MONDAY, 20 NOVEMBER 2000: South Africa will nominate the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park for inscription as a World Heritage Site when the parties to the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage meet in Australia later this month.

The Director-General of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Dr Chippy Olver said that the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park would be nominated as a mixed site. This is the first mixed (natural and cultural) site to be nominated by South Africa and, if successful, will become the 23^rd mixed site of the 630 sites worldwide that currently have World Heritage Site status.

The Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg site will also then become South Africa's fourth World Heritage site after the successful inscription of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park (natural), the Cradle of Humankind at Sterkfontein (cultural) and Robben Island (cultural) last year.

Dr Olver said that South Africa had decided to apply for World Heritage status for many of the unique cultural and natural assets of this country as it was a way of both highlighting the unique natural and cultural inheritance of our country while at the same time setting up the mechanisms to preserve and conserve them for future generations.

"The Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park has a number of outstanding natural features linked to the geomorphic history of the subcontinent, including the high altitude and unique Southern African alpine-tundra vegetation and its associated endemic palaeo-invertebrates.

"In addition to these natural assets and located within its original natural setting and ecosystems is one of the world's greatest rock art collections that is of outstanding cultural value. The art represents uniquely a coherent tradition that embodies the beliefs and cosmology of a single people now extinct in the region.

"With an estimated 600 sites with more than 35 000 individual images the rock art is the most densely painted area on the African continent. Besides the obvious historic significance of the San rock art, the Drakensberg sites are unique because of the remarkable state of preservation of the art and that there is an undisturbed harmony between the art and its environment. These form a cultural landscape which has been largely unmodified since generations of San bushmen sought shelter in the caves of these mountains more than 8 000 years ago and used the rock walls as the canvas for the art we can see there today," Dr Olver said.

The inscription of the park would also give impetus to the extension of the conservation area with Lesotho to form the Maluti-Drakensberg transfrontier conservation area.

South Africa is also currently preparing 20 further nominations for World Heritage status. The next site to be nominated will probably be the Cape Floral Kingdom (CFK), one of six floral kingdoms of the world. In its efforts to conserve the CFK, the South African World Heritage Site Committee plans to submit a nomination for a constellation of sites, representing the whole of the CFK, for World Heritage Site status to UNESCO in 2001.

"To have a series of World Heritage Sites representing an entire kingdom is not possible anywhere else in the world," said Guy Palmer, assistant director, scientific services, at Cape Nature Conservation (CNC). "The eventual linking of these sites through a network of biosphere reserves is an extremely exciting prospect and would represent an achievement of which South Africa could be truly proud."

The original "Table Mountain" nomination was expanded to include six other sites within the CFK. This holistic approach was adopted only after wide consultation with the various stakeholders.

To allow the process to progress, a phased approach was adopted. Phase One of the nomination was prepared by the Cape Peninsula National Park (CPNP) and includes the public land within the Cape Peninsula Protected Natural Environment (CPPNE).

In May this year the World Conservation Union's technical evaluation team reported on the first phase of the nomination, commenting that the CFK is unique from a floristic point of view and represents one of the highest biodiversity "hotspots" on earth, with 20% of Africa's plant species represented in less than 0,5% of the continent's area.

In order to qualify for WHS status, the nominated site must satisfy at least one of four criteria. The evaluation concluded that the CFK met the demands of two of the three addressed by the Phase One nomination. However, the World Conservation Union considers that management and control of the core areas of the CPPNE should fall under a single authority, and for this reason has referred the nomination back to "the State Party" -- in this case the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism -- with the request that the consolidation of public land within the CPPNE under a single management authority is expedited. The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the CPNP will submit a progress report by June 2001.

Phase Two of the nomination, being prepared by CNC, was to include the Cederberg and Grootwinterhoek Wilderness Areas, the Hottentots Holland Complex (the Limietberg, Jonkershoek, Hottentots Holland and the Kogelberg nature reserves), the Boosmansbos Wilderness Area, as well as the Swartberg and De Hoop nature reserves. These are all areas that are managed by CNC.

Negotiations are presently underway with the Eastern Cape authorities (Chief Directorate of Environmental Affairs) for the inclusion of the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve and Wilderness Area as a seventh site in Phase Two. This will ensure the inclusion of the eastern extremity of the CFK.

"If we are awarded world heritage site status, we will by implication receive international recognition of how special and precious the CFK is," said David Daitz, chief executive officer at CNC. "The most important benefit to the Western Cape is that we will be able to market these sites in a way that would not otherwise be possible. There is an exclusive group of tourists who visit only world heritage sites. This is a market we would be unable to tap if we do not have world heritage status. Also, a successful nomination would provide the Western and Eastern Cape with a unique opportunity to be recognised internationally for their efforts to conserve the CFK."

The future development of the Western Cape will depend extensively on the growth of a successful tourism industry. If this nomination is successful, it will ensure the maintenance of the scenic beauty and exceptional biodiversity of the region, its two main attractions. This will ensure that these development opportunities are maximised in a sustainable manner.

KZN Wildlife:
For more information: Roger Porter - Tel: (033) 845 1458; Email: rogport@kznncs.org.za
Media inquiries: Jeff Gaisford - Tel: (033) 845 1235; Email: jeff@kznncs.org.za
Website: www.rhino.org.za

South African National Parks:
For more information: Salifou Siddo - Cell: 082 802 3316
www.parks-sa.co.za

Cape Nature Conservation:
For further information: Guy Palmer - Tel: (021) 889 1560; Cell: 082 415 1884
Media inquiries: Carol Hurd - Tel: (021) 483-4728; Cell: 082 550 6546
www.capenature.org.za