A proposal by Cape Nature Conservation (CNC) to establish a four-by-four trail in the rugged Cederberg Wilderness Area, 200km north of Cape Town, has drawn strong criticism from an internationally-respected conservation expert.
South African wilderness authority, Bill Bainbridge, says the CNC’s plan ”does not accord to either local or international guidelines for the management of wilderness areas”.
And he says the philosophy of making conservation areas pay for themselves — which appears to have motivated CNC’s proposal — should not apply to wilderness.
”Permitting the use of vehicles within a wilderness area for the sake of generating funds, which the state should supply, could form a precedent for a flood of other non-conforming uses,” Bainbridge warned.
The Cederberg Wilderness Area, renowned for its spectacular landscapes, rock formations and San paintings, stretches over 50km from Citrusdal to north of the Pakhuis Pass in the Western Cape.
Comprising about 71 000ha of mainly mountain fynbos vegetation, the area is also home to the last of the scarce Clanwilliam cedars, which decades of logging in the 19th and 20th centuries have driven to the point of extinction.
There are 11 proclaimed wilderness areas in South Africa, which make up only half a percent of land set aside nationally for conservation.
The four-by-four trail proposal — one of several money-making plans the cash-strapped CNC has hatched over the past two years — came under scrutiny recently following the publication of an article by its board’s CEO, David Daitz.
The article revealed the CNC had given the go-ahead for convoys of up to 20 off-road vehicles to be driven ”on a test basis” along an existing track in the area.
”These were guided four-by-four trips in which a ranger headed a small convoy of vehicles from the Pakhuis Pass to Heuningvlei, never exceeding 15kph,” Daitz said.
At this speed, he claims, ”the impact is indiscernible”.
While admitting that the operation of four-by-four vehicles in the area would ”be noisy and smelly, especially if the vehicles are diesel driven, and will kick up a little dust”, Daitz said there were ”economic realities” that had to be faced.
”What about the significant economic potential for the desperately poor community of Heuningvlei in particular, and of Wupperthal (a village to the east of the wilderness area) in general.
”This kind of well-heeled traffic… would leave a lot of money behind if the community responds to the tourism possibilities.”
Daitz said there would have to be a public participation process, to test ”any plans that are being considered”.
”But to refuse to confront the economic realities facing conservation organisations and rural communities will condemn these precious and irreplaceable places to continuous deterioration,” he said.
Bainbridge, a Pietermaritzburg-based environmental consultant and vice-chairman of the Wilderness Action Group, said operating such a trail in a designated wilderness area was contrary to clear international management guidelines.
He cited the authoritative World Conservation Union’s guidelines for protected areas, which say wilderness areas ”should offer outstanding opportunities for solitude, enjoyed once the area has been reached by simple, quiet, non-polluting and non-intrusive means of travel (i.e. non-motorised)”.
He also referred to the South African department of environmental affairs’ 1996 publication ”National Register of Protected Areas in South Africa” which, he said, stressed ”non-mechanised and strictly-controlled access to wilderness areas”.
”It is clear that the notion of a four-by-four trail within a wilderness area does not accord to either local or international guidelines,” Bainbridge said.
He also criticised the notion that protected areas should be self-funding.
”It is internationally accepted that states have the responsibility to manage protected areas for the public good, the costs of which must be borne by the public purse.
”Nowhere in any of the guidelines for protected area management is there any reference to self-funding as one of the accepted functions of protected areas,” Bainbridge said.
He said the National Forests Act clearly stated a wilderness area had to be managed for the purpose for which it was set aside.
”There is absolutely no doubt that public access by vehicle into wilderness areas was never permitted in the past.
”CNC should first obtain permission from the minister prior to implementing the trails.”
The proposal should also be submitted for a full-scale environmental impact assessment, Bainbridge said.
Two years ago CNC considered a plan to raise funds by building a cableway, restaurant and leopard enclosure in the northern part of the Cederberg Wilderness Area.
In a media release at the time, published under the headline ”Conservation Needs to Earn its Keep”, Daitz said the Cederberg was ”absolutely safe in the hands of the CNC”.
He also said: ”No access by mechanised equipment is permitted, except for management purposes.”
By Thursday, the CNC had not responded to questions on the issue posed to it by Sapa earlier in the week. – Sapa