will be protected by the Ekangala Grassland Biosphere Reserve, centred around Wakkerstroom in Mpumalanga. Other Biospheres in the pipeline include the Drakensberg Special Case Area, the Cederberg, St Lucia Maputaland, the Boland, the Soutpansberg, and another three in KwaZulu-Natal.

TRANSFRONTIER CONSERVATION AREAS

Nature recognises no borders. In many cases, neither do people. Communities cross international lines just as easily as ecosystems do. Transfrontier Conservation Areas are meant to benefit both, bringing job opportunities and a better life to people while protecting valuable ecosystems. TFCAs also help build closer relationships between neighbouring countries.

It is for these reasons that DEAT has put considerable effort into the establishment of TFCAs.

The involvement of the Peace Parks Foundation has assisted the success of these developments. In May 2000, the first TFCA in Africa was signed into existence in a special ceremony between the South African and Botswana Presidents at the newly named Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

An international agreement on the Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Transfrontier Park was signed between Ministers from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa in November 2000, and the new park is expected to be open for visitors in time for the 2001 December holidays.

The signing of the Trilateral Protocol between Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland took place in June 2000 for the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area. The Namibian and South African Governments have started negotiations to develop the Richtersveld-Ai-Ais Transfrontier Conservation Area. A Memorandum of Understanding is intended to be completed by June 2001.

The Maluti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area is at an advanced stage of negotiations and a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed between Lesotho and South Africa in June 2001.

The Limpopo Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area’s draft Memorandum of Understanding has been drawn up between Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, and a tourism development study has taken place.

This park incorporates Vhembe-Dongola National Park and the historical significant site of Mapungubwe, around which a special cultural centre is being planned (see box).

WETLANDS CONSERVATION

Wetlands have been identified as a priority for conservation. The benefits they provide are numerous, including support for a unique range of biodiversity, and a clean and steady water supply. Despite these values, it is estimated that half our wetlands have already been damaged or destroyed.

The job of rehabilitating them is being coordinated through a partnership between DEAT and the multi-departmental Working for Water programme, with advice, training and technical assistance from the Mondi Wetland Project.

Through the partnership, R18 million was allocated in the past year to wetland rehabilitation projects around the country. The projects have a strong poverty relief theme, coupling repair of the damage with the provision of jobs, skills and opportunities for the poor and disadvantaged.

Wetlands are resilient and can be rehabilitated, but it is an extremely labour-intensive process. This system is working so well that DEAT is considering using a similar system to rehabilitate other biomes, like grasslands.

A national inventory of wetlands has also been completed, with funding to support the project being secured from the Norwegian funding agency NORAD and from WWF-SA.

BIODIVERSITY IN TRADE

International trade. When the four provinces were replaced by nine provinces after the 1994 elections, the little coherence that existed in laws governing the import and export of species collapsed.

Each province had its own legislation and permitting procedure. Very little of it was in line with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, signed by South Africa in 1975.

A massive project, called the SA CITES Implementation Project (SACIP), funded by DANCED is now close to completion. The project seeks to address this situation. It will bring South Africa's legislation and permitting structures in line with CITES requirements.

The local trade in medicinal plants alone is estimated at R1,6 billion a year
( Picture courtesy of the University of Pretoria)

The administration plan for SACIP was submitted for approval to MINMEC last year.

South Africa’s proposal to downlist its elephant population from CITES Appendix I (no trade) to Appendix II (limited trade) was accepted by the 11th Conference of the Parties last year, with the condition that there was no trade in ivory. South Africa may trade in hunting trophies and hides.

Domestic Trade. After the public debate generated by the Canned Lion controversy, South Africa is relooking its strategy on keeping, hunting and trade of large predators. The new guidelines currently being worked on will be standardised across all provinces.

New guidelines are also being drawn up on the conservation and sustainable use of amphibians and reptiles. There is a huge illegal reptile pet trade, importing into South Africa, but mostly exporting from or through the country.

This trade decimates natural populations.

BIOSAFETY

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which South Africa has signed.

South Africa has started the consultation process leading to ratification of the protocol,and intends to do so once the implications have been fully analysed. In the past year, DEAT has been looking at our capacity and infrastructure toenforce regulations governing Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

The current thinking is that GMOs could prove useful in boosting the productivity of crops, but that great care should be taken,and strict environmental controls put in place.

BIOPROSPECTING

South Africa's extraordinary plant biodiversity and its long history of traditional medicine make it a perfect place for “bioprospecting” by pharmaceutical companies. They often test plants for active compounds after watching traditional healers. The plants are then patented, and the pharmaceutical companies stand to make huge profits.

Developing countries seldom, if ever, benefit from their biological wealth and intellectual property in this way.

