Community Integration Over Conservation?

Andre Botha GRAA Chairman

Tuesday 20 March saw day two of the annual Game Rangers Association of Africa (GRAA) AGM, this year hosted by iSimangaliso at Cape Vidal. According to keynote speaker Dr Ian Player, the GRAA is the “most important conservation group in Africa” with membership spanning the length of Africa and unequalled intellectual knowledge and experience. St Lucia News was invited to attend the seminar entitled iSimangaliso Wetland Park: Past, Present & Future.

While attendees included members from KZN Wildlife and North West Conservation,
the absence of some 14 SANParks rangers, based at Kruger National Park, was sadly noted, due to the current state of SANParks' affairs.

Dr Ian Player delivering the opening speech

In the opening speech, Dr Ian Player recalled his experiences whilst employed by the Natal Parks Board, the then managers of the wetland park. He remembered having no vehicle except a small boat with a 5 horse power outboard engine in which he motored up and down the estuary, walking elsewhere. Dr Player made mention of the many pans in the wetland park which, as has only recently become the case again, were full of water and played host to many species of water birds, ducks and geese; and he applauded the removal of the final pine tree stump from Eastern Shores. He ended by mentioning the plight of the white rhino and pointed out that this species is currently the “buffer” between poachers and the black rhino. He thanked all game rangers for their hard work in attempting to combat poaching and reitterated his desire to open debate on the legalisation of the trade in rhino horn.

Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) spokesman, Jeff Cowan, focused his talk on the management of South Africa's protected areas, the current ineffectiveness of such, and plans for improvement. The DEA has implemented a number of objectives for the improved management of protected areas through the use of specific methods and tools by which all protected areas' managers and conservation groups must abide in order to achieve realistic conservation goals. These goals include not only the safety of our wildlife but also ensuring the biodiversity of South Africa's protected areas, the effective management of 'buffer zones' surrounding protected areas (in accordance with the Rio Convention) and the monitoring of water usage & quality outside protected areas. The various conservation groups managing South Africa's protected areas currently score a dismal 49% when using a specific tool devised by the World Wildlife Fund to measure the effectiveness of the management of protected areas. It was to the surprise of everyone present that South Africa is amongst the lowest in Africa and, according to the DEA, we are failing dismally when measured against the METT (World Wildlife Fund's tool). Our score of 49% needs to be raised to at least 67% in order for our efforts to be considered “satisfactory”. It is within the remit of the GRAA to monitor the progress of protected areas management through the use of this tool.

Paul Dutton sharing fond memories with conservation counterpart Mdiceni Gumede

iSimangaliso Wetland Park: Past consisted of the recollections of renowned rangers and conservationists including Paul Dutton, a founder member of the GRAA and the organisation's Game Ranger of the Year for 2003. Dutton was stationed in St Lucia and Ndumu before moving on to Mozambique, the Transkei and the Seychelles. Much has been made of Nguni communities having been moved off land within the wetland park, however, Dutton's tribute to the park included his recollection of personally having to remove Boer communities from the area whilst being stationed at the then Greater St Lucia Wetland Park. This act earned the Natal Parks Board the not so affectionate title of “Die Natal Varkeraad”.

Dutton initiated the first research centre in the wetland park, at Charters Creek, and the crux of his research was to measure the flow of fresh water into the lake. It became evident that this was cyclical and dependant on river flow. He noted that during periods of high salinity Talapia, a food source for pelicans, remained in the lake. Although the removal of pine trees from the wetland park enabled the water table to rise, more recently the increased settlement in areas upstream of the estuary complex has brought about the damming of rivers flowing into the lake, for irrigation purposes, which has had a noticeably detrimental effect on the water level of Lake St Lucia. Perhaps the DEA should consider the removal of the big-business owned Eucalyptus plantations in areas surrounding the wetland park in order to allow the water table to rise, further restoring the area to its natural condition.

Reg Gush spoke of 100 years of conservation at Mkuze which, in the words of game ranger Frederic Vaughan-Kirby on investigation of the area, was “well worth being proclaimed” a reserve. Notable happenings in Mkuze's history includes having been run by the Department of Veterinary Services during the eradication of Tsetse Fly, and the unfortunate death of its first re-introduced white rhino in 1961. Mkuze Game Reserve became a popular destination after the erection of its first rustic camp in 1958 which led to more accommodation being built in the 1960s. Gush initiated the reserve's first hide in 1962 which later prompted the addition of the park's current hides.

