The Ministry of Fisheries, Forestry and the Environment

[Lisbeth]

[Lisbeth]

State caves in to game farmers and hunters over key wildlife protection


Withdrawal announcements. (Image: Wildlife Ranching SA)

By Don Pinnock | 10 Apr 2023

Vital legislation for the protection of wildlife has been stopped in its tracks by a mysterious settlement between game breeders/hunters and the Department of Environment.
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The Department of Environment (DFFE) had gazetted the most progressive wildlife protection legislation ever drafted in South Africa. It seemed like good news for beleaguered wildlife.

But just before it was to become law, game breeder and hunter organisations applied for an urgent interdict to halt it. DFFE responded with a convincingly argued defence of its legislation, clearly indicating its strong opposition to the application, not least on the grounds that it was not urgent.

But at the last minute, in a secret, out-of-court settlement, the Department withdrew the proposed Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) regulations as well as related Norms and Standards amendments and agreed to pay the applicants’ legal costs.

Its reasoning? “Due to the urgent timeframes of the litigation, the Department required additional time to consider the varied issues raised in the court application” by Wildlife Ranching South Africa (WRSA) and the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa (PHASA). So was it urgent or wasn’t it?

What’s curious is exactly what happened between 24 March, when the Department filed its comprehensive and well argued 91-page affidavit opposing the interdict, and 27 March when it completely backtracked in conceding to retract the regulations without revealing any of its arguments.

Because the TOPS regulations were closely interlinked to four other Government Notices – also due to come into effect on 1 April – DFFE has also withdrawn the revised Norms and Standards for the management of elephants, the hunting of leopards, the amended protection list of 266 wild mammal, fish, birds, invertebrates and plants and new regulations involving the trade in rhino horn.

What were the seemingly convincing arguments made by WRSA/PHASA that made the DFFE back off? What other agreements or aspects to the settlement were reached? And why and on what basis did DFFE agree to pay costs when, in such cases, each party normally pays them? At this stage nobody’s talking and a request to DFFE by Our Burning Planet got no reply.

Consultation timeframes

The TOPS regulations were published on 3 February for public comment before being promulgated, and at that point WRSA and PHASA met with the Department. Were their concerns raised then? What prompted them to take the Department to court?

Explaining the court challenge, the CEO of PHASA, Dries van Coller, said the publication of the TOPS regulations and species list had taken the industry by surprise because the previous very limited public participation process was eight years ago in 2015.

“The Minister’s promulgated version of the regulations differed materially from the previous versions and included numerous provisions which would be detrimental to the ability of game ranchers and professional hunters to conduct sustainable business in the game industry.”

Van Coller had grounds for complaint. Very limited public participation followed the publication of the TOPS regulations. This is in contrast to the exhaustive consultation following the recommendations of the High Level Panel on lions, rhinos, elephants and leopards and also the White Paper on Biodiversity just approved by Cabinet.

It is also surprising that the minister’s legal advisers appear to have failed to take note of the precedent affirmed for the requirements for public participation in two other cases. One was an interim interdict granted to the Humane Society International-Africa which challenged the hunting and export quotas for elephants, rhinos and leopards. The second judgement was obtained by Endangered Wildlife Trust overturning the Department of Agriculture’s inclusion of several species of wild animals under the Animal Improvement Act.

More than time frames

A reading of the TOPS regulations, however, makes it clear why game farmers and hunters hit the panic button. It’s not just about consultation time frames. Following the report of the High Level Panel, DFFE’s Cabinet-approved proposals on animal wellbeing and the White Paper on Biodiversity just published, it’s clear that Creecy is responsive to increasing reports and studies on cruelty on game farms and, particularly, the hunting of lions bred for the bullet.


A lion in a breeding facility. (Photo: Conservation Action Trust)

All this is having a negative effect on South Africa’s image abroad at a time when the country desperately needs to rebuild its tourist industry after the Covid pandemic.

The new TOPS regulations tighten the thumbscrews on sloppy, inappropriate, dangerous and cruel game farming and hunting in an industry that has mostly been at great pains to fly below the radar. They considerably tighten regulation of captive breeding, rehabilitation, temporary holding and commercial exhibition facilities, game farms and animal translocators.

But the regulations go much further, listing 266 species as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered with precise listing of restricted or prohibited activities with regard to each. These include all rhino species, elephants, lions, leopards, African wild dogs, cheetahs, hyenas and a range of plains game including southern roan and sable antelope and both species of zebra.

TOPS also tightens regulations around hunting permits and drills down on captive breeding, which must have infuriated breeders and would have been the main points of contention in the court case. A huge bone of contention with facilities involved in so-called canned hunting, where hand-reared lions are released to be shot, would have been regulations prohibiting the hunting of a large predator in an area adjacent to a captive holding facility.

Also prohibited would be the introduction of wild-caught predators to breeding facilities, a time limit after which rehabilitation facilities would have to return animals to the wild, and a ban on breeding in sanctuaries.

The TOPS regulations put captive breeding facilities under an official microscope with the ability to close them down for non-compliance with the strict guidelines. All animals and the conditions under which they are kept would have to be documented for official inspection and stud books kept to curb inbreeding and hybridisation.

