MINISTER MOLEWA ANNOUNCES R1, 7 BILLION INVESTMENT IN PEOPLE AND PARKS PROGRAMME
Dr Edna Molewa, in August announced that government would invest R1.7 billion in People and Parks Programme projects, as well as the bioprospecting and wildlife economies thorough the Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Programme.
This investment, which would form part of the Operation Phakisa: Biodiversity Economy initiative, would happen over three years.
A further investment of more than R2 billion is planned for the rehabilitation of wetlands and clearing of invasive species through the Working for Water programmes
Minister Molewa was addressing the 8th People and Parks conference currently under way in the Vhembe District of Limpopo Province.
It was during the conference that she called on communities, particularly those living in the close proximity to nature reserved and other protected areas, to support conservation initiatives.
“South Africa’s natural resources can only be properly conserved if there is support from communities living adjacent to protected areas for these initiatives, and from communities who benefit from natural resources on a day-to-day basis,” said Minister Molewa.
This year’s conference had profiled the Biodiversity Economy as an investmentready platform through which the national imperatives of job creation, inequality and economic growth could be addressed.
South Africa is home to more than 9 million hectares of protected areas network, which includes national parks, nature reserves and world heritage sites, equating to about 8% of the country’s land.
Most of these protected areas are geographically located in rural areas, forming an integral system with rural communities whose livelihoods and cultures are closely dependent on.
The People and Parks Programme is an initiative of the Department of Environmental Affairs that promotes interface between conservation and communities in South African protected areas.
It is one of the Department’ Programmes that do not only create much needed job opportunities for South Africans, but also provides tangible economic and social benefits for communities.
“The programme is a continued reflection of the government’s commitment to putting its people at the forefront of biodiversity conservation. It also provides a platform through which individuals, government role-players, conservation agencies, and non-governmental organisations are able to engage with communities living in and around protected areas. Through this broad-based engagement, we are giving effect to the principle of collective ownership – with due regard to the reality that communities were displaced to make way for protected areas during apartheid,” said Minister Molewa.
It is through the People and Parks Programme that the DEA is actively involved in restoring and maintaining natural ecosystems to stimulate rural economies; upgrading and developing new infrastructure in protected areas to boost tourism, developing commercial assets for communities owning and/or living around protected areas while supporting related industries.
Minister Molewa said the draft National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy indicated that the current national protected area system did not adequately conserve a representative sample of the country’s biodiversity.
The Strategy’s indication that areas of greatest expansion potential were largely in communal areas underscored the importance of communities in the conservation of biodiversity, and in the sharing of benefits derived from these areas.
Tourism, she said, was one of the largest contributors to the South African economy. Stats SA’s economic outlook in 2015 states that tourism’s direct contribution to GDP was R103, 6 billion in 2013 with 599 412 people directly employed within the sector.
This was a great opportunity to capitalise on ecotourism, and through the transformation of the ecotourism and biodiversity sectors, more of people would be able to contribute meaningfully to the country’s economic growth, she said.