Legal Framework for Protected Areas: South Africa
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Legal Framework for Protected Areas: South Africa Alexander Ross Paterson* Information concerning the legal instruments discussed in this case study is current as of 1 January 2009. * Associate Professor, Public Law Department, Institute of Marine and Environmental Law, University of Cape Town. 1 South Africa Abstract This case study considers South Africa’s contemporary protected areas regime, as principally reflected in the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act 2003. It commences with a discussion of the key challenges which compelled the government to rethink its approach to protected areas including: poor conservation planning; the adoption of an exclusionary approach to conservation; exceedingly fragmented institutional and legislative frameworks; inconsistent declaration and protection procedures; inadequate management procedures; and resource constraints. The analysis then turns to discuss the key components of the nation’s contemporary protected areas regime and considers the manner in which it seeks to overcome many of these challenges through the prescription of clear and comprehensive procedures for: identifying and declaring areas worthy of conservation; incorporating, within a hierarchical structure of protected areas, state, communal and private land; enabling state, communal and private landowners to manage these areas; providing incentives to private and communal landowners contracting land into, or managing, protected areas; and enabling various forms of community-based natural resource management within and adjacent to protected areas. IUCN-EPLP No. 81 2 South Africa Contents Acronyms and abbreviations ........................................................................................................... 4 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 2 Summary of the challenges facing protected areas in South Africa ............................... 6 2.1 Poor conservation planning ....................................................................................... 6 2.2 Exclusionary approach to conservation ..................................................................... 7 2.3 ‘Non-cooperative’ governance .................................................................................. 7 2.4 Inconsistent declaration and protection procedures ................................................. 8 2.5 Management conundrums ......................................................................................... 9 2.6 Resource constraints ................................................................................................. 10 3 Dissecting South Africa’s contemporary protected areas framework ............................ 10 3.1 Scope of the legal framework .................................................................................... 10 3.2 Policy and planning regime ........................................................................................ 14 3.3 Institutional frameworks ............................................................................................. 17 3.4 Forms of protected areas ........................................................................................... 20 3.5 Establishment, amendment and abolishment of protected areas ............................. 21 3.5.1 Establishing protected areas ......................................................................... 21 3.5.2 Raising resources to acquire private land and land rights ............................. 23 3.5.3 Amending and abolishing protected areas .................................................... 24 3.6 Management regime .................................................................................................. 25 3.6.1 Management authorities ................................................................................ 25 3.6.2 Management plans ........................................................................................ 25 3.6.3 Co-management agreements ........................................................................ 26 3.6.4 Cooperative and integrated management planning ...................................... 26 3.6.5 Management accountability ........................................................................... 28 3.6.6 Buffer zones and connectivity corridors ........................................................ 28 3.6.7 Assessment of the new management regime ............................................... 29 3.7 Regulation of activities ............................................................................................... 31 3.8 Community-based natural resource management .................................................... 32 3.9 Enforcement ............................................................................................................... 33 3.10 Penalties .................................................................................................................... 35 3.11 Incentives ................................................................................................................... 35 3.12 Financial resources .................................................................................................... 36 3.13 Measures to promote coordination and cooperative governance ............................. 38 4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 41 References ........................................................................................................................................ 43 3 IUCN-EPLP No. 81 South Africa Acronyms and abbreviations DEAT Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism EIA environmental impact assessment EMI environmental management inspector GG Government Gazette GN Government Notice GNR Government Notice Regulation IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature MEC Minister of the Executive Council NEMA National Environmental Management Act SANBI South African National Biodiversity Institute SANParks South African National Parks IUCN-EPLP No. 81 4 South Africa 1 Introduction Protected areas have been used for decades in South Africa as a valuable tool for conserving the 1 nation’s natural and cultural heritage. Currently, approximately 6 per cent of the terrestrial environment and 20 per cent of the marine environment is incorporated in over 400 terrestrial and 23 marine protected areas.1 Notwithstanding its protracted and extensive use, numerous flaws were identified in the legal framework that provided for the identification, declaration and management of the majority of these areas: divided administrative responsibilities; a profusion of laws; the lack of coordination; outdated regulatory approaches; inadequate planning; insufficient resource allocation; and a failure to link conservation imperatives with the needs of local inhabitants.2 These flaws significantly undermined the effective functioning of South Africa’s protected areas regime. In an attempt to overcome these challenges, the South African government overhauled the country’s 2 national conservation regime towards the beginning of 2003. One of the new laws to emerge from this reform process was the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act 2003.3 The express objectives of the Protected Areas Act reflect a clear attempt to overcome the above challenges and give effect to the government’s commitments under various international environmental instruments of relevance to protected areas, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Durban Accord and the Durban Action Plan. These objectives include providing a national framework for the declaration and management of protected areas; entrenching cooperative governance; integrating protected areas within broader national planning instruments; providing for a representative network of protected areas on state, private and communal land; promoting the sustainable utilization of protected areas for the benefit of the people; and promoting local community participation in the management of protected areas. This case study focuses on the innovative regime inherent in the Protected Areas Act. It is divided into 3 two main parts. The first part briefly discusses the key challenges which faced, and in many instances continue to face, South Africa’s protected areas regime. This provides the necessary background for the second part, which considers key components of the Protected Areas Act and the extent to which they cumulatively seek to overcome these challenges and provide a more workable and equitable legal framework for South Africa. These components include the scope of the legal framework; policy and planning; establishment, amendment and abolishment; management regimes; regulation of activities; compliance and enforcement; and financing options. Interspersed within the latter analysis are a number of examples, presented in boxes, illustrating how South Africa’s conservation authorities have sought to give practical effect to the nation’s new protected areas regime. Owing to the relative novelty of the protected areas framework, these examples are somewhat sporadic and are predominantly drawn from generic national initiatives and developments in the Western Cape Province, which has during the course of the last few years arguably taken the lead in ‘experimenting’ with the implementation of the new protected areas