Biodiversity Stewardship
Guidelines
24 November 2009
Biodiversity Stewardship Guideline Document – 24 November 2009
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GUIDELINEDOCUMENTBASICS
TableofContents
1Background
1.1Biodiversity Stewardship South Africa
1.2Stewardship Defined
1.3Biodiversity Stewardship Principles
2Legal Framework
2.1Background legislation
2.2The National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (Act 10 of 2004)
2.2.1Planning tools provided for in the Biodiversity Act
2.3The National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (Act 57 of 2003)
2.3.1Categories of protected area in the Act
2.3.2Key elements in relation to National Parks / Nature Reserves
2.3.3Key elements in relation to Protected Environments
2.3.4Incentives to encourage landowners in National Parks, Nature Reserves and Protected Environments
2.3.5Key elements in relation to other protected areas
3Institutional Framework
3.1Institutional Objectives
3.2Implementation through co-operative governance
3.3Institutional Models
4Stewardship Procedural Framework
4.1Biodiversity Stewardship Priority Areas
4.1.1National biodiversity Priority Areas
4.1.2Provincial and local biodiversity priority areas
4.1.3Prioritising biodiversity stewardship implementation within biodiversity priority areas
4.2Implementation Procedure
4.2.1PHASE 1 – Initiation of landowner/user interactions
4.2.2PHASE 2 – Biodiversity and socio-economic institutional assessments
4.2.3PHASE 3a – Contract negotiation and draft management plan development
4.2.4PHASE 3b – Site approval and cost analysis
4.2.5PHASE 4 - MEC submission and formal declaration
4.2.6PHASE 5 – Provide support to the protected area and perform annual auditing
5Stewardship within SANParks
6Land Reform and Stewardship on Communal Lands
7Biodiversity Stewardship Categories
7.1Conservation Area
7.2Biodiversity Management Agreement
7.3Protected Environment
7.4Nature Reserve
8Incentives
8.1Statutory Fiscal Incentives
8.1.1Biodiversity Management Agreements
8.1.2Protected Environments
8.1.3Nature Reserves and National Parks
8.2Discretionary Incentives
8.3Beneficiation agreement
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Tables
Table 1.1: Principles of Biodiversity Stewardship
Table 1.1: Kinds of protected areas as per NEM:PAA
Table 3.1: DEA Roles and Responsibilities
Table 2.2: Actions required for biodiversity stewardship to succeed
Table 4.1: Biodiversity Stewardship implementation procedure
Table 5.1: Conservation Area defined
Table 5.2: Biodiversity Management Agreement defined
Table 5.3: Protected Environment defined
Table 5.4: Nature Reserve defined
Figures
Figure 3.1: Basic institutional model for a provincial biodiversity stewardship programme
Figure 4.1: Criteria for identifying stewardship priority sites.
Figure 5.1: Stewardship Categories
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Biodiversity Stewardship Guideline Document – 24 November 2009
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Appendices
Appendix ABiodiversity site assessment form
Appendix B Stewardship category review criteria
Appendix CPro forma contracts
Appendix C1 – Biodiversity Management Agreements
Appendix C2 – Nature Reserves (Whole)
Appendix C3 - Nature Reserves (Portion)
Appendix C4 - Protected Environments (Whole)
Appendix C5 - Management Agreement Nature Reserve (whole)
Appendix C6 - Management Agreement Nature Reserve (Portion)
Appendix C7 – Management Agreement Protected Environment
Appendix DConservation area registration form
Appendix EPro forma Biodiversity Management Plan
Appendix FExamples of public participation notice & proclamation
Appendix GProcess Checklist
Appendix HComparison of different stewardship levels
Appendix IPossible incentives and support for stewardship sites
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Abbreviations
BotSocBotanical Society of South Africa
BSSABiodiversity Stewardship South Africa
BMABiodiversity Management Agreement
CBNRMCommunity-Based Natural Resource Management
CDPConcept Development Plan
CREWCustodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers
DAFFDepartment of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
DEANational Department of Environmental Affairs
DRDLRDepartment of Rural Development and Land Reform
DPWDepartment of Public Works
DWADepartment of Water Affairs
EEEnvironmental Education
EIAEnvironmental Impact Assessment
EKZNWEzemvelo KZN Wildlife
EPWPExpanded Public Works Program
FPA Fire Protection Association
GIS Geographical Information Systems
I&APInterested and Affected Parties
IASInvasive alien species
IDPIntegrated Development Plan
IEMIntegrated Environmental Management
IMPIntegrated Management Plan
KPAKey Performance Area
MECMember of the Executive Council
MOManagement Objective
MOUMemorandum of Understanding
NEMNational Environmental Management (Act)
NHSNatural Heritage Site
NLPNational LandCare Programme
NGONon-Governmental Organization
