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4381 comments delivered to the government (closed 5 April 2024)
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The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) released a 48-page plan (the Draft National Biodiversity Economy Strategy) to create integrated “mega landscapes” on land and sea encompassing extensive areas where hunting, bioprospecting and tourism would monetise wild animals and plants for “consumptive use”.
Have your say – shape the Wildlife Plan. [CLOSED]
The proposal is to grow areas under conservation — called mega living conservation landscapes — from 20 million hectares to 34 million hectares by 2040, an area equal to seven Kruger National Parks. Five mega landscapes are suggested, with proposals including:
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- iSimangaliso/Ezemvelo/uMkhanyakude in KwaZulu/Natal;
- Waterberg/Limpopo River/Makapan Valley in Limpopo;
- Lekgalameetse/Wolkberg/Thabina in the Tzaneen area;
- Addo/Camdeboo Corridor and Grasslands National Park in the Eastern Cape;
- North West; and
- Northern Cape.
What happens within the new areas, however, would be nothing like Kruger’s wilderness but would involve “biodiversity business”.
The strategy envisages an increase in the number of Big Five animals available for fair-chase trophy hunting, an expansion of recreational and traditional hunting, wild meat harvesting and fishing, and the increased use of indigenous plants, and of insects for food.
“Consumptive use” of wild animals within these landscapes is predicted by the plan to increase from R4.6-billion to R27.6-billion by 2036, bioprospecting and plant trade from R1.85-billion to R11.6-billion and marine and freshwater exploitation to rise by 10% a year. This represents a massive monetisation of South Africa’s wild ecosystems.
Executive Summary
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