Stretching over 268 428 hectares, the newly created Mountain Zebra Cambedoo Corridor is a formal conservation area running through two national parks and over private land.
To organise this amount of land into a protectorate is no mean feat.
SANParks and the Wilderness Foundation combined their resources and consulted the relevant private landowners, farmers and the local community. A project steering committee of representatives of the local associations, communities, tourism bodies and municipalities was also incorporated into the national park forum.
Together, the teams formed a strategy on how best to maintain diversity and how to share land so that the overall area and local species would benefit. The process of getting everyone together took just 18 months.
Matthew Norval, chief executive of the Wilderness Foundation, says that the process was extremely encouraging. “Some of the landowners had had negative experiences with old-style conservation, however, once they realised that this wasn’t an aggressive style purchase, everyone came together to make this work.”
The new approach stresses the importance of championing the land in order to maintain biodiversity. All of the habitats in the corridor are of upmost importance, specifically for water and species conservation and climate change.
Because of this work, the Mountain Zebra and Camdeboo National Parks in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Biodiversity Hotspot is now categorised as a conservation priority in the National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy.
Very importantly, this collaboration shows that private landowners, farmers and national parks — in this case, two — can work together for the common good of the land and animals. “The landowners in the area are very progressive. They understand that the immediate effects are subtle, but that having a large secure area like this is hugely beneficial in the long run.”
Often the protection of a land area this large would necessitate the purchase of land, changing ownerships and a reduction in farming and agriculture. However, this project successfully avoided alienating the people living on the land. In fact, the farmers and landowners are essential to the success of the project. Through this approach, the Wilderness Foundation was therefore able to promote sustainable and holistic agricultural practices. An improved understanding of conservation now underpins the area as a whole.
“Conservation is now seen as both a legitimate land use as well as an approach that is compatible and beneficial to the extensive rangeland grazing practices, grazing being the most common agricultural practice in the region.”
A landowner committee has been established and a constitution was created on how to govern the land going forward. The corridor also ensures that future projects such as fracking will need to be cleared through established legislation.