Enclosures would need to comply with regulations, the food supply for captive animals detailed, plans provided for the removal of waste and the availability of veterinary services. Captive breeding facilities would be required to provide a description of the strategies used in breeding that contribute to the conservation of wild populations, a requirement that lion farms would find impossible.

Breeding facilities would be denied registration if their activities conflicted with the Biodiversity Act or with anything within the TOPS regulations. And to add to the uncertainty of game breeders, their registration could be cancelled if “there is a change in the conservation status of the species involved being bred, reared, propagated, traded or kept by a permit holder”.

A question of capacity

A weakness of the TOPS regulations – and this would have been pointed out in the court case – is that the tight control required by DFFE would require far more trained officials and a data collection system capable of responding quickly and efficiently. Sadly, neither national or provincial environmental departments have either of these. This point was hammered home by Dries van Coller of PHASA:

“We are already being hamstrung by the inability of various national and provincial departments to administrate the myriad of environmental regulations. State departments already do not have the capacity or funding to administer the wildlife industry properly.

“We receive complaints from members on a near-daily basis of permits not being processed. There is simply no money in some provinces to cover the costs associated with statutory oversight work. The system is stalling due to the department not having enough people and money to do their job. Now we see a Minister who wants to impose even more conditions on an already over-regulated industry.”

So here’s the question. Will the TOPS regulations and linked wildlife laws be scrapped, rewritten or hit a new round of contestation? No time frame or way forward has yet been suggested. For now the issue lies smouldering in a firepit of confusion. OBP

[Lisbeth]

[Richprins]

Anything the government does is bad, in my opinion, and they only settled because they would lose the court case. Good for the farmers and hunters, who mostly are conservationists.

[Lisbeth]

Bad for the animals

[Lisbeth]

More money, better leadership, trained staff: How to prevent SA’s provincial wildlife gems from sliding into ruin


One of three elephants shot and killed early in 2021 after escaping from Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park. (Photo: Supplied)

By Tony Carnie | 02 May 2023

On paper, there are more than 400 provincial parks and reserves covering over three million hectares in South Africa. Though they are not as big or as well-known as the Kruger or Addo Elephant national parks, these reserves nevertheless play a vital role in holding together the increasingly tattered web of nature in an era of unprecedented human expansion.
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Some, like the 96,000-hectare Hluhluwe-iMflolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal, are among the oldest formally protected wildlife reserves in the world. Others, covering just a few hectares, were set up to protect a critically endangered plant or small animal species.

But many are now falling apart slowly because of a shortage of money, poor management or a lack of political will.

That is the essence of a new expert conservation assessment by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) with support from the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa. It cautions that these critical natural assets cannot be allowed to become “paper parks” – meaning that they exist as areas of conservation on paper only.

Entitled, The State of Provincial Reserves in South Africa – Challenges and Recommendations, the report highlights growing concern by conservation experts that several of these provincial reserves are “not fulfilling their conservation objectives”.

Here are just a few examples from KwaZulu-Natal:

In the Ntsikeni Vlei Nature Reserve – an internationally recognised mountain wetland – there are now more than 1,000 livestock roaming the park. It has a single field ranger to patrol 9,200ha, trying to prevent livestock incursions and curb the poaching of up to four wildebeest a week.

The Blinkwater Nature Reserve north of Pietermaritzburg has had no staff for 15 years. This 742ha island of natural vegetation is almost surrounded by alien plantation forests and its future is now threatened by illegal grazing and poaching.


Examples of some of the problems in KZN provincial reserves. (Table: EWT report)

In the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park, the eastern boundaries of this World Heritage Site are also under pressure from similar livestock incursions as well as alien invader plant infestation.

More than 600ha of land in the Ndumo Game Reserve has been planted with cabbages and other vegetables, while the reserve’s hippo and crocodile population is in decline due to poaching and habitat loss.

But most worrisome, perhaps, is the steady decline of the Hluhluwe-iMflozi Park, the province’s flagship Big Five Reserve that was proclaimed in 1875 — just three years after the Yellowstone National Park in the US.

It is from the surviving population of about 100 southern white rhinos in this provincial park that the entire population of white rhinos in SA’s Kruger Park and other parts of the continent was gradually rebuilt.


A guard hut at the Cengeni entrance gate to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park burns out of control in August 2022 after angry neighbours set it alight after several lions and other dangerous wildlife species escaped via the park’s crumbling perimeter fences. (Photo: Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife)

According to the EWT report, there has been an explosion in human-wildlife conflict around the park due to collapsing fences. Rhino poaching remains “rampant” and basic infrastructure is falling apart due to a lack of maintenance.


HIP Case Study screenshot from the new Endangered Wildlife Trust report.

The EWT identifies similar problems in other provinces. In the Pilanesberg Game Reserve in North West, most of the declining budget is spent on staff and officials, with almost no funds left for day-to-day operational needs and conservation.

In the Hans Merensky Nature Reserve in Limpopo, the population of increasingly threatened sable antelope is declining, while a large section of the Songimvelo Game Reserve in Mpumalanga has been abandoned and “poached empty”.


Examples of problems in Limpopo, North West and Northern Cape. (Table: Supplied)

So, what are the reasons for this bleak state of affairs? The report’s authors (Dr Tamanna Patel, Dr Oliver Cowan, Dr Ian Little, Dr Yolan Friedmann and Dr Andy Blackmore) summarise the three main problems as “a lack of critical skills and capacity; poor management implementation and inadequate budgets”.

