Upper Rock Nature Reserve: A Management and Action Plan

3.9 Wildlife Wardens
12 Section 21.(1), pp.71 of L/N 51 of 1993.
13 Section 21.(2), pp.71 of L/N 51 of 1993.
3.10 Recommendations
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Legislation
The ‘Nature Conservation Area (Upper Rock) Designation Order 1993’ includes a section
concerning Wildlife Wardens. Some of the issues concerning this matter are highlighted in
the sub-sections below.
3.9.1 The Wardens’ Powers
Section 21 of the ‘Nature Protection Ordinance, 1991’ deals with the appointment of
Wildlife Wardens in Gibraltar, appointed by the Governor after consultation with the Nature
Conservancy Council, either professional or honorary 12 , adding that the Governor ‘…may
make regulations for the purpose of determining the powers and duties of any person
appointed…’ 13 . It is interesting to note that authority is handed to the Governor, who both
appoints and regulates the Wildlife Wardens. Although the former is done after consultation
with the Nature Conservancy Council, the latter is left solely to the Governor. Although in
these cases ‘Governor’ is usually deemed to read ‘Government’, in either case it is the
authors’ opinion that the ‘Governor’ should refer to the Nature Conservancy Council in all
matters relating to Wardens and not just to their appointment.
More specifically, in relation to the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, section 9.(1) of the
‘Nature Conservation (Upper Rock) Designation Order, 1993’ states that ‘Any person
appointed as a Wildlife Warden in accordance with section 21 of the Nature Protection
Ordinance 1991, shall carry out such duties in the Reserve as the Authority shall specify and
shall have the power, in the Reserve, to stop any person who, it appears to the wildlife warden,
has failed to comply with the requirements of these regulations and require that person
to give to the warden details of the person’s name and address evidenced by the production
of an identity card or passport’. Again, the ‘Governor’ should not hold absolute power in this
matter, and everything should be carried out in consultation with the Nature Conservancy
Council.
The powers of the Warden within the reserve are given in section 9.(2) of the Designation
Order, which states that ‘Any wildlife warden shall have, in the Reserve, the powers specified
in section 16 of the Nature Protection Ordinance 1991’. Section 16 of the ‘Nature
Protection Ordinance, 1991’ (pp. 65) gives a person appointed to enforce the Ordinance
power to stop and search any person suspected of committing an offence and to seize any
evidence for the purposes of proceedings. This clearly does not go far enough in elucidating
the role and powers of a Warden. The Warden’s role should thus be specified to include
the implementation of all laws within the Designation Order that concern the Conservation of
wildlife and the environment within the Nature Reserve.
3.9.2 Application of Section 9 of the ‘Nature Conservation Area
(Upper Rock) Designation Order, 1993’
The section dealing with the introduction of Wardens into the Nature Reserve, section 9,
is one of the most important sections contained in the Designation Order, in that it is vital to
the implementation of wildlife protection laws within the Nature Reserve. Given the vital
importance of Wildlife Wardens within any nature reserve, it is tantamount to the gross mismanagement
of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve that our Reserve has, for many years, found
itself without any Wildlife Wardens. This is extremely worrying, given that the Reserve finds
itself in a state of dereliction and deterioration. Also, the macaques, our largest economic
asset within the reserve, find themselves being fed and harassed constantly, due to there not
being any authority to ensure that this does not happen (see Chapter 14, on Barbary
macaques for more details). Wildlife Wardens are therefore desperately needed in the Upper
Rock Nature Reserve if it is to carry on being a site of considerable importance for wildlife.
1) Section 9 of the Designation Order does not specify the number of Wardens that
should be appointed in the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. There should be at the very least
a minimum of six Wardens employed by the Nature Reserve to cover the 40% of Gibraltar
that comprises the Nature Reserve. This is vital given the pressures that are exerted on
wildlife in the Nature Reserve by the very large number of tourists who enter it daily.
2) Granting certain people the title of ‘honorary warden’ may also prove useful, in addition
to the appointment of professional wardens. For example, people who are employed by
GONHS for the maintenance of macaques or gull culling, and who are knowledgeable in matters
of Natural History and spend a considerable amount of time within the Nature Reserve
could be appointed as ‘honorary wardens’. This would allow them to take action upon anyone
who they witness to be in breach of wildlife protection laws.
3) All wardens should have considerable experience in matters of natural history, and
should be well versed with all of the Gibraltar wildlife protection laws that apply within the
Upper Rock Nature Reserve: A Management and Action Plan