MTC Thematic Area Rural Livelihoods
Eco-‐Tourism Insurance for the future
Statement from LEDET Strategic Plan available water supply.” “The biodiversity of Limpopo is a strategic resource. It provides the livelihood for many rural households which include material for shelter, fire, wood, medicinal plants and food.” “The growing ecotourism industry also relies on the biodiversity of Limpopo.” “With appropriate policies and management the untapped wealth of the province can be converted into sustainable income through activities that capture the value of resource utilization.”
10 Building Compelling Arguments in Support of Protected Areas Nationally and in Limpopo we have excellent science telling us where the priority areas are for protected area expansion, incorporating meeting biodiversity targets for terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems as well as climate change resilience. We have a national strategy that is widely endorsed (NPAES), with clear protected area targets. The current LPAES project is aimed at giving effect to the national guideline and is backed by sound quantitative analysis and stakeholder engagement. We estimate that buying all the land required to meet the Limpopo 20-‐year PA target would cost about R15 billion. This is not an exorbitant amount compared to what the government is investing in infrastructure development (In 2014: R1trn over the past five years and R847bn over the next three years) or other large economic developments in this country. It needs to be remembered that this investment will unlock an estimated 40 times more economic benefit for Limpopo compared to if this money was invested in the mining sector! But we don’t even have to buy all the land – there are many other mechanisms we can use (to be explored in the LPAES) such as biodiversity stewardship and offsets provide the opportunity to leverage private investment in this provincial asset. On a relative scale we are talking about a small state investment with multiple spin-‐off benefits for current and future generations. How do we get from just us understanding the importance of the LPAES to the broader government and public in Limpopo understanding this? Making the Case for PAs is not just about compiling a list of arguments and data that demonstrates the importance of PAs to society. This information needs to be translated into a living MTC Strategy that is incorporated into LEDET’s Strategic Development Plan and used by LEDET to build broad-‐ based support for PAs in the province. This support will be essential if the full environmental, social and economic opportunities of Limpopo’s PAN are to be fully realised. Central to the MTC Strategy is the need to translate the essentially qualitative or descriptive arguments listed here into workable economic models. In order to unlock the economic potential of the PAN these arguments have to be developed into viable business cases and economic models for PAN development. How do we build a MTC strategy? What does LEDET need to put in place over the 3-‐year LPAES implementation strategy to help begin to realise the full ecological, economic and social potential of the provincial PAN? Some elements of a MTC Strategy include: 1. Who should LEDET be partnering with?
Limpopo Protected Area Expansion Strategy: Making the Case
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