Elsewhere in the report, in plainer language, they elaborate in more depth on how they came to these conclusions – which were based on existing data sources, a series of surveys and interviews with experts in reserve management, and a Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool developed by the World Wide Fund for Nature in collaboration with the World Bank.


Nearly 40% of reserves in KZN (mainly run by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife) scored poorly in a new assessment of the state of South Africa’s provincial wildlife parks and reserves. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

Worryingly, nearly 40% of reserves in KZN (mainly run by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife) scored poorly based on this tracking tool assessment.

“It is important to note that this does not necessarily mean that reserves in KZN have worse management than other provinces, but that they submitted the most reports and may have a more stringent reporting approach,” the authors caution. Nevertheless, they believe the tracking tool provided useful insights into priority problem areas.


Despite their many scenic and wildlife attractions, tourism facilities are often poorly managed and run down in several provincial reserves. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

The most common problem in all provinces was the inadequate budgets for nature and wildlife conservation. In some reserves, as much as 80-90% of budgets were consumed by staff salaries – leaving little funding for day-to-day conservation.

Based on the tracking tool assessment, eight of the 22 best-scoring reserves were found in the Free State, but none of the reserves in the Northern Cape and North West provinces were listed with high scores.

Based on the opinions of the conservation experts who responded to a survey, Limpopo and Mpumalanga were the most poorly managed provinces from a conservation perspective, followed by KZN and the Eastern Cape.

“Conversely, the Western Cape was considered the best-managed province, rating the highest in the ‘well managed’ and ‘very well managed’ responses.”

The survey respondents also lamented the lack of capacity – including staff who were “not dedicated, motivated, or passionate about what they do”.

“Based on expert opinions, positions are often politically appointed rather than by individuals having expertise in the field… young incoming managers have often not benefited from working under and gleaning institutional knowledge from experienced managers. Political interference hinders reserve staff from fulfilling their conservation mandate.”

Some of these criticisms have been echoed by Div de Villiers, veteran conservation official of the Eastern Cape provincial department of environmental affairs.


Div de Villiers. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

De Villiers, a senior member of the Green Scorpions environmental inspectorate, retired on 30 April after a 40-year career in nature conservation. He believes strong leadership and a passion for conservation are essential for effective conservation.

Reminiscing about his career in a series of Facebook posts last week, De Villiers recalled that he and most of his older colleagues were “committed to the cause and never joined conservation for the money”.

“There was no profession with poorer pay! We worked in the field daily, never stayed in hotels or B&Bs, and often slept in the veld next to our vehicles (sometimes in tents).”

“I worked with some excellent MECs including Smuts Ngonyama, Enoch Godongwana, Mcebisi Jonas and Oscar Mabuyane – who all supported our work.

“During those times, conservation projects flourished. We won court battles to conserve the Wild Coast, we had Ntsikeni proclaimed a Ramsar site, we had the backing to demolish unlawful coastal developments, we declared protected areas, we established an award-winning Special Investigation Unit… the list is long.


One of the derelict freshwater fish research buildings in the Amalinda Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape, a collapse caused mainly by funding shortages. (Photo: Div de Villiers)

“Unfortunately, the wheels come off if there is no leadership, or if the morale of a team is broken because nobody is steering the ship. Leadership is more important than funds or resources (and we all know how important they are).

“A team works because it believes in a cause and because its members believe that their leaders support them,” he said, noting that his former department had now been without a chief director for two years.

According to the EWT report, there are high vacancy rates in protected areas in all provinces.

“In KZN, there have been significant personnel changes, with a progressive loss of key staff over the last 20 years – many experienced and skilled. There is no succession planning for the loss of these skilled staff, and vacant positions are not filled with experienced people, leading to the challenges of a staff comprising largely unqualified and inexperienced people.”


Several dangerous wildlife species have escaped from the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park because of collapsing fencing. This lion was shot and killed in the Melmoth area in March 2020. (Photo: Supplied)

On the question of poor funding, the report notes that conservation has to compete against a range of other pressing national priorities, including housing, healthcare, education, security and welfare needs.

“The adoption of funding models that centralise financial flows in government, and the gradual but significant decrease in government budget allocation to conservation efforts, have combined to put pressure on protected areas to generate the necessary funds for their management and protection.

“There is a fundamental risk that this income generation imperative will shift focus from environmental protection to commercial activities and place at risk the integrity of these protected areas.”

Yet, amid the doom and gloom, the EWT and survey respondents suggest that solutions are still possible to turn the situation around in poorly performing provinces.

The report suggests that several urgent changes and interventions are needed to turn around the future of these national assets.

Experienced staff

One of the top priorities should be appointing (and retaining) experienced staff.

A new recruitment process should also allow for the sourcing of “passionate and dedicated career conservationists”.

This process must also include park management boards to ensure that board members are effective, objective and committed – rather than political appointees.

“There is a desperate need and clear opportunity for targeted training and mentoring of existing staff and managers, which can be fulfilled internally and from external support.”

More money

Across all provinces, there are inadequate budgets for effective park management, with most government funding going to salaries, bonuses and human resources and very little allocated for maintenance and operational expenditure.

