The State’s metastasising ineptitude and poor governance knows no boundaries. A recent report published by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), simply titled The State of Provincial Reserves in South Africa, points to the decline and, in parts, perilous state of South Africa’s provincially-run nature reserves.
Many of these reserves, which contain and conserve much of the country’s biodiversity are, according to the report ,not fulfilling the primary conservation objectives and, in many cases, not achieving peripheral benefits such as eco-tourism. The latter has knock-on effects for financing the reserves themselves and acting as local catalysts for job creation.
South Africa is the most biodiverse country in Africa and one of the few megadiverse countries on Earth. The country’s biotic bounty is, however, not afforded the requisite formal protection, with among the lowest percentage of its terrestrial area formally conserved – around 9.2%.
Given that formally area-based conservation through protected areas is still regarded as largely being the best safeguard for conserving biodiversity and associated ecosystem services (such as clean water provisioning), this alone is cause for concern.
There are over 500 provincial and municipal reserves (as opposed to national parks, managed at a national level, and privately-managed reserves) which cover just over three million hectares. Although this is less than 10% of the total conservation estate, they theoretically protect important smaller areas of natural ecosystems. In the case of municipal reserves, they often protect endangered species in patches of greenery in a “sea of concrete.”
Despite a robust legal framework under which protected areas are declared and are managed, the report found that their legal status is largely no reflection of their ability to meet their mandates.
The authors used three approaches in compiling the report. First, Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT-SA) reports were assessed to highlight high conservation value reserves lacking effective management. Second, the authors solicited expert opinions on the state of and challenges facing provincial reserves using an online survey. Finally, relevant personnel including reserve managers, NGO representatives and conservation practitioners were interviewed.
The report found several key factors which inform the ineffective management of reserves, and that poor infrastructure maintenance within reserves was commensurate with said management. Expert opinions showed that the main challenges affecting management effectiveness were poor management skills, weak capacity, and low levels of allocated financial resources. These findings thus mirror the issues plaguing much of South Africa’s state-run entities.
Unsurprisingly, the effectiveness of biodiversity management as the core mandate of these reserves was highest among Western Cape reserves, highlighting the trickle-down of effective governance at a provincial level. Free State reserves also score relatively highly in this regard. Just under 40% of low-scoring reserves on the biodiversity management metric are in KwaZulu-Natal, although the province has a more stringent reporting approach and significantly more reserves than other provinces. Four of the Northern Cape’s six reserves showed biodiversity resource management scores of less than 20% according to the analysis of METT-SA reports.
Reserves in Limpopo and Mpumalanga fare the worst in terms of management effectiveness based on the analysis of expert opinions, with more than 40% of respondents indicating poor management in these provinces. Again, the Western Cape was looked upon favourably, with around 50% of experts considering the provincial reserves in that province to be either ‘well’ or ‘very well managed.’ Overall, more than 80% of experts highlighted financial resource constraints as being the biggest issue facing provincial reserve management, followed by technical capacity constraints.
A similar picture emerged from the responses from managers themselves with financial resource constraints, including budget cuts and budget allocations being the key issue reported. In some provinces it was found that 80-90% of management budgets are allocated to wages. Poor skills, lack of experienced staff, low morale and motivation, and declining institutional knowledge- all critical ingredients for successful biodiversity conservation – were also regularly cited concerns. “Debilitating” procurement processes and poor maintenance of both staff and ecotourism infrastructure further inhibit effective management, with spill overs into reduced tourism revenue at many reserves. These are compounded by more industry-specific threats such as alien invasive species spread, poaching, arson, human-wildlife conflict, and illegal occupation and grazing in reserves.
The report ends on a hopeful note, with several opportunities outlined to address the problems and challenges faced. The report also indicates which reserves with limited resources and annually declining budgets should be prioritised for the most urgent interventions. Reserves that have high biodiversity value (high endemism and species richness), but low resource management scores are obvious priorities. These include lesser-known reserves such as Karkloof, Barberton, Lekgalameetse and Pongola Nature Reserves. Other key reserves outlined in need of urgent intervention due to their value according to experts include most of the reserves in KZN such as the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park and Ndumo Game Reserve (KZN), as well as Borakalalo National Park, Madikwe and Pilanesberg Game Reserves (North West), Limietberg and Hottentots-Holland Nature Reserves (Western Cape).
Improved recruitment of qualified and dedicated staff was regarded as a relatively simple remedy, whilst increasing strategic collaboration, particularly with the private sector (such as outsourcing non-core aspects such as tourism and marketing) and NGOs, was also a key opportunity. Refurbishment of tourism infrastructure alone is likely to assist many reserves in realising their full potential and generating much needed funding to maintain these critical national assets.
The report is a necessary piece of research into a relatively neglected aspect of South Africa’s environmental sector. These reserves, ranging from expansive, well-known game reserves to tiny reserves protecting isolated indigenous montane forest patches, are critical to the overall ecological health of the country. They are critical for not only safeguarding endangered, local fauna and flora, but many vital ‘invisible’ benefits, not least of which is the protection of some of our most important water source areas.
The report is a timely reminder of the role these areas play, the threats they face, but also the focal areas for reviving these areas to enable sustainable conservation measures and sustainable development for predominantly rural communities. Failing to capitalise on these opportunities will be a cost to the country, which it can ill afford.
(Photo: Supplied – Ntsikeni Nature Reserve, KZN)