3 Key Objective for Making the Case for PAs in Limpopo

Box 1: What are Protected Areas?

Protected areas are areas of land or sea that are formally protected by law and managed mainly for biodiversity conservation. Protected areas recognised in the Protected Areas Act are considered formal protected areas in the NBA. The same definition is used in South Africa’s National Protected Area Expansion Strategy (NPAES) 2008. The Protected Areas Act sets out several categories of protected areas: Special Nature Reserves, National Parks, Nature Reserves and Protected Environments. It also recognises World Heritage Sites, Marine Protected Areas, Specially Protected Forest Areas and Mountain Catchment Areas, all of which are declared in terms of other legislation. In the NBA and the NPAES we distinguish between land-based protected areas, which may protect both terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity features, and marine protected areas. Protected areas declared in terms of the Protected Areas Act need not be owned and managed by the state. A protected area can be declared on private or communal land, with the landowner recognised as the management authority. This provision has enabled the development of biodiversity stewardship programmes, in which conservation authorities enter into contract agreements with private and communal landowners. The landowner agrees to restrictions on use of the land in return for formal protected area status, an exclusion from property rates, and possible income tax benefits. The conservation authority provides technical advice and management assistance; however, the primary responsibility for management remains with the landowner. Contract protected areas are playing an increasingly important role in protected area expansion—see Chapter 4 for more on this. It is important to differentiate protected areas from conservation areas. Conservation areas are areas of land not formally protected by law but informally protected by the current owners and users and managed at least partly for biodiversity conservation. Because there is no long-term security associated with conservation areas, they are not considered a strong form of protection. Conservation areas are not considered in the analysis of ecosystem protection levels in the NBA. The IUCN defines a protected area as a clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values. This is a broader definition than the one used in the NBA and the NPAES, as it includes areas that are not legally protected and that we would define in South Africa as conservation areas rather than protected areas.

3 Key Objective for Making the Case for PAs in Limpopo

The LEDET is legally mandated to conserve the provinces biodiversity assets. The provinces protected area network and the effective management thereof is the primary vehicle whereby the province strives to achieve this mandate. To ensure that LEDET is successfully able to fulfil this mandate it needs to: 1. Secure political buy-in and generate broad based political support for investment in PAs in the province; 2. Put in place policies and strategies to enable more effective private sector participation 3. Unlock state and private financial and human resources to ensure sufficient funds are available for protected area expansion and management; 4. Understand the various trade offs that need to be made within the province in relation to competing land use types and budget allocations; and, 5. Build multi-sector support through demonstrating shared value.