As examples, salaries and benefits for conservation staff in the Free State, Gauteng and Limpopo in 2016 were 64%, 66% and 65% of the expenditure, respectively, with the remaining budget being allocated to goods and services and capital expenditure. In KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape, 56%, 62% and 55%, respectively, were allocated to personnel costs.

Over recent years, there have been no inflation-linked budget increases to maintain reserves, and in many cases, budgets have been cut significantly, leading to the dilapidated state of roads and infrastructure in many parks.


Is there still a rainbow shining over the future of South Africa’s provincial park estate, which covers more than 3 million hectares? (Photo: Tony Carnie)

The general perception is that parks are supposed to make money, which is often a misunderstanding, as some critical, protected areas will never be able to generate income, although they are critical for biodiversity conservation.

“Options must be explored for provincial reserves to benefit from the income they generate through whatever means possible, so they can be incentivised to generate income and reinvest it into their operating budgets. National Treasury needs to be engaged on this as reserves need to benefit from the income they generate.”

Ultimately, however, the political heads of provincial conservation departments should be pushing more strongly to provide adequate finance to parks and reserves to fulfil their conservation mandate for current and future generations.

Tourism and infrastructure

Poorly maintained infrastructure (from roads to rondavels) also needs to be refurbished urgently to develop the tourism potential of provincial reserves

“Many provincial reserves have below-standard infrastructure, accommodation, and under-resourced catering facilities. These challenges play a significant role in limiting the number of tourists visiting an area.


Many provincial reserves have below-standard infrastructure, accommodation or catering facilities — limiting the number of tourists visiting these areas. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

“These issues can only be addressed through greater infrastructure investment or strategic partnerships with dedicated tourism operators. Many of them have the potential to generate income through tourism but require capital investment to upgrade facilities before this is even possible.

“Even if reserves receive funding to upgrade tourist infrastructure, the problem lies with maintaining this infrastructure over time, as the current financial model within provincial systems does not allow income generated through tourism to be channelled back to reserve maintenance.”

New private sector and community partnerships

Provinces should also consider partnerships and collaborations with the private sector, NGOs and communities to raise more money and to build mutually beneficial relationships between parks and local communities.

These options could include private/public partnership options and co-management agreements. This would enable provinces to co-opt management partners to bring expertise and capital to improve the management effectiveness and tourism potential of important conservation areas.

This approach could entail contractual agreements such as long-term leases to tourism operators or co-management agreements with neighbouring private or communal farming or tourism enterprises.

An example of such collaborations could include the partnership between Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Wildlife ACT for animal monitoring work and WildTrust, particularly the WildOceans component, for Marine Protected Area management.

One of Ezemvelo’s major game surveys in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park was done through an agreement with Earthwatch, which uses a paying volunteer model to cover the entire survey cost.

Climate and biodiversity funding

Because many smaller or isolated reserves have no potential or capacity to generate income from eco-tourism, provincial governments and park managers should explore new “sustainable finance” options such as e-carbon markets, offset agreements and biodiversity credits.

This could include voluntary carbon markets – carbon emission reduction programmes or nature-based solutions within the agriculture, forestry and other land use sectors to earn carbon revenue for the landowner and management authority.

“Voluntary carbon markets offer long-term financial returns for effective ecosystem management. These have specific relevance for buffer areas on private and communally owned land neighbouring provincial reserves.

Conservation lobbying

Finally, the EWT report calls on provinces and other relevant stakeholders to build a case for the importance of higher budgets for provincial protected areas.

“The gradual but consistent reduction in fiscal allocations for our provincial conservation agencies is a core driving factor in the degradation and collapse of most of the struggling provincial reserves in South Africa.

“The conservation sector must cooperate to form a united front to lobby for a reverse in this worrying trend should South Africa’s provincial park networks have any chance of continuing to support its mandate of biodiversity and ecosystem service protection.” DM/OBP

[Lisbeth]

In the vocabulary of the Government, municipalities, park boards etc., There is one word that has been left out: MAINTENANCE! The whole country is falling to pieces, because of that little word not being used

[Lisbeth]

‘Shift in conservation thinking’: A new biodiversity White Paper could make SA a world leader if it becomes law


Campaign Against Canned Hunting activists march in Johannesburg against canned lion hunting on 15 March 2014. (Photo: Gallo Images / Foto24 / Mary-ann Palmer)

By Don Pinnock | 16 May 2023

It’s excellent legislation, but faces enormous challenges, not least from wildlife breeders who are sharpening their knives.
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Changing a country’s legal paradigm on conservation is like turning a supertanker at sea – it takes time and space. And though the just-released draft White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable use of South Africa’s Biodiversity sets a new course, it’s not yet law and the ship is only beginning to turn. There will be battles up ahead, but the new shoreline is at least in sight.

Its vision – both lofty and wordy – is of “an inclusive, transformed society living in harmony with nature, where biodiversity conservation and sustainable use ensure healthy ecosystems, with improved benefits that are fairly and equitably shared for present and future generations”.

It envisions a world centred on Ubuntu, where all people have a high quality of life, a voice and a nurturing earth supporting them.

