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South Africa, World, Our Burning Planet

How SANParks plans to rethink conservation and include those previously marginalised

How SANParks plans to rethink conservation and include those previously marginalised
Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Narend Singh makes the keynote address at SANParks’ reveal of Vision 2040 in Sandton, Johannesburg, 26 September 2024. (Photo: Julia Evans)
Julia Evans
By Julia Evans
26 Sep 2024
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South African National Parks’ Vision 2040 focuses on making conservation more inclusive, ensuring that all communities – especially those historically marginalised – benefit from and participate in protecting the country’s natural heritage.

‘For once, somebody has bothered to ask – what do you think? Where do you think we should be going?” said Amanda Gcabashe, a traditional healer, at the South African National Parks’ (SANParks) reveal of their Vision 2040 in Sandton on Thursday, 26 September 2024.

Gcabashe, who is a specialist in traditional medicine at the South African Bureau of Standards, explained that because of traditional healers’ legacy of not being consulted, she appreciated SANParks’ extensive consultation process where it spoke to more than 1,600 stakeholders to come up with Vision 2040 – a long-term strategy that aims to redefine conservation in South Africa through diverse community involvement and innovative strategies.

sanparks conservation Elephants drink on a hot day in central Kruger National Park, Limpopo, 7 August 2024. (Photo: Julia Evans)



The plan focuses on making conservation more inclusive, ensuring that all communities – especially those historically marginalised – benefit from and participate in protecting the country’s natural heritage.

The Vision was launched last year in April, and now after 18 months of public consultation with hundreds of people from business, NGOs, traditional leaders, traditional healers, youth, women, tourism stakeholders and the academic community – the 2040 Vision was unveiled on Thursday.

The main themes that came out of talks with stakeholders were integrating cultural heritage with conservation, harnessing technology for ecosystem management and promoting sustainable tourism.

At the heart of this strategy is the idea of “Mega Living Landscapes” – a concept where protected areas, farmlands, community-managed reserves, and other types of land use are integrated into vast, interconnected landscapes.

In these landscapes, conservation will not be the sole domain of scientists and environmentalists. Instead, local communities, businesses and conservationists will work together to manage these areas, ensuring that they remain economically viable while protecting biodiversity.

“National parks are just islands of privilege, often, in a sea of poverty,” said Hapiloe Sello, CEO of SANParks, at the reveal on Thursday.

saparks conservation sello SANParks CEO Hapiloe Sello. (Photo: X/@SANParks)



“We are deliberately becoming inclusive, and that is not going to be easy. And that’s why these partnerships are so critical.”

Moving away from ‘fortress conservation’


“We need to move away from ‘fortress conservation’ – which is to exclude, set apart – to one that is inclusive, where communities have a stake and understand that stake, and there’s also mutual benefit to protect biodiversity,” Sello explained to Daily Maverick.

Sello emphasised that the greatest threat to protected areas is the erosion of their social licence, particularly among surrounding communities.

“If my child is hungry and there’s an animal roaming on the other side of the fence, what am I going to do? Let’s be practical,” she said.

“You stop being relevant if you’re not of benefit. So [why] are we putting these fences up?”

The mutual benefit of indigenous knowledge


“Traditional healers, like myself, have a deep understanding of natural resources and their medicinal uses,” Nomsa Sibeko, CEO of Nature Speaks and Responds, said at the event.

“Our knowledge of plants and natural remedies has been passed down through generations, and is integral in maintaining health and treating illnesses,” she said, explaining that traditional healers had valuable insights into sustainable resource use and conservation.

sanparks conservation vision 2040 SANParks Board Chair Pam Yako (right) on stage with programme director Tsepiso Makwetla and drummers at SANParks’ reveal of Vision 2040, in Sandton, Johannesburg, on 26 September 2024. (Photo: Julia Evans)



“Incorporating this traditional wisdom into our modern strategies is not just about respecting our cultural heritage,” said Sibeko.

“It’s about leveraging a wealth of knowledge that can contribute to biodiversity conservation and public health.”



Gcabashe echoed this during her address, saying, “Sometimes people make out that we don’t care about the environment, but some of the first reserves were started by indigenous people.”