NEMPAANational Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (57 of 2003)
NEMBANational Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (10 of 2004)
NRNature Reserve
PAProtected Area
PAMPProtected Area Management Plan
PEProtected Environment
PGDPProvincial Growth and Development Plan
PNRPrivate Nature Reserve
PPPPublic Private Partnership
ROC Regional Operations Committee
RSARepublic of South Africa
SANBISouth Africa National Biodiversity Institute
SANParksSouth African National Parks
SAHRASouth African Heritage Resources Agency
SDFSpatial Development Framework
SKEPSucculent Karoo Ecosystem Plan
SMPStrategic Management Plan
SoCSSites of Conservation Significance
STEPSubtropical Ecosystem Planning Project
SUPARSustainable Utilization and Protection of Agricultural Resources (Bill)
WfWWorking for Water
WoFWorking on Fire
WWFSA Worldwide Fund for Nature
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1Background
South Africa faces critical challenges relating to the need to protect our unique and highly diverse natural environment, as well as implementing programmes and policies that seek to address the inequalities and injustices that the majority of South Africans were subjected to in the recent past.
South Africa is one of the most biodiversity-rich countries in the world, with much valuable biodiversity situated on privately owned or communal[1] land. Our biodiversity is under great pressure, with loss of natural habitat (as a result of, for example, urban and agricultural expansion) one of the major causes of biodiversity loss. Considering that a vast proportion of South Africa’s most threatened ecosystems are on private or communal land, it has been recognised that in order to effectively conserve the country’s biodiversity, biodiversity conservation efforts must be expanded to include areas outside of the current state-owned reserves and parks.
The primary goal of biodiversity stewardship is to secure biodiversity features of both immediate and long-term value through voluntary agreements with private and communal landowners/users. In many cases the rationale for encouraging conservation on private land is to conserve biodiversity in threatened ecosystems, where habitat loss is an ever-present threat. Habitat loss can often be most effectively tackled by spending effort on securing these sites.
The National Protected Area Expansion Strategy (NPAES), recently adopted by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), sets protected area targets for South Africa, provides maps of focus areas for protected area expansion, and makes recommendations on mechanisms for protected area expansion. The two main mechanisms identified for expanding the land-based protected area network are acquisition of land, and contract agreements with private and communal landowners/users developed through biodiversity stewardship programmes. It is neither desirable nor financially feasible for government to purchase all the land identified as high priority for meeting protected area targets or as threatened ecosystems. The NPAES recommends that contract agreements through biodiversity stewardship programmes should play an increasingly important role in protected area expansion.
Biodiversity stewardship thus plays a central role in the implementation of the NPAES and the achievement of South Africa’s protected area targets. It can also play a critical role in securing threatened ecosystems, in most of which establishment of large traditional state-owned protected areas is no longer feasible. Biodiversity stewardship provides a cost-effective mechanism for government to carry out its conservation mandate and achieve biodiversity and protected area targets.
The importance of biodiversity stewardship is recognised in the National Biodiversity Framework, recently adopted by the DEA, which identifies the establishment and strengthening of provincial biodiversity stewardship programmes as one of 33 priority actions for biodiversity conservation in South Africa over the period 2008 to 2013.
1.1Biodiversity Stewardship Programme
Biodiversity stewardship has been implemented in South Africa over the past several years and in that time has gained importance as a key mechanism to secure priority biodiversity on land outside of state-owned protected areas. The development and implementation of biodiversity stewardship programmes has occurred from the bottom up, through partnerships between landowners, conservation NGOs and conservation agencies, mainly in the Western Cape (through CapeNature)[2]and KZN (through Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife).
Much has been learnt by the establishment and success of these two provincial programmes, but the Biodiversity Stewardship Programme is still in evolution. As such, the need was recognised for a coherent agreed national framework with clear policies, approaches, norms and standards, still allowing for appropriate flexibility at the provincial level.
