Land restitution ‘Indaba’ reaches new frontiers for community conservation

It is also however providing an opportunity to reach new frontiers in conservation management and community development. In a landmark gathering at Queen Elizabeth Park, (Pietermaritzburg) over thirty community and formal conservation representatives met recently to discuss the issues around land claim settlements and the subsequent co-management of the conservation areas these claims affect. The Wildlands Conservation Trust facilitated the 2-day workshop as part of a WWF-SA Nedbank Green Trust funded initiative to support conservation-based land restitution in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Commission of the Restitution of Land Rights, borne out of the (interim) constitution of 1993, gives communities and individuals (or their descendants), who were dispossessed of their rights to land in terms of racially discriminatory laws or practices, the right to claim restitution against the State. Where the claim is merited the land is either ‘restored’ (returned) to the claimant, or the claimant is compensated with either alternative state owned land or monetary compensation. In KZN alone there are approximately 470 claims on conservation based land which represents 33 claims on protected areas and 80% of privately owned conservation-based land. Land claims have already been settled in the Hluhluwe iMfolozi corridor section, Tembe Elephant Park, Ndumo Game Reserve, Itala Game Reserve and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (World Heritage Site).

The land claim process is a complicated and time consuming one and the workshop addressed some of the issues and frustrations communities are faced with. Community representatives who had already settled their claims were able to guide and advise those who were still involved in the process . “Conversations went into the night” said Nathi Gumbi, one of the workshop facilitators, “and it helped people gain clarity on the roles each party plays in the process” he said. Mr Gumbi is a representative of the Gumbi tribal authority who have already successfully settled a 25 000 ha claim with the help of the Wildlands Conservation Trust, and are in the process of settling a second.

The main focus of the indaba however was to discuss the challenges and opportunities of co-management. Where restored land is part of an existing conservation area, be it formal or private, the most successful solution, for the claimant (i.e. the community), the previous land-owner (e.g. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife) and for conservation, is likely to be co-management. Questions then arise as to how the area will be managed, who will be employed and how revenue will be allocated and distributed. No co-management agreements have been fully developed yet and the workshop served to create a mutual understanding between parties before this process begins.

“The workshop was very beneficial,” said Sibusiso Bukhosini, Community Conservation Manager for formal conservation body Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, “Problems with co-management are not well understood, even at national level. Although our primary mandate is biodiversity conservation, we have to ask, how do we co-manage [the parks] so that the communities benefit, how do we ensure that the profit covers the costs of conservation management and still benefits the community?’”. “It’s important that NGO’s such as the Wildlands Conservation Trust play a facilitator role – you need a body that does not have a specific interest in either side but has biodiversity conservation as a core focus”.

Wildlands Project Manager and lead facilitator at the workshop, Amon Sithole (dubbed “Miracle Maker” by the Trust’s CEO), explains the way forward: “although we’ve only scheduled this workshop as an annual event it’s clear that there is a lot more that needs to be discussed and we’d like to hold another workshop in three to four months time”, he said. Why Miracle Maker you ask? Well, when you consider that through his patient facilitation, key habitat for black rhino, elephant and wild dog will be saved, key conservation corridors spanning across the province will be secured and at the same time communities around KZN will be providing jobs for their people and learning the value of conservation, you certainly can’t argue.