The problem with these admirable goals yet to be embedded in law is what bedevils so many such reports – implementation. The White Paper admits that to become effective, it will take considerable redirection of funds plus strategic integration of the ideas into all departments, both national and local.

According to Wilderness Foundation Africa, the White Paper provides long overdue, comprehensive definitions of sustainable use and conservation.

“In our view, not having such clear and unambiguous definitions in our environmental law has led to conflicting approaches and interpretations within the biodiversity sector.

“The Paper enshrines the environmental duty of care principle and entrenches the requirement for activities, methods or actions involving wild animals to be humane and to consider their wellbeing.”

There is, unfortunately, a disconnect between the Paper’s principles and the reality on the ground where protected areas have been allowed to wither from neglect, corruption and nepotism. This will be addressed shortly below.

We have been here before

Although limited popping of corks is in order, it comes with a caution. A White Paper with similar goals was tabled in Parliament in 1997, but stalled.

Had that White Paper been cast into law, the environmental field would have been very different now. It recognised that the goal of using biological resources sustainably was to ensure that it minimised the adverse impact on biodiversity. It also insisted that biodiversity considerations be integrated into all national policy. Pity it hit the skids.

These issues lay dormant for many years and their re-emergence was in relation to the growing abhorrence of captive lion breeding and hunting.

As a result, mainly, of calls from conservation NGOs, Parliament’s portfolio committee on environmental affairs convened a two-day colloquium in 2018 and concluded that canned lion hunting should end.

That broke the logjam of business-as-usual in the government’s approach to the treatment of wild animals.

In 2019, new environment minister Barbara Creecy established a high-level panel to review policies, regulatory measures, practices and policy positions related to hunting, trade, captive keeping, management and handling of elephant, lion, leopard and rhino.

Its conclusions didn’t please everyone, particularly wildlife breeders and hunters, but it was a giant step in a new direction for wildlife protection.

Most importantly, it changed the language of conservation, which, through the policy position that followed, found its way into other avenues of wildlife policy.

One was the National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill which contains a vital wellbeing clause, but it has been hanging around since 2018 without forward movement. Could it be because game breeders have indicated that they will challenge the clause in court?

Last year, Creecy appointed a panel to look into the voluntary exits of lion breeding facilities – five years after the colloquium call. She has just extended the deadline for a further 60 days – breeders are clearly not clamouring to give up their outfits.

Another roadblock was the withdrawal this year of the new Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) regulations. Gazetted by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE), it was arguably the most progressive wildlife protection legislation yet drafted in South Africa. It seemed like good news for beleaguered wildlife.

But just before it was to become law, game breeder and hunter organisations applied for an urgent interdict to halt it. DFFE responded with a convincingly argued defence of its legislation.

At the last minute, in a secret, out-of-court settlement, the department withdrew the proposed TOPS regulations as well as related norms and standards amendments and agreed to pay the applicants’ legal costs. Breeders had clearly found a legal loophole and closed it down.

Biodiversity White Paper

The White Paper on sustainable use of biodiversity is the latest to signal a shift in government conservation thinking. As mentioned above, its bite is in its definitions.

The highest on the list is “sustainable use”, a term hitherto undefined and employed by those more interested in use than sustainability. The White Paper nails it down and probably provides the world’s best definition.

The use of any component of biodiversity, it states, must ensure that it is:

• Ecologically, economically and socially sustainable;

• Does not contribute to its long-term decline in the wild or disrupt the genetic integrity of the population;

• Does not disrupt the ecological integrity of the ecosystem in which it occurs;

• Ensures continued benefits to people in a manner that is fair, equitable and meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations; and

• Ensures a duty of care towards all components of biodiversity for thriving people and nature.

Sustainable use of biodiversity, it states, “implies the careful and equitable use of nature so that all current and future generations of people get the full benefit of what they value from nature”.

A second important definition – which is a nod to the sentience of animals – is the notion of “animal wellbeing”. This is defined as “the holistic circumstances and conditions of an animal or population of animals which are conducive to their physical, physiological and mental health and quality of life, including their ability to cope with their environment”.

Human interventions and activities, according to the White Paper, must consider animal wellbeing, not only of individual animals, but also of groups and whole populations of animals. This is because the wellbeing of individual animals is entwined with the biodiversity of the space in which they live.

For this reason, measures must be taken “to prevent harm from occurring to biodiversity within the environment and ecosystems that they are part of.”

This is in line with the notion of Ubuntu, which acts as the White Paper’s guiding principle. Ubuntu, it states, emphasises the environmental duty-of-care principle in which actions should be humane and ensure quality of life within its environment.

An important principle is the creation of linkages, corridors and connectivity between wild spaces to ensure genetic variation and expand the natural footprint, both on land and in the ocean.

Infertile ground

Just how difficult it will be to implement the excellent recommendations of the White Paper can be seen from a survey by the Environmental Wildlife Trust entitled, The State of Provincial Reserves in South Africa – Challenges and Recommendations.

There are 400 provincial parks and reserves covering three million hectares of South Africa and it is there – not just the large parks like Kruger – that the rubber of biodiversity hits the road. Many of these are falling apart because of a shortage of money, poor management or lack of political will.

The most common problem in all provinces, says the report, are inadequate budgets for nature and wildlife conservation. In some reserves, as much as 80-90% of budgets are consumed by staff salaries – leaving little funding for day-to-day conservation.