The Biodiversity Stewardship Programme (BSP) is an initiative of DEA in partnership with key conservation organisations, and aims to provide provinceswith a consistent, national, landscape-scale approach to stewardship through the development of guidelines for biodiversity stewardship implementation. A memorandum of agreement signed between DEA and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) soon after the establishment of the BSP, saw EWT as the coordinator of the BSP for the first two phases of the initiative.
1.2StewardshipDefined
Biodiversity stewardship recognises landowners/users as custodians of their land, including the biodiversity and natural recourses. It is a mechanism that promotes and supports the wise use and management of natural resources and biodiversity, and the ecosystem services they provide, through the form of voluntary legal agreements with private and communal landowners/users. Biodiversity stewardship sites contribute to protected area and/or biodiversity targets by securing biodiversity features of both immediate and long-term value.
1.3Biodiversity Stewardship Principles
Various principles for biodiversity stewardship have been identified. These principles ensure the integrity and effective implementation of biodiversity stewardship programmes.
Table1.1:PrinciplesofBiodiversityStewardship
PRINCIPLESOFBIODIVERSITYSTEWARDSHIP- The biodiversity outcomes are critical. Decision to invest in sites must be based on the biodiversity value of the land, not on ownership, political affiliation or economic status.
- Focus on biodiversity priority areas. Using systematic biodiversity planning products, the biodiversity stewardship programme efforts must focus only on high priority biodiversity areas, so as to ensure the best use of limited capacity and resources.
- Site security – In order to maximise use of limited resources and guarantee ongoing conservation, high biodiversity value land must be secured through formal agreements and legal contracts. Relative to the biodiversity value of the property, every effort should be made to secure the highest possible category for a given site.
- Voluntary commitment. Biodiversity stewardship agreements are voluntary commitments between landowners/users and conservation agencies, and can only be used when the landowner/user is willing to enter into an agreement. Landowners/users are custodians of the land and as such will continue to be the key users and managers of the land.
- Understand and acknowledge Landowner’s needs. The implementing agency must endeavour to understand the landowner’s needs, issues and motivations for conservation. During contract negotiations, every effort should be made to accommodate these, whilst ensuring effective conservation management of the property in question, and without compromising the resources of the Programme or the integrity of the relevant biodiversity stewardship category.
- Ensure ongoing landowner support. Once biodiversity stewardship agreements are in place, the conservation authorities and its programme partners must ensure that there is sufficient capacity and resources to provide ongoing support to the relevant landowners.
- Co-operative governance and partnerships. It is important to adopt a landscape-scale approach when implementingbiodiversity stewardship, where cooperation across properties is necessary for effectiveconservation management. In addition, the conservation authority will not be acting in isolation and therefore may need to forge partnerships or practice co-operation with various other governmental agencies, NGOs, landowners, companies, etc.
2LegalFramework
Various pieces of legislation provide the framework for implementation of biodiversity stewardship programmes. This section provides a brief overview of relevant provisions in the most directly relevant laws.
2.1Background legislation
Environmental rights are provided for in Section 24 of the Bill of Rights within the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996). Section 24 affords all citizens the right to an environment that is not harmful to their wellbeing, and that is protected for “the benefit of present and future generations...” It is on these grounds that a constitutional duty is placed on the State (and all spheres of government therein) to take reasonable steps, in their current functions as well as future plans, to prevent environmental degradation, promote conservation and ensuring sustainable development.
The National Environmental Management Act (Act 107 of 1998) (NEMA) was created to provide the legal framework that aims to ensure that all people within South Africans have their constitutional environmental rights realised. NEMA, together with the Constitution, prepared the way for a suite of environmental legislation including the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (Act 57 of 2003) and the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (Act 10 or 2004), which are key to biodiversity stewardship programmes.
2.2The National Environmental Management:BiodiversityAct(Act10of2004)
TheNational Environmental Management: BiodiversityAct (NEMBA) (developed in response toSouthAfrica’sratificationoftheConventiononBiologicalDiversity and the subsequent National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan) provides adedicatedplanninginstrumenttocovervariousaspectsofbiodiversity.Various planning tools arecateredfor,providingforbothspatialandstrategicmanagementplanning.