On the other hand, it would be immoral to prevent research into organisms that could lead to a cure for major diseases such as HIV/Aids or cancer. The Department is working on finding a win-win solution and is liaising with other departments to put in place a clear legal framework.

DEAT is also looking at mechanisms to distribute any benefits gained from cooperation with pharmaceutical companies to the appropriate parties. These could be financial or in the form of skills, capacity building and technology transfer.

CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION

Desertification doesn’t mean the expansion of existing deserts, but the destruction of productive land in dry areas, mainly because of misuse or overuse. This is not a slow, natural process. It is a rapid degradation caused by unsustainable human practice.

In South Africa, the UN Environmental Programme has calculated that 90% of the country is arid, semi-arid or dry subhumid, and prone to desertification. The National Botanical Institute conducted a survey in 1999, and found that 25% of South African land is almost beyond repair from overgrazing and overcropping.

When the land is no longer productive, people migrate to cities, creating social, economic and environmental pressures. In the past year, the terms of reference for a national action programme were drawn up, and will be developed during the coming year.

DEAT has also supported the development of an action plan focusing on the Northern Province, which suffers particularly from desertification.

WORLD HERITAGE CONVENTION PROGRAMME

The ongoing process of putting forward South Africa's outstanding heritage sites for inscription has seen a fourth - the Ukahlamba-Drakensberg Park - declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO’s Committee in December 2000. The others, inscribed in 1999, were the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, Robben Island, and the Cradle of Humankind.

The country has made rapid progress since acceding to the Convention in 1997. There are other countries that ratified the Convention in the 1970s, yet have no more than one World Heritage Site.

The Department is currently facilitating the preparation of four new nominations: the Cape Floristic Region, Mapungubwe (see box), the Vredefort Dome (a meteorite on the banks of the Vaal River), and Prince Edward and Marion Islands.

The nomination files for the sites will be submitted to UNESCO's World Heritage Centre before 1 February 2002. The sites will be considered for inscription in 2003.

CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN

The main initiatives during the past year were the NORAD funded cultural tourism development projects at Shawbury in the Eastern Cape, and Wupperthal in the Western Cape. In Shawbury a training and capacity-building programme has been implemented. Facilities have also been developed to attract tourists, for example a 4x4 route and a hiking trail.

In Wupperthal, the focus has been on renovating buildings. Guesthouses have been refurbished, and the local library built and equipped. A broiler house and abattoir were also established.

The lessons learnt from Shawbury and Wupperthal will be extended in the next year to Eshowe and Inanda in KwaZulu-Natal, Thulamela in the Northern Province, and Richtersveld in the Northern Cape.

AFRICA’S GOLDEN AGE

The golden rhino of Mapungubwe

One thousand years ago, while Europe was in the very depths of its dark ages, there was a truly remarkable settlement, deep in southern Africa, that was undergoing a Golden Age.

At Mapungubwe, where the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers meet, lived a highly sophisticated people, the ancestors of the modern Shona. They traded in gold and ivory with China, Egypt and India, a feat of globalisation difficult to comprehend, even today.

The site was discovered in 1933, and has been excavated by the University of Pretoria ever since. Even so, the apartheid government just could not fit the concept of a sophisticated African people into its vision of the country’s history, so it remained largely ignored. News of this remarkable development was silenced.

The community of Mapungubwe possessed fine craftsmen who made delicate gold jewellery and pottery inspired by China’s Song Dynasty. The tiny rhino shown here is made of pure gold, and was found nailed to a piece of wood with minute handmade nails, each no more than a millimetre long. They also worked with copper and iron, cultivated sorghum, millet and beans, and raised cattle and sheep.

Archaeological excavations indicate that Mapungubwe existed long before Great Zimbabwe and Thulamela in the Kruger National Park. There is speculation that a meteorite in the 13th century triggered climate change and drought in the present Northern Province, and that the Mapungubwe people moved north.

The site will be a cultural showpiece of the planned Limpopo Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area with Zimbabwe and Botswana. It is also being put forward as a potential World Heritage Site.

Most interesting of all, it will add to Africa’s changing vision of its own history.

The national cultural treasure of this Mapungubwe Collection is on permanent exhibit at the University of Pretoria. The displays consist of a variety of materials, including the famous golden rhino, gold sceptre, gold bowl, other gold ornaments, copper, iron, ivory, trade glass beads, Chinese celadon and ceramic ware. The exhibition is housed in the Old Arts Building, itself a national monument. For enquiries, telephone (012)420-3146 or fax:(012)420-2262. The curator is Sian Tiley (e-mail: mapungubwe@postino.up.ac.za).