The survey respondents also lamented the lack of capacity – including staff who were “not dedicated, motivated or passionate about what they do”.

The report adds: “The adoption of funding models that centralise financial flows in government, and the gradual but significant decrease in government budget allocation to conservation efforts, have combined to put pressure on protected areas to generate the necessary funds for their management and protection.”

The new Biodiversity White Paper comes with a detailed implementation plan as it heads, hopefully, into law.

First, key stakeholders in the environmental field will be identified and consulted. This will be followed by intergovernmental consultations to work out implementation processes. If all goes well and the White Paper is not watered down or sidelined, South Africa could end up with some impressive biodiversity protections on paper.

However, for it to grow beyond law into implementation, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment – with all other departments for which biodiversity is important – will have to till and fertilise the ground upon which the White Paper can grow its plans.

That will take political will and a good deal of cash allocated to conservation, and not fat staff salaries and top-heavy “management”. That will be another supertanker that needs to turn. DM/OBP

[Richprins]

[Lisbeth]

The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy and Deputy Minister Ms Makhotso Maggie Sotyu, will deliver the budget policy statement for Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment at the Good Hope Chamber in Parliament on Friday, 19 May 2023, at 10:00.
The budget policy statement, also known as budget vote speech, will outline the 2023/24 strategic focus, policy decisions and key priorities for Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment sectors.
Watch the budget vote on Parliament DSTV channel 408 & Parliament social media platforms (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook & iono.fm)



Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment
BUDGET VOTE 2023/24 (VOTE 32) OF DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY, FISHERIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT DELIVERED BY MINISTER OF FORESTRY, FISHERIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT, MS BARBARA CREECY, GOOD HOPE CHAMBER, PARLIAMENT
19 MAY 2023
Honourable House Chair
Deputy Minister Ms Makhotso Sotyu;
Honourable Chairperson, Modise, and Committee Members;
Chairpersons and Board members and CEOs of our Entities;
Director-General, Ms Nomfundo Tshabalala;
Team Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment;
Ladies and gentlemen
Fellow South Africans

Good Morning

I want to begin today by acknowledging my special guests who have joined this proceeding on live streaming from one of our beautiful natural assets, the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, led by Ms Sive Melane who hails from Qunu in the Eastern Cape Province.

Sive completed her BSc degree in Geographic Information Systems and Geology with the University of Fort Hare.
In July 2021, five years after she first graduated, Sive finally had a career break when she was recruited to the Groen Sebenza programme as a trainee to support the Ecological Infrastructure Project for Water Security at SANBI.

Ms Melane is one of one thousand, one hundred and seventeen graduates we have recruited to our Groen Sebenza programme which provides graduates with two-years of work experience and aims to ensure they receive long-term work in the science sector, so their education, knowledge and energies are fully harnessed to maintain our country’s natural resources.

Biodiversity and Conservation

Last year, at the Convention on Biological Diversity an agreement dubbed “the new deal for people and nature,” or the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), was adopted.

The Framework has three central aspects: The first is the recognition that human and ecosystem sustainability requires thirty percent of the land and thirty percent of the sea be placed under protection by 2030. Secondly, that communities living in and adjacent to conservation estates must benefit from the economic opportunities created; and thirdly that the intellectual property of indigenous people which underpins many bio-prospecting endeavours in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries must be recognised. There was also agreement that developed countries must assist developing countries in achieving global conservation targets.

In March this year, our Government adopted the White Paper on Conservation and Sustainable Use of South Africa’s Biodiversity which is intended to ensure we domesticate this significant global agreement.

Through the support of the Global Environmental Facility the Department has received an early action grant which we are using to develop the implementation plan for our White Paper.

To attract financing to our biodiversity sector, our digital Biodiversity Investment Portal is now profiling pipeline projects within the biodiversity economy space to potential domestic and international investors. It is our intention to ensure that previously disadvantaged communities are able to use this platform to highlight their projects in the biodiversity value chain.

Our approved National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy provides an informed systematic approach on the expansion of the conservation estate with the rate of 0.5% increase annually. In line with this annual increase, South Africa will achieve a rate of 28% for its terrestrial space by 2036, and 10% in the same year for its marine space. We envisage that through this process we are likely to achieve the global 30 by 30 target by the early 2040’s.

Honourable members, last year I indicated I will appoint a panel to advise me on voluntary exit from the captive lion breeding industry. I am pleased to report that the task team that was appointed in December 2022 has made significant progress in engaging with all stakeholders in the captive lion industry including vulnerable workers.

Last month a public call was gazetted inviting registration by participants who wish to voluntarily exit from the captive lion industry. I have taken a decision to extend the registration period for a further 60 days so we reach those enterprises that were not able to take advantage of the first 30 days.

Furthermore, now that we have completed the White Paper we will now return to processing all the feedback we received from the Policy Paper on the High Level Panel recommendations.

With regard to the TOPS recommendations that were recently withdrawn, we have decided to strengthen administrative processes related to implementation. The TOPS Regulations and associated Species Lists will be published for public comment for a period of 30 days. The outcomes of this will inform further implementation.

