State of Management of South Africa’s ... - WWF South Africa

STATE OF MANAGEMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA’S MARINE PROTECTED AREAS3.2.6 National Environmental Management: Biodiversity ActThe National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004 (NEM:BA) provides forthe management and conservation of biological diversity. This Act is applicable to SouthAfrica’s territorial waters, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. The Act obligatesthe Minister to develop a National Biodiversity Framework (NBF) to provide for an integrated,co-ordinated and uniform approach to biodiversity management in South Africa. Furthermorethe NBF must identify priority areas for conservation action and the establishment of PAs andmust reflect regional co-operation on issues concerning biodiversity management. MPAs, astools for biodiversity conservation, must be managed in accordance with the NBF. A NBFwas drawn up in 2007 and was recently approved.3.2.7 Action plans and programmesThe NBF builds on the National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment, which was conducted in2004 to identify priority areas for conservation, and the National Biodiversity Strategy andAction Plan (NBSAP) which sets out a strategy for the conservation and sustainable use ofSouth Africa’s biodiversity and further provides five strategic objectives (DEAT 4 th reportCBD). The NBF identified 33 Priority Actions to guide work up until 2013, and aligned theseto the five strategic objectives of the NBSAP.The first strategic objective of the NBSAP is to establish an enabling policy and legislativeframework that integrates biodiversity management objectives into the economy. The fourthreport to the CBD indicated that progress had been made in this regard by incorporatingbiodiversity considerations into legislation such as the MLRA; however the implementation ofthis legislation had been constrained by resources and human capacity.The enhancement of the institutional effectiveness and efficiency so to ensure goodgovernance in the biodiversity sector was listed as strategic objective two. It was reportedthat several government departments and agencies have significant resources and are wellsupported by NGOs and programmes; however their efficiency had been hindered by a lackof suitable candidates to fill vacant posts and high staff turnover. The establishment of SouthAfrican Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) and the implementation of theManagement Effectiveness Monitoring Tool (METT) have aided in monitoring; however datagaps and limited funding and capacity for research were reported as remaining challengesfor institutions.The People & Parks Programme was established in response to an objective to enhancehuman development and well-being through the sustainable use of biological resources andequitable sharing of benefits. There have been several important achievements linked to theprogramme, most notably the completion of a National Co-management Framework and theadoption and implementation of a national action plan.The finalisation and implementation of a National Protected Area Expansion Strategy(NPAES), underpinned by national biodiversity targets were identified as priority actions andfell within strategic objective 5 under NBSAP. A NPAES has been developed and recentlyapproved. It sets five and 20 year targets for protected area expansion, maps the mostPg 25