Building a future of climate resilience
Communities must be at the centre of the new deal, says Creecy
“We must find ways to unlock access to land and strengthen opportunities for economic benefits.” These were the words of forestry, fisheries & the environment department (DFFE) minister Barbara Creecy, speaking at the official opening of the ninth People and Parks Conference held at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, last month.
The conference was hosted by the DFFE in partnership with the agriculture, land reform & rural development department.
The conference is a biennial event, which focuses on the interface between communities and conservation, and this year’s theme was “Banking on conservation areas for rural development and economic recovery”.
Creecy said she hoped the conference would result in the development of policy options and mechanisms to enhance stakeholder access to natural resources, participation and governance.
“Through the biodiversity economy programme, the department is supporting the expansion of the wildlife and bioprospecting economies in line with the government’s sustainable development and use of natural resources policies,” she said.
The biodiversity economy programme is an investmentready platform that can be a significant contributor to job creation, unemployment and addressing economic and social inequality. It is guided by the constitutional principle of sustainable use of the country’s biological resources, while ensuring that these species are conserved for future generations.
Creecy said plans are afoot to implement pilot projects in bioprospecting in 19 traditional authorities in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, which will result in 2,455 community members getting temporary relief opportunities through the presidential economic stimulus.
In addition, , the implementation of more than R1bn in infrastructure investment in protected areas has begun, with various projects at different stages of planning.
“There are more than 50 projects within protected areas across our nine provinces. This investment is projected to create at least 23,000 work opportunities for communities once the contractors get on the ground over the next two years,” said Creecy.
The conference also provided an opportunity for advocacy and resource mobilisation for SA’s People and Parks Programme and to unlock complicated land claims within conservation space.
Joining the conference online was the minister of agriculture, land reform & rural development, Thoko Didiza, who, together with chief land claims commissioner Nomfundo Ntloko-Gobodo, handed over title deeds to land claims beneficiaries under the land reform programme. The land claims are all in protected areas across the country. The programme has enabled those who were dispossessed of land for political reasons to reclaim it in terms of the laws governing land restitution.
Three commissions
During the conference, the delegates were divided into three commissions focusing on:
● Investing in protected areas to unlock their economic potential for rural development and economic recovery;
● Putting communities and people at the centre of reimagining conservation areas for a new deal for people and nature; and
● Land tenure, redistribution and restitution of land: a road map to building biodiversity economy enterprises.
Creecy said that as SA looked to a new, nature-based and climate-resilient future, it was important that investment in protected areas was ramped up so they could return to full operation. “This would require collaboration between the government, communities and the private sector. In all our endeavours, we must put communities at the centre of the new deal for people and nature,” she said.
The People and Parks concept was born out of the World Parks Congress held in Durban in 2003.
The adoption of the Durban Accord called on governments to integrate local communities in the management of protected areas. Though people and conservation had been on the agenda of the government for some time, the World Parks Congress served as a catalyst to give further momentum, legitimacy, credibility and urgency to the efforts.
‘‘ This is projected to create at least 23,000 work opportunities