Effective conservation takes knowledge, foresight, patience, cooperation and most importantly individual responsibility. This is what is at the core of KZN Biodiversity Stewardship Programme, championed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) and launched recently at the Botanical Gardens in Pietermaritzburg. The programme aims to protect vital ecosystems and threatened species by securing stewardship agreements with landowners who own property in priority conservation area’s around the province.
Eighty percent of land that is important to biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal does not lie within protected areas. This means that many of the six thousand species of animals and plants that make KZN a ‘biodiversity hot spot’ are under threat. (Conservation International describes biodiversity hotspots as “the richest and most threatened reservoirs of plant on animal life on Earth”, http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org) Many of these priority conservation area’s fall within private and communal owned land and this is where individual responsibility comes in. The new initiative encourages landowners within the province to become partners with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife in applying the stewardship principles on their land and to take responsibility for the protection of their particular assets. There are various options for landowners and EKZNW offers numerous incentives including financial and advisory contributions.
The programme is supported by the KZN Dept of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (DEAT) and a number of conservation NGO’s including the Hilton-based Wildlands Conservation Trust as well as Conservation International, WWF-SA, the Botanical Society of South Africa and others. Programme Manager, Mr Kevin McCann spoke of the importance of these cooperative partnerships for the success of the programme “With the significant task ahead of us in securing critical biodiversity in the province, we rely heavily on partnering with landowners and other conservation organisations, bringing our own skills and value in order to achieve a common goal’.
Since the start of the two-year pilot phase of the process (this is where patience must be applied) nine sites have been piloted, including five area’s within two hours of Pietermaritzburg. This will secure more than 30 000ha of land, which although this is only a little over 1% of the total targeted, it includes the protection of seven vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered vegetation types and threatened species such as Blue Swallow, Wattled Crane, Long-toed Tree Frog, Wild Dog, Black Rhino and Oribi antelope. So there is a long way to go but seeing that our children will surely benefit from this programmes foresight, and ecosystem services provided by natural systems in KZN are worth approximately R151 billion annually, I’d say its worth the effort.
For more information visit www.kznwildlife.com or contact the KZN Biodiversity Stewardship Programme Manager Kevin McCann on 033 845 1805, or on email at mccannk@kznwildlife.com.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)