Sello emphasised that combining fact-based science with indigenous knowledge was critical to preserving South Africa’s flora and fauna. SANParks plans to implement sustainable resource use models that involve traditional healers in decisions about plant and animal conservation. 

“Instead of saying you cannot have access to the succulents in the desert, look at other possibilities – for example creating nurseries that are jointly owned by SANParks and [a] community, or run by communities of rare and specialised plants,” Sello explained.

“That way we are ensuring sustainable use.”

Mega living landscapes


The Mega Living Landscapes (MLL) model is designed to integrate conservation with economic development. SANParks describes it as “massive, interconnected areas that are set to break the myth that conservation is solely the playground of scientists and environmentalists”.

Under this model, national parks will no longer be isolated sanctuaries, but will be connected with neighbouring communities, farming operations and other forms of land use.

“We’re not dropping fences,” clarified Sello, “outside the parks, we’re creating MLLs where different land uses are brought together in continuous landscapes.”

“For example, you could have a national park bordered by a community that runs a small game reserve, which is bordered by farmland whose practices are in line with conservation.”

sanparks conservation Elephants near Mopani Camp in central Kruger National Park, Limpopo, 7 August 2024. (Photo: Julia Evans)



The idea is to foster social and economic development around these protected areas.

“For example, when you approach Kruger National Park – the largest iconic destination in South Africa – within 70km, you don’t get the sense that you’re nearing an iconic destination,” said Sello. 

“In my vision, within 30km of the park, you start seeing all these small to medium-sized enterprises that are benefitting very directly from the traffic going to the park.”

Vision 2040’s role in SA’s 30x30 commitment


Vision 2040 is also aligned with South Africa’s international commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, of which the headline target is protecting 30% of the world’s land and water resources by 2030 (30x30). 

To meet the 30x30 target, South Africa will need to expand its conservation areas by an additional 14 million hectares.

The previous Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy continually emphasised – before COP15 and afterwards – that since South Africa could not implement these targets with our set government budget, more funding would be needed.

At the launch of the SANParks Vision 2040 in April 2023, Creecy told Daily Maverick that the 30×30 target would not be achieved on time.

Read more: Can we achieve the multibillion-rand target we committed to at COP? Minister Creecy thinks not

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s Mohlago Flora Mokgohloa previously told Daily Maverick that just to meet the 30×30 target would require an excess of about R37-billion, according to preliminary indications – which we don’t have since only 1% of the fiscus across the board goes towards biodiversity.

sanparks conservation singh Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Narend Singh delivers the keynote address at SANParks’ reveal of Vision 2040 in Sandton, Johannesburg, on 26 September 2024. (Photo: Julia Evans)



Narend Singh, the new Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, spoke about resource constraints and budget cuts in his keynote address at the Vision 2040 event on Thursday.

“We all talk about budget cuts. It’s a reality in government and largely because a lot of money was appropriated to some of our state-owned enterprises,” said Singh during his address.

“Which is quite unfortunate, because these are state-owned enterprises that should be self-sufficient and bringing in money into the fiscus, not us pouring [in] billions and billions of rands. 

“Because when we do that, something else suffers,” he said, acknowledging that it could be conservation, safety and security, or the justice system.

To address this shortfall, Singh emphasised the need for partnerships with communities, the private sector, and the international arena – some of which have already come to fruition.

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment told Daily Maverick that the Global Environment Facility had offered $15-million in funds for SANParks’ Mega Living Landscapes Vision 2024.

“I think there are many many people – not only within this country, but outside of this country – that will be prepared to support a good cause. If we come up with good project proposals, we will get their support,” said Singh.

“And our call to the government today is to ask them to join us.”

Singh told Daily Maverick after the event, “Money should never be a problem in conservation, because if we’ve got credible conservation projects, we will get international donors or national companies to come on board.”

He agreed that based on the fiscus alone, South Africa could never reach its international commitments and that’s why it was pushing public-private partnerships.

“We have to reach out to them. I think if you come up with a vision, if they know what we intend to do, and how we intend to do it, I don’t think money is going to be a problem.” DM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REeWvTRUpMk

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