21 August 2013
- The South African government remains committed
to intensifying interventions to fight against
rhino poaching through the enhancement of
international relations. It has drawn up
and negotiated a number of Memoranda of
Understanding (MOUs) with a number of countries
and is in negotiations with critical range
states, such as Mozambique.
A delegation from the
Lao People’s Democratic Republic was recently
hosted by a team of officials from the Department
of Environmental Affairs to discuss possible
areas of cooperation.
The Minister of Water
and Environmental Affairs, Mrs Edna Molewa,
and the Minister of Tourism in Mozambique,
Mr Carvalho Muaria agreed during a meeting
in June to a follow up technical meeting
between South Africa and Mozambican officials
who are in enforcement, environment and
tourism. The meeting is to be held in preparation
for a further more comprehensive Ministerial
engagement with Mozambique. The parties
will also be discussing comprehensive measures
regarding common areas of action to be taken
jointly by the countries, and possibly other
parties involved in the Greater Limpopo
Transfrontier Park. These will be aimed
at combatting poaching and to distracting
the illicit trafficking of rhino horn, elephant
tusks and other wildlife and related products.
The meeting is expected culminate in an
agreement between the two countries resulting
in both states intensifying actions in all
affected areas of enforcement in the area
of wildlife protection and biodiversity
conservation.
Parallel to this the
rhino poaching issue is receiving more intense
attention within the Justice Crime Prevention
Defence and Security Council of the Southern
African Development Community. This is being
facilitated by the South African National
Defence Force.
To date 167 alleged
rhinos poachers have been arrested in South
Africa since the start of 2013.
The increase in arrests
comes as the total number of rhino poached
in South Africa since January 2013 has increased
to 587.
The Kruger National
Park remains hardest hit having lost 362
rhinos to alleged poachers so far this year.
Among the total number
of rhinos poached, 60 have been killed for
their horns in North West and KwaZulu-Natal
respectively, 59 in Limpopo and 39 in Mpumalanga.
South Africans are urged
to report incidents of poaching and tip-offs
to the anonymous tip-off lines 0800 205
005, 08600 10111 or Crime-Line on 32211.
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Minister Edna Molewa
launches the R22 Million “Farming the Wild”
Green Fund Project and the Green Economy
Modelling Report of South Africa
23 August 2013 - The
Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs,
Mrs Edna Molewa today, 23 August 2013 launched
the Farming the wild Green Fund Project
and the South African Green Economy Modelling
Report (SAGEM) in the uPhongolo Local Municipality,
KwaZulu Natal.
Farming the wild is
a community based project supported by the
Green Fund and aims to green the rural community
of Somkhanda in KwaZulu Natal through the
establishment of the Somkhanda Community
Game Reserve. The Green Fund is a national
fund, under the Department of Environmental
Affairs and managed by the DBSA, which supports
South Africa’s transition to a green economy;
the fund provides catalytic finance to facilitate
the investment in greening initiatives such
as the establishment of this game reserve.
The Somkhanda game reserve
application for support was successful and
is funded to the value of R22 Million, as
a green economy solution suitable for the
rural areas of South Africa. It has the
potential to be replicated across poor rural
areas, with particular potential in the
Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal
provinces. The sustainable use and conservation
of wild animal and indigenous vegetation
resources have the ability to green and
transform the poor rural economy of South
Africa.
The land on which the
game reserve is founded has been restored
to the community of Somkhanda through the
Land Reform process in 2005. The community
decided to place the majority of this land
under conservation and create a game reserve
that would serve as an economic engine driving
development in the area. The area has been
kept completely “wild” thereby restoring
and conserving the green infrastructure
on which the green economy should be based.
The Somkhanda community have formed partnerships
with the Wildlands Conservation Trust and
the World Wildlife Fund to guide the community
in establishing the Somkhanda Game Reserve.
Through this partnership, various skills
development projects have been introduced
to members of the community.
The Somkhanda Game Reserve
is a participant of the Black Rhino Range
Expansion Programme thus introducing rare
and endangered black rhino to the reserve.
In addition, Somkhanda has been promoted
as a flagship project for land restitution
and transformation in South Africa as well
as an example of conservation-based community
development.
Some of the game already
purchased includes buffalo, impala and zebra.
Revenue can be generated from hunting, live
game sales, game products and ecotourism.
Therefore, the project contributes significantly
to alleviating poverty through the creation
of employment opportunities, revenue generation
and the establishment of supporting and
secondary industries as stimulated by their
ecotourism development. The project will
create approximately 80 jobs. Thus far,
28 permanent and 15 temporary jobs have
been created.
The project will be
implemented by the Wildlands Conservation
Trust, who will coordinate all financial
expenditure of the project. The project
is intended to strengthen community conservation,
applying climate change adaptation and mitigation
techniques through community game reserve
development. The project also seeks to create
employment that would in turn sustain community
livelihoods.
With the support of
the Green Fund, the Somkhanda game reserve
would be able to significantly improve the
ability of the reserve to generate sustainable
income from hunting and live game capture,
improve the infrastructure of the reserve.
Minister Molewa also
launched the South African Green Economy
Modelling (SAGEM) Report which explores
the question of whether equal or higher
growth could be attained with a more sustainable,
equitable and resilient economy.
South Africa views a
green economy as a sustainable development
path that is based on addressing the interdependence
between economic growth, social protection
and natural ecosystems. The SAGEM was therefore
developed to explore the transition to a
green economy for South Africa, with special
attention for its ability to meet low carbon
growth, resource efficiency and pro-job
development targets.
The transition to a
green economy in South Africa is linked
to many policies, strategies and plans including,
amongst others, the National Development
Plan, the New Growth Path, the National
Climate Change Response Policy and the Industrial
Policy Action Plan. As such, the report
launched today is closely aligned to these
policies and plans. It seeks to present
a modelling process and test the national
targets and the effects of investing in
a green economy in South Africa.
The Department and its
stakeholders therefore commit to continuing
initiatives that would provide a greater
simulation of green economy investments.
Some of the initiatives the Department and
its stakeholders will embark on include
regularly updating the SAGEM report as and
when new relevant policies and scenarios
arise, initiate the modelling of the green
fund programme and National Treasury furthering
the modelling for the fiscal studies. Notwithstanding,
the SAGEM is a great leap forward in preparing
the country for a transition to a green
economy and therefore reaffirms the current
government’s support for a green economy.
