A ground-breaking deal between conservationists and Transkei’s peasants has ended the plundering of nature reserves, reports Eddie Koch
THE invasion of nature reserves in Transkei that led to the plunder of wildlife and marine species by peasants on the Wild Coast has ended with a path-breaking agreement between conservation officials and villagers from the area.
Graphic footage of shellfish being plucked off the shores of the Dwesa and Cwebe coastal reserves dominated recent television news reports and led to fears in conservation circles that other game reserves around the country would be subjected to similar land invasions.
But officials from Eastern Cape Nature Conservation met this month with leaders from villages which surround the reserves to broker a deal that has effectively stopped the environmental damage.
Wildlife authorities agreed in principle at the meeting that local people be allowed controlled use of forest trees for construction of houses and free access to the coastline so they can tend to ancestral graves and harvest seagrass for weaving purposes.
The conservationists are considering the possibility of allowing people to harvest limited amounts of shellfish, pending scientific investigations into this prospect.
The meeting also agreed that representative committees — made up of conservation officials and community leaders — be established at each of the reserves so that tensions between the parks and the people around them could be peacefully negotiated.
“Consensus was reached that the nature reserves should be managed in collaboration with the local community, and that the aim should be shared responsibility and joint decision- making,” says a report by East Cape conservation official Christo Fabricius.
A tourism project run by the villagers themselves was also mooted at the meeting. “It was decided that conservation officials would play an active role in community development and facilitate the development of environmentally sensitive rural industries.”
It is also possible that cattle farmers in the surrounding areas will, subject to negotiation, be allowed to use parts of the reserves for emergency grazing during periods of drought.
Community members have agreed, in return, to patrol the shores of the reserves to prevent illegal plunder of shellfish and other marine resources. “Speaker upon speaker (at the meeting) expressed their gratitude,” says Fabricius. “They expressed their willingness to pay for trees and undertook to regulate their own activities.”
The report notes that the Cwebe and Dwesa communities have historical and cultural links with the coastal forests and shoreline that date back more than 300 years.
Dwesa was proclaimed a state forest in the late 1800s but local people were allowed to harvest forest trees and shellfish in a controlled way for decades. They were allowed unrestricted access to seawater for ritual purposes and could use the beach sand for building. Cattle were allowed into the unfenced area.
In 1984 wildlife was introduced to the reserve and the villagers were refused all entry, resulting in them being cut off from the sea. This led to a long period of resentment and antagonism as people were severed from resources needed for subsistence and cultural purposes.
The communities conveyed their grievances to conservation authorities in Umtata this year. “When they had received no positive response by early November, they started with protest action which culminated in the recent destruction of the marine resources.”
The latest agreement marks a dramatic move away from old autocratic styles of game reserve management and will be seen as a prototype for community-friendly conservation models that are being experimented with in various parts of the country.