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10 Building Compelling Arguments in Support of Protected Areas
MTC Thematic Area
Rural Livelihoods
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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.” Eco-Tourism “The growing ecotourism industry also relies on the biodiversity of Limpopo.” Insurance for the future “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.”
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 broadbased 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?
a. A MTC Strategy is applicable to all provinces in South Africa. Many components of the Limpopo MTC Strategy can be applied beyond Limpopo. Working with key partners will spread the workload and ensure messaging is consistent nationally. b. Key partners include SANBI, DEA, South African National Parks, other provincial agencies 2. Identify key or the best MTC arguments to support the LPAES (Figure 4). a. Workshop 1 identified several categories arguments that are most relevant to Limpopo –see Workshop 1 outcomes. b. Arguments can be refined to talk directly to the spatial and thematic priorities identified in the LPAES. 3. Who should LEDET be talking to? (Figure 4) a. Workshop 1 identified a broad range of stakeholders who have an interest in the PAN. b. The pool of potential stakeholder is large therefore, they should be divided into target groups based on, for example, order or priority for engagement (cannot and should not attempt to engage everyone at once); and, nature of support for the LPAES e.g. (administrative enabling, direct financing, co-financing or shared value). 4. Developing the numbers. a. We have a good qualitative grasp of the importance of the PAN. This needs to be (1) supported by quantitative financial research, and (2) translated into tools that partners and investors can use to financially plan and implement the LPAES. 5. Messaging – what do we want to tell people? a. It is useful here to have an accepted messaging framework. b. Messaging will be different for different target groups.
Some suggestions for inclusion in the LPAES MTC Strategy from the LPAES Workshop 1 (05-03-2014) were: • The Making the Case for PAs should not be seen as static. Building support for or marketing PAs and developing their role in the Green Economy is an on-going process. Therefore MTC should be viewed as a core LEDET activity or process rather than a product such as this report.
Research, development and review of the Limpopo MTC should be on-going. Therefore, it is recommended that “Making the Case” should be an activity component in the 3-5 implementation strategy as well as incorporated into LEDET Biodiversity Section and LTA KPAs. • Whilst we have made mostly qualitative arguments here in support of protected areas we need to generate a better understanding of why current protected areas are not delivering the economic benefits promised. As part of the future MTC work program we need to understand the underlying reasons and lessons for the successes and failures in unlocking the economic benefits of protected areas in the province and South Africa. • Related to the previous point is developing the institutional (e.g. greater investment in management capacity/effectiveness for our current protected area network) and economic models (e.g. public/private partnerships) necessary to effectively unlock the economic potential of protected areas.
