The time has come to take a ”long, hard look” at conservation management in South Africa, and to improve this through rationalisation and consolidation, says Environmental Affairs Minister Valli Moosa.
Opening debate on his department’s budget in the National Council of Provinces on Friday, he said provincially-managed parks and reserves were financially unsustainable, and the country could no longer afford 10 conservation agencies.
”In terms of the current budget, SANParks, responsible for the management of 53% of the protected areas in South Africa, is allocated R77,8-million, while the nine provinces, responsible for 30%, are allocated over R598-million.
”In practical terms, can South Africa afford 10 parks boards? Does it make sense for a province to spend enormous resources on provincial parks for very little gain?”
The minister’s remarks are in line with the bio-regional approach to conservation decided on by government two years ago, including proposals to consolidate existing areas where possible and rationalise their management.
Moosa said that although there was nothing unconstitutional about a parks board in each province, ”the disservice to conservation and to citizens deriving benefits from parks is the establishment of financially unsustainable models”.
He said a system whereby conservation competed for funds against the health care, education and social welfare needs of a province, without any obvious benefits such as economic growth and job creation, was not sustainable and would fail.
”A situation where the same taxpayer pays almost eight times more to maintain provincial parks compared to what he or she pays to maintain national parks, is, frankly speaking, an unsustainable model for conservation.”
South Africa has 403 terrestrial protected areas, comprising about 6,6-million hectares, or 5,4%, of its total land area. Twenty-two of these protected areas are national parks.
Moosa said conservation and economic development ”must go hand in hand”.
”Our conservation areas, rather than being a burden on taxpayers, must contribute to job creation and socio-economic upliftment. Our natural heritage must continue to serve as a foundation of the tourism industry.
”It is time to take a long hard look at conservation management in South Africa as a whole… I do not believe we can afford the number of management agencies we have,” he said. – Sapa