The 6th People & Parks Conference was held on the 9th of September in uMthatha, Eastern Cape this year. The Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Mrs Edna Molewa said, “We have come a long way on our journey of aligning conservation objectives with the needs of communities who are directly affected and impacted by these same initiatives.” Somkhanda Community Game Reserve is one of these initiatives which the Wildlands Conservation Trust is proud to be an integral part of.
“[One such] success story is that of the community-owned Somkhanda Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal – run and engaged in partnership by the Gumbi Community, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, and the Wildlands Conservation Trust,” said Molewa.
Wildland’s has received support for this project from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) through their Green Fund “Farming the Wild” programme, which aims to assist the rural communities of KwaGumbi in KwaZulu-Natal through the establishment of the Somkhanda Community Game Reserve, and the Usuthu Gorge Community Conservation Area of the Mathenjwa community.
“The building of conservation economies in rural areas of our country is critical, not only for the conservation of our natural resources, but also to focus on the upliftment of the communities who rely on these natural resources. Wildlands acknowledges the forward thinking of the Minister and the Department through the People and Parks programme, in their pursuit of sustainable development strategies – a vision of integrating local communities into conservation management,” said Kevin McCann, Deputy Director at Wildlands.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)