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CAPE NEWS
A New Project Pairs Table Mountain and Reunion Island National Parks
Protecting the ‘Mountains in the Sea’
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SANParks (the public institution managing South Africa’s national parks) and the Agence Française de Dévéloppement (AFD) launched the bipartite agreement between the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) and Reunion Island National Park worth €1.5 million. The agreements were signed at a ceremony attended by Mr Rémy Rioux, Chief Executive Officer of the AFD, and Dr Luthando Dziba of SANParks. The funding is allocated to support park actions that facilitate sharing of knowledge and experiences between South Africa and Reunion Island.
The implementation of this project is part of the co-operation agreement signed on 28 February 2019 in Pretoria (South Africa) between PNR and SANParks. The project will benefit from €1.5 million in financial support from AFD, including €1 212 730 to SANParks and €287 270 to Reunion Island National Park.
“Biodiversity conservation is one of France’s priorities. France hosted the World Conservation
SANPArks, AFD, PNR
Congress in 2021. Through this exemplary regional co-operation project, France is providing concrete support for the preservation of biodiversity in southern Africa and the Indian Ocean,” said Aurélien Lechevallier, Ambassador of France to South Africa.
The project focuses on a territory-to-territory cooperation between Reunion Island National Park (PNR) and Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) in Cape Town. TMNP, nominated as the main project partner, is managed by SANParks, an internationally recognised reference for protected area management. SANParks oversees the management of 67% of the country’s terrestrial protected areas. TMNP covers 25 000ha of natural areas located in the heart of Cape Town, stretching to the tip of the Cape of Good Hope. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004 and is the most visited park in the SANParks network with 5 million visitors per year (pre-pandemic). The PNR was created in 2007 and is a French public institution. Its territory covers 70% of the island’s surface area with a central zone that houses 94%
of the island’s endemic biodiversity. The park attracts around 1 million visitors per year (pre-pandemic) and manages the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The indigenous people of the Cape, the Khoisan, knew Table Mountain as Hoerikwaggo, “the mountain in the sea”. Towering mountains rising immediately adjacent to the ocean are a dramatic and remarkable feature of both parks. Reunion National Park covers 70% of Reunion Island’s surface area, with a central zone that houses 94% of the island’s diverse endemic biodiversity. Both parks have UNESCO World Heritage status and conserve highly diverse ecosystems and cultural heritage sites of great global value. Joint challenges include invasive alien species, illegal plant harvesting, protecting threatened species, climate change and restoring degraded habitats.
Both SANParks and PNR will contribute expertise and collaborate on improving park management. The project will enable new collaboration opportunities with partner research bodies including the University of Reunion, CIRAD and the University of Cape Town.
According to SANParks Acting Chief Executive Officer, Dumisani Dlamini, this peer-to-peer project will allow the teams of the two parks to strengthen their capacity by exchanging experiences around park management. “The main project activities include developing strategic plans and sharing tools for invasive species management, vulnerable species management, fire management and climate change preparedness, training, pilot field interventions, awareness raising activities and joint studies and research.”
Dr Dziba said the expected project impacts include strengthening know-how and skills for the biological control of invasive alien species and associated restoration, for example, integration of new detection tools from aerial images, antipoaching, and analysis of risks. In addition, project outputs will address management of vulnerabilities related to the effects of climate change and its consequences for the territories of PNR and TMNP, governance and dialogue with stakeholders involved in the management and use of the parks, and management of the World Heritage sites.
Ecological Burn – Table Mountain National Park
By Lauren Howard-Clayton
SANParks conducted a prescribed ecological burn in the Lower Tokai section of Table Mountain National Park (TMNP). Approximately 7 hectares of veld has been burnt.
Prescribed burning is conducted under suitable weather conditions and at appropriate time intervals to encourage reproduction and growth in fynbos species and to prevent the build-up of fuel loads. While a number of fuel reduction burns have been conducted in the area, this was the first prescribed burn to take place in the selected block in Lower Tokai.
Fynbos relies on fires every 10 to 15 years. If fynbos doesn’t burn often enough, proteas and other bushes get too old and their reproductive ability declines substantially. But if fynbos burns
Ecological Burn – TMNP
too often, reseeding shrubs can be lost, and resprouting species and alien species can take over.
According to Dr Marna Herbst, SANParks Regional Fire Ecologist, “fire plays a critical role in maintaining the diversity for which the park secured its status as an integral component of the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage Site. Fire is not only a management tool for sustaining the rich diversity of the fynbos biome by returning nutrients to the soil, stimulating regeneration and opening up space for seedlings and bulbs to thrive, timely prescribed burns also reduce the risks that wildfires pose to property and human lives, especially on the wildland-urban interface.”
Thank you to firefighting crews from TMNP, NCC Environmental Services Working on Fire Volunteer Wildfire Services, TMNP Tourism Monitors, and the SANBI Kirstenbosch volunteers.
By Lauren Howard-Clayton
Following months of consultation and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, SANParks published the draft Tokai Cecilia Implementation Plan (TCIP) for public comment in terms of the Tokai Cecilia Management Framework (TCMF) Review Process.
An online information session hosted by SANParks Executives, Acting CEO Mr Dumisani Dlamini, Mr Property Mokoena (Parks) and Dr Luthando Dziba (Conservation Services), highlighted the background and objective of the draft TCIP and outlined projects and programmes earmarked for implementation in the Tokai and Cecilia areas of the Park.
According to Mr Property Mokoena, Managing Executive for Parks, “Publication of the draft TCIP is a key milestone in the TCMF review. It marks the culmination of hundreds of hours of work by our stakeholders and staff. This is reflected in the high quality, large number, breadth and insightfulness of the recommendations we received.”
During phase 2 of the TCMF Review Process SANParks appointed external facilitators, Fixed, to assist the convenors, Prof Wendy Foden and Dr Howard Hendricks, in designing and facilitating focused workshops. These stakeholder-driven workshops involved establishment of seven Working Groups comprising stakeholder and SANParks representatives: fire management, biodiversity conservation, heritage, communications, safety and security, facilities, and health and wellbeing of both people and nature. The groups’ submissions contain a wide range of visions and 300+ proposals for action in the Tokai and Cecilia areas.
Proposals have been individually evaluated and grouped into themes and streamed into strategic actions. Those that align with or can be accommodated within the existing Park Management Plan are incorporated as ‘Programmes’. These include long-term ongoing activities that occur across the wider TMNP as part of normal park operations. Proposals that are area specific and/or project-based and typically involve an upgrade development or a change in use of a site or facility have been incorporated into the draft IP as ‘Projects’.
Plans include development of the Tokai Manor precinct as a visitor and tourism gateway for broadscale recreational activities into the rest of Tokai and the park, and opening of an Arboretum parking area and Lister’s place. Also included are ongoing upgrades to trails and recreational facilities, and a range of actions to improve fire management, safety and security and stakeholder communication. Large-scale alien removal, fynbos restoration and wetland rehabilitation are covered, all of which contribute to the park’s World Heritage Site status. An extension of the MTO forestry plantation lease will be investigated, and trees planted to provide shade in suitable areas for the future. Environmental education and interpretation plans include celebrating the diverse histories and cultural heritage of the area. The invaluable role that volunteers and partnerships are already playing in developing Tokai and Cecilia was gratefully acknowledged.
Mr Dumisani Dlamini, Acting CEO of SANParks said, “Good plans rely on a wide diversity of views and inputs. We’ve engaged with each and every recommendation and believe that this draft plan is a great foundation for management of the Tokai and Cecilia sections of Table Mountain National Park.”