South African National Parks

SANParks remains the international benchmark for conservation management in South Africa. As part of its commercialisation drive, SANParks aims to deliver thirty-nine new tourism products over the next three years in partnership with the private sector. Fourteen of these projects will open in this current financial year.

In addition, these programmes provide economic opportunities to local communities by creating 2 209 direct jobs in local SMMEs from whom concessionaires receive goods and services valued at R75 million a year.

Last month, I was excited to launch SANParks Vision 2040, an inclusive process where South Africans can participate in the re-imagining and co-creating of a new future for conservation in national protected areas. Given that SANParks will celebrate a century of existence in 2026, the development of Vision 2040 is a great opportunity to re-calibrate its future.

Combatting Wildlife Crime

With regards to the recent study published by ENACT on corruption and criminality in the Kruger Landscape, known as the Rademeyer Report, I am pleased to report to this House today, that the National Integrated Strategy to Combat Wildlife Crime was recently adopted by Cabinet last week.
This means the Natjoints Priority Committee on Wildlife Trafficking will now identify critical measures by all government agencies that can be implemented over the next six months.

Due to the Hluhluwe/iMfolozi Game Reserve becoming a rhino poaching hotspot, this year our Department will support Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife to combat rhino poaching and related wildlife crimes. We will also invest R40 million to improve the boundary fencing as part of our assistance.
In the Kruger Park itself we are focusing on improving the wellness and well-being of our staff so that they are not lured into the illicit trade. Measures being implemented include career path development, and training; ranger wellness and counselling programmes; improvements in staff housing and putting in place an anonymous tip-off line and setting up liaison committees with local communities.

To ensure greater safety of our visitors, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa has installed hi-tech surveillance equipment at Numbi Gate and the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism is supporting a community training and development initiative to improve security around this access point. I wish to express our appreciation for the support received from these important stakeholders.

Isimangaliso Wetland Park Authority

It is almost a year since the St. Lucia Mouth estuary breached naturally. Following the 2021 artificial breaching of the St Lucia Mouth, I appointed a Panel of Experts which made recommendations related to the future management of the Park. So far we have done extensive work on developing the new Estuarine Management Plan which we expect to complete by August.

To deal with the extensive back-flooding of farmlands, a panel of environmental consultants has been appointed to conduct the necessary environmental assessment. It is estimated that the basic assessment and public consultation will be finalised within 90 days. If all goes well, this process will authorise the clearing of the levees and the canals and alleviate current and future flooding of precious farm land.

Mouse-Free Marion Project

The critically important Mouse-Free Marion Project, undertaken in partnership with BirdLife South Africa, aims to restore Marion Island, a Special Nature Reserve and Ramsar Site Wetland of International Importance, by eradicating invasive house mice from the island.

Provided Birdlife SA can raise the remaining funding from a range of interested international donors, this ambitious project is envisaged to be completed in 2025.

The first phase of removing the original, and now abandoned, meteorological research station, will commence in October this year.

Re-positioning of the National Zoological Gardens

The National Zoological Gardens in Tshwane have been incorporated into the South African National Biodiversity Institute. As part of a new repositioning strategy, we aim to modernise the zoo and enhance its role in species conservation, research, biodiversity education and public engagement, tourism and recreation.

In asserting SANBI as a leader in zoological research and conservation, investments are also being made to upgrade facilities such as laboratories, the genetic services unit, the animal hospital and a Biobank for animal tissues. This will ensure these facilities play an important role in combatting illegal wildlife trade and providing wildlife forensic services.

To enhance income-generating activities, such as the cable car, restaurant and events facilities, we are entering into private public partnerships that will also assist us to improve animal enclosures and the aquarium.

Improving Waste Management

Honourable Members, our country is faced with significant waste management challenges. These include poor landfill practices and sporadic household waste collection as well as unacceptable levels of illegal dumping in many parts of the country.

To support municipalities, our department will focus on improving cleanliness in Mafikeng, Mangaung, Bhisho, and the other Provincial capital towns as part of the re-invigorated Presidential Good Green Deeds programme.

The Expanded Public Works Programme supporting the cleaning and greening initiative by assisting in litter picking in prioritised streets; clearing illegal dumps; planting trees and promoting recycling services.

Their efforts are being complimented by the thirty-two (32) waste enterprises that have been supported to increase recycling of construction and demolition waste, plastic, packaging, and other waste streams.

It is worth noting that over the past two financial years, the Department spent over one hundred and sixty-eight million rand to assist 58 municipalities to purchase the yellow waste collection fleet.

Our Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for paper and packaging, electrical, electronic and lighting sectors have begun the important work of diverting waste from landfill sites.

Last year over one and a half million tons of paper and packing was diverted from landfill through recycling, recovery, and treatment. Nearly nineteen thousand tons of eWaste was diverted from landfills over the same period.

The Department is strengthening compliance and enforcement measures especially against free riders that undermine our collective efforts to address waste management challenges.

The Department’s Recycling Enterprise Support Programme has, in the past six years, supported 56 start-ups and emerging SMMEs and cooperatives operating within the waste sector providing more than R300 million in financial support, creating 1558 jobs and diverting over 200 000 tonnes of waste from landfills.

