The keynote speaker at the Greening the Future 2003 Awards ceremony, held in Johannesburg on August 22, was the CEO of South African National Parks (SANParks), Mavuso Msimang.
Msimang was an appropriate speaker on the eve of the Fifth World Parks Congress 2003, hosted in Durban from September 8 to 17. After being at the helm of SANParks for the past six years, he has a wealth of experience in balancing the demands of sustaining natural resources and making an organisation profitable.
Commercialisation and transformation of the national parks authority are two of the topics covered in a book published by SANParks to commemorate the World Parks Congress 2003. Titled South African National Parks — A Celebration, it is a large-format, hard-cover coffee-table book. It will be officially launched on August 29.
The text, written by various authors and edited by former SANParks director Anthony Hall-Martin and historian Jane Carruthers, is wide-ranging, intelligent and extremely interesting.
Chapters include historical and ecological management perspectives of SANParks, as well as an insight into present thinking about how to take conservation forward into the future. Among the most interesting chapters are those that deal with transforming the organisation and its changing philosophies and values.
Hector Magome, director: conservation services at SANParks, conceptualised the book and it was sponsored by Ford Foundation and SANParks. Contributors include Nelson Mandela, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Mohammed Valli Moosa, Msimang and chairperson of the SANParks board Murphy Morobe.