2.2.1Planningtoolsprovided for intheBiodiversityAct
Various tools identified in NEMBA are aimed atassisting provincial authorities and conservation agencies with identifying biodiversity priorities and addressing possible threats to biodiversity. From a stewardship perspective, it is important to use these tools toget a clearer understanding of where the biodiversity priorities are situated, thus enabling limited recourses to be allocated efficiently. The following tools are identified:
- National Biodiversity Framework (NBF) – a medium-term tool that aims to coordinate and align the efforts of various governmental and non-governmental organisations to achieve the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity. As noted earlier, the NBF recognises the establishment and strengthening of provincial biodiversity stewardship programmes as one of 33 priority actions for the period 2008 to 2013.
- Bioregional plans – these are spatial plans that identify critical biodiversity areas at the local or district scale, and provide land-use planning and decision-making guidelines for these critical biodiversity areas. Bioregional plans are published by the Minister or MEC. A Guideline for Bioregional Plans has been gazetted. Biodiversity stewardship is an important tool for securing natural habitat in critical biodiversity areas.
- Biodiversity Management Plans – can be developed for ecosystems, indigenous species or migratory species and are to be submitted to the Minister for approval. Norms and standards for Biodiversity Management Plans for Species have been gazetted.
- Biodiversity Management Agreements – an agreement entered into by the Minister and the responsible person, organisation or organ of state with regard to the implementation of a biodiversity management plan. With delegation of signing BMAs to provincial level, BMAs will be a key tool for implementing biodiversity stewardship agreements.
- Listing Threatened and Protected Ecosystems–to provide protection to, and maintain integrity of, threatened or protected ecosystems. Biodiversity stewardship is an important tool for securing remaining natural habitat in threatened ecosystems.
- Listing Threatened and Protected Species - to provide protection to, and ensure survival in the wild of, threatened or protected species. List published 21 February 2007.
- Control and enforcement of species and organisms posing a potential threat to biodiversity – to minimise the harm on biodiversity and ecosystems by alien and invasive species, by identifying such species, restricting activities regarding them and enforcing duty of care for management of these species.
2.3The National Environmental Management:ProtectedAreasAct(Act57of2003)
TheNational Environmental Management: ProtectedAreas Act(NEMPAA)createsaframeworkfor the declaration and management of protected areas while providing for co-operative governance.The Act further aims to provide a representative network of protected areas on state, private and communal land, while promoting the sustainable utilisation of protected areas for human benefit without losing the ecological character of the area. Additionally the Act encourages local community participation in the management of protected areas and aims to balance the relationships between environmental biodiversity, human settlement and economic development. Thus NEMPAA establishes the legal platform for biodiversity stewardshipand is essential for achieving biodiversity objectives.
2.3.1CategoriesofprotectedareaintheAct
ThetablebelowsetsoutthedifferentcategoriesofprotectedareaunderNEMPAA.
Table1.1:ProtectedareasinNEMPAA
Protected area type / Declared by / Level of management control / Management authoritySpecial Nature Reserve / Minister / Highest / Any suitable person, organisation or organ of state
National Park / Minister / High / SANParks
Nature Reserve / Minister or MEC / High / Any suitable person, organisation or organ of state
Protected Environment / Minister or MEC / Lowest - land use controlled / Any suitable person, organisation or organ of state
World Heritage Sites / Requirements as per World Heritage Convention Act (Act 49 of 1999)
Marine Protected Areas / Requirements as per Marine Living Resources Act (Act 18 of 1998)
Protected Forest Area / Requirements as per National Forests Act (Act 84 of 1998)
Mountain Catchment Areas / Requirements as per Mountain Catchment Areas Act (Act 63 of 1970)
The two categories most applicable to biodiversity stewardship programmes are the “nature reserve” and “protected environment” categories, as they allow for a landowner to be the management authority of a protected area which is formally recognised in terms of NEMPAA.
NEMPAA provides requirements which an area should fulfil in order to be declared a nature reserve or a protected environment. These requirements are set out below and should be interpreted with the provisions of section 17, namely the Purpose of Protected Areas.
- In terms of section 23 (2) of NEMPAA, an area may be only be declared a nature reserve:
a)a) to supplement the system of national parks in South Africa;
b)b) to protect the area if the area:
(i) has significant natural features or biodiversity;
(ii) is of scientific, cultural, historical, or archaeological interest; or
(iii) is in need of long-term protection for the maintenance of its biodiversity or the provision of environmental goods and services.
c)to provide for a sustainable flow of natural products and services to meet he needs of a local community;