Marine Living Resources

Our fishing sector is an important contributor to our economy and to the improvement of the lives of our coastal communities. In 2021, the Department received two thousand, four hundred and seventy three (2 473) applications for the allocation of commercial fishing rights across nine fishing sectors. Fishing rights were allocated to 714 rights holders across nine fisheries in February 2022.

The work to complete the 1 213 appeals against the decisions of the delegated authorities in the nine fishing sectors for the 2021/22 Fishing Rights Allocation Process (FRAP) is progressing well.

In April, the appeal decisions in the Demersal Shark Fishery, KwaZulu-Natal Crustacean Trawl Fishery, the South Coast Rock Lobster Fishery and the Traditional Line Fish Fishery were finalised. Finalisation of the squid sector will take place this month. Appeal decisions in the remaining sectors are set for finalisation by 30 October 2023.

With regard to the allocation of small-scale fishing rights for the Western Cape, the Department has rerun the process and the list of successful and unsuccessful applicants were published on 6 March.
We are now in the appeals process and we intend to finalise the allocation of 15-year fishing rights to small-scale fishing communities in the Western Cape by October 2023. This will enable a further 3 500 declared traditional small-scale fishers to directly benefit and participate in the ocean's economy.

Combating Abalone Poaching

I am pleased to announce today that we now have a draft strategy and action plan to combat trade in illegally harvested abalone which is currently in the consultation phase.

The Department is also leading the process of developing Marine Sector Plans as part of the Marine Spatial Planning process. Users of our ocean include individuals, communities, fishers, and the mining sector. Ten draft Marine Sector Plans have been published for public comment with the aim of promoting the co-existence of different sectors.

In an effort to manage competing interests in the marine environment, last year I committed to researching the impact of seismic surveys on the marine environment.

The Department has produced an assessment of international best practice in mitigating impacts of these surveys and are now determining how these can be used on local ocean areas. We are also working with the Petroleum Agency of SA and the Council for Geo Science to map historic records of seismic surveys to determine if any impact was observed during these previous surveys.
Climate Change and Air Quality

Honourable members, the published Sixth-Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, confirms the world has already warmed at an unprecedented rate and that Africa is already experiencing widespread losses and damage due to climate change.

Our country’s mitigation and adaptation architecture are at an advanced stage: we have developed the Sectoral Emission Targets that outline emission reduction goals for key sectors of the economy. We are now engaging line departments to determine the fair allocations of targets.

With respect to Carbon Budget allocation, Cabinet has approved a methodological framework to determine emissions allocation to industrial sectors for the 2023-2027 mandatory commitment period.

Parallel to this process, the Department is also developing Carbon Budget regulations that will also address the submission and processing of climate change mitigation plans to be submitted by industry.

On the adaptation front, we continue to roll out our local government support programme. In addition to assisting 44 district municipalities to develop their climate change plans we are now working with 9 provinces to review their existing climate change plans and align with the draft Climate Change Bill that parliament is currently finalising.

The South African Weather Service is in the process of automating and modernising its observations infrastructure. This includes upgrades to mitigate the effect load shedding is having on our data collection process. Increased collection and accuracy of data will ensure we can warn the public of extreme weather events in good time, saving lives and livelihoods.

We also promised through last year’s budget speech that we are working on the regulations for implementing and enforcing priority area air quality management plans. I am pleased to indicate that we have now published these regulations for public comment.

As our country faces severe load shedding, I am happy to share with you today that in our Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) section there is a project pipeline of 9789 Megawatts for renewable energy applications.

This is made up of 2899 Megawatts for Solar PV, 6890 for wind energy facilities and many of these applications include battery energy storage systems and associated transmission and distribution infrastructure. We are working hard to cut the red tape and get these projects finalised and in this regard, we have reduced our decision making timeframes from 107 days to 57 days.

Grid capacity is a major constraint to scaling up the energy transition and that is a view across the board with consensus from stakeholders, government, business, labour, and civil society. Grid capacity is a national priority to solve, not only for our transition needs but also for our short-term emergency to solve load-shedding. We have fifteen EIA applications relating to transmission and distribution infrastructure which we are also prioritising for decision-making.

Honourable members, in recent times concern has been expressed that as we battle load shedding, we are considering delays in decommissioning aging coal-fired power stations. Government is clear that we must battle both load shedding and climate change. It is not a one or the other decision.

Current modelling will advise how we balance our decommissioning schedule so we can achieve energy security within the context of our climate change commitments and air quality improvement.

Honourable house chair,

As I conclude our last budget vote speech for the sixth administration, allow me to borrow the words articulated by the first environmentalist and African woman to receive a Noble Laureate, Wangari Maathai who said, “I’m very conscious of the fact that you can’t do it alone. It’s teamwork. When you do it alone you run the risk that when you are no longer there, nobody else will do it.”

Let me thank our team who has worked so hard to enhance our environmental obligations: Honourable Modise and the Portfolio Committee for their consistent oversight; the scientific experts and stakeholders who advise me on many complex environmental matters; my wonderful Deputy Minister, Ms Makhotso Sotyu; our Director General Ms Nomfundo Tshabalala; Team DFFE which includes over 3327 officials throughout the country, the Board members and CEOs of SAWS, Isimangaliso, SANBI and Sanparks for all their dedication to environmental matters, and the sustainable use of our country’s natural resources.

I thank you.