Anti-mining campaigner Jean Senogles

iSimangaliso Wetland Park would not be in existance today had it not been for the effective anti-mining campaign group in retaliation to mining conglomerates' desire to mine Eastern Shores' dunes. Nolly Zaloumis, wetland park & water bird enthusiast and then Masters student, as well as father of iSimangaliso's current CEO, initiated the campaign with Jean Senogles, teacher and environmental activist. They later joined forces with the Zululand Environmental Alliance (ZEAL). Once Prince Phillip got onboard, thanks to the persistance of Nolly Zaloumis, after 15 years of non-stop campaigning, Judge Leon legally declared St Lucia's dunes safe from mining. The effective anti-mining campaign group had done its job and kept the wetland park safe for future generations to enjoy, not to mention the continued conservation of its flora and fauna.

Past Field Ranger Herbert Nthembu

Summing up iSimangaliso Wetland Park's past was Herbert Nthembu who focused on the field rangers' contribution to the success of the wetland park. Highly critical of today's rangers, Nthembu described the required characteristics of a good field ranger which include a strong personality, dedication, reliability, trustworthiness and, most importantly, discipline. Only a well disciplined ranger can spend days on end tracking through the bush, with only a little water and food, often lying in wait at snare sites for poachers. He added that a good informant system was beneficial to the success of a field ranger.

Mdiceni Gumede, an original field ranger who worked closely with Player & Dutton

Moving on to iSimangaliso Wetland Park: Present & Future, CEO Andrew Zaloumis spoke of the organisation's slogan “develop to conserve” and outlined what was essentially a business model for the park's future. After acknowledging the work of the Natal Parks Board in its first essential steps to creating this World Heritage Site, Zaloumis went on to talk about how, in 1999, 100% of the wetland park was under land claims. iSimangaliso has, to date, settled 75% of those claims by awarding local communities, such as the Bangazi Community, with ownership of land within the park, as well as 8% of the revenue generated by tourism. The DEA echoed Zaloumis' sentiments of wanting to “restore land ownership, but not at the expense of conservation”, by forming “co-management committees” which deal with land ownership, who manages it, and how. The goal of both iSimangaliso and the DEA is to “open up conservation jobs to land claimants and their descendants”, after highlighting the concept of conservation to them. This concept being foreign to these communities, according to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife CEO Dr Bhandile Mkize who spoke immediately after Zaloumis.

The “iSimangaliso project” also plays a major role in Central Government's plans for a multi-national management of the transfrontier areas around Swaziland, KZN and Mozambique, which is financially backed by the World Bank.

A brief discussion on the park's environmental future included the development of its marine reserves and generating more tourism therein. The Wilderness Action Group spoke of a proposed marine wilderness area running from the Red Sands Beacon to Leven Point. Marine wilderness characteristics are much the same as terrestrial wilderness characteristics and include areas with no existing human development, infrastructure or consumptive use, as well as no adjacent land or sea in use by humans. This will mean that, except in emergency situations, no vehicles will be allowed on the beach and no motorised boats will be launched from the beach between Red Sands Beacon and Leven Point. He concluded by saying how the Wilderness Action Group looks forward to the implementation of marine wilderness trails in the wetland park, perhaps with the aid of kayaks or canoes which would be the biggest vessels allowed.

Finally, we heard from iSimangaliso employee Nicky, who spoke of the history of St Lucia Estuary's mouth, and the opening and closing thereof. After much human intervention, the latest of which was iSimangaliso's prevention of the Umfolozi River mouth joining the estuary in early 2006. They do, however, concede that this is of the utmost importance if the estuary is to survive.

In closure, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife CEO Dr Bhandile Mkize spoke of the concept of “conservation and the social environment”. It appears that the integration of communities into our protected areas is 'priority number one' with the conservation of flora and fauna coming in second. He reiterated that a growing population would need more land and that our biggest challenge is to try to get the Nguni people to accept the concept of conservation. Until such time, they must benefit directly from protected areas.

In conclusion, with the day's discussions focused on the integration of communities within our protected areas, St Lucia News poses the obvious question: Where does that leave the St Lucia Community and how do we, as residents in a town a couple of hundred years old, benefit from bordering the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park?