Key Strategies - South Africa

© Dawit Zeleke / TNC

In this region, invasive plants and the conversion of vegetation to high-intensity agriculture have fragmented natural habitats and impacted natural watersheds, while remaining patches of intact habitat are threatened by urban development. Some highlights of the innovative conservation strategies in the region include incentives for private land stewardship, the Working for Water Programme, and the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative.  

Strategies for Conservation

Though smallest in area of the five regions, the mediterranean portion of South Africa has the greatest percentage of protected land. Still, much of South Africa's high-priority conservation land is privately or communally held. A stewardship model implemented by Cape Nature Conservation and the Botanical Society of South Africa is helping to promote landowner conservation, using mechanisms such as Conservation Areas, Cooperation Agreements and Contract Nature Reserves, where terms and conditions can be adapted specifically for each owner or property. While financial incentives for private landowner stewardship are relatively rare, one such incentive is the Property Rates Bill, which would allow sites that have conservation merit to qualify for property rates rebates, provided that they enter into binding, contractual arrangements with nature conservation authorities. 

The DWAF Working for Water Programmebegan in 1995 and works in partnership with local communities. The program recognizes human well-being as an essential element of environmental conservation. The program offers societal benefits of employment, education, and empowerment of local communities, organized around the control of non-native pest plants and watershed restoration – which in turn provide the ecosystem service benefit of an enhanced water supply. To date, over 300 projects aimed at recruiting women, youth and disabled people have been implemented in all nine provinces of South Africa. More than 1 million hectares of invasive alien plants have been cleared while providing jobs and training to approximately 20,000 people. The Programme has been associated with 44 national and international awards, including the 1996 Best Conservation Project award from the Green Trust/WWF and the first Impumelelo Award for innovation in 1999.  

The Biodiversity and Wine Initiative (BWI) is a partnership between the conservation sector and the wine industry. Centered in the Western Cape, this initiative is aimed at minimizing the loss of threatened habitat and encouraging the incorporation of biodiversity best practices into sustainable wine production. Farmers can become members of the BWI if they have a minimum of two hectares of natural vegetation on their farms (or else pristine wetlands or rivers), donate a percentage of their sales to conservation initiatives, or restore a portion of their land to natural vegetation. The BWI also promotes the biodiversity guidelines of the sustainable production certification scheme Integrated Production of Wine. For winegrowers, being associated with the conservation of the Cape Floral Kingdom has substantial marketing benefits, which provide incentive for engaging with BWI. Three years after its launch in 2004, the initiative has 88 members, with a total of 63,164 ha in natural vegetation committed to conservation, or approximately 63% of the total vineyard “footprint.”