the richtersveld cultural and botanical landscape - SAHRA

Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape World Heritage Site Nomination 88
preserved and is evident in the scattered seasonal livestock posts throughout the
site. Additionally, the traditional rushmat domed hut, called the |haru oms is an
authentic design developed exclusively by the Nama people, although in some
cases copied by other tribes in Namibia and South Africa due to its practical design.
Traditional |haru oms are today rare, and can only be found in the remote areas.
The Richtersveld Community Conservancy and the town of Kuboes along its border
represent one of the last places on earth in which Nama people reside in |haru oms.
What was formerly a widespread form of abode, is now an endangered structure
confined to the farthest reaches of the mountains. The design of the |haru oms has
been studied and its status assessed by the Northern Cape Province’s Department
of Sport, Arts and Culture in 2001, the document for which is included in Appendix
C.
The Richtersveld exists in a region which has been affected both culturally and
naturally by several social, biophysical and economic factors. Of the greatest
factors has been large scale open cast diamond mining which has defaced a
significant part of the region. The cultural impacts too have been great creating over
several decades a dependence on mining jobs with little alternatives for jobs or
improvements to lives. Diamond mining, with historically little environmental
regulation or regard for local communities, has left its scar on much of the
northwest coast of South Africa. However, the Richtersveld Community
Conservancy has never been mined for diamonds. It is also important to point out
that it will never be mined. Not only is mining forbidden in Conservancy regulations
and in contrast to all local and regional land use policies such as all versions of
Integrated Development Plans, but the Conservancy also lies outside of the
diamond deposit areas of the region. Mining of diamonds in the region is
concentrated in areas where ancient oxbows of the Orange River existed. No such
areas exist in the Conservancy – instead its stretches of the Orange River are
comprised of deep canyons. Additionally, the Conservancy lands have been studied
and assessed in the past for diamonds and it was determined that no deposits exist
in the Conservancy area.
In short, geophysically, the Conservancy is not diamond country. As a result, the
damage associated with mines in other parts of the region are absent from the