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South Africa Celebrates 50 yrs of Wilderness Conservation

Background:

Ian Player at the 50 Yrs of Wilderness in South Africa
Dr. Ian Player and others at the 50 Yrs of Wilderness in South Africa
In 1959, the then Natal Parks Board ("NPB") designated 12 150 hectares in the Umfolozi Game Reserve (now the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park) as a wilderness area.  All forms of motor traffic were prohibited with rangers and visitors only permitted to traverse on foot.  This decision was the result of representations by Dr Ian Player (then Warden of Umfolozi Game Reserve) after being introduced to the wilderness concept by Jim Feely in 1955.  Col Jack Vincent, the NPB Director at the time, was sympathetic and despite opposition on the Board, helped in obtaining the designation.  This visionary decision was the beginning of wilderness conservation as an acceptable land use management option for formal protected areas in South Africa.  In time the wilderness concept spread to other Southern African countries.  The St. Lucia wilderness area in the northern sector of the St Lucia Game Reserve (now the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage Site) soon followed making them the first two South African, and African, wilderness areas to be so designated.

In March 1959 Dr Ian Player and Magqubu Ntombela led the first wilderness trail, marking the beginning of wilderness experiential education and the opportunity for South Africans to enjoy a wilderness experience on foot in South African protected areas.  Wilderness trails are extremely popular and many thousands of South Africans and foreigners have enjoyed walking on their own in the Drakensberg and the Eastern and Western Cape mountain wilderness areas and being able to visit wilderness areas where potentially dangerous wild animals roam free, accompanied by experienced trail leaders who protect them.

 

It is important to note:

  • the efforts of many managers and rangers past and present who have carried the wilderness goal and reaffirmed the vision without seeking personal acclaim.  They contributed to enlarging these areas, developing the management plans, managing these areas to strict wilderness principles and risking their lives at times;
  • the trails staff who have successfully facilitated thousands of trails deserve recognition; and
  • the cadre of locally-grown management expertise in whose hands the future of wilderness conservation lies.

Legislation:

At the time, there was no specific wilderness legislation to protect wilderness areas and they were only designated management zones within the protected areas.  The first step to develop wilderness legislation was taken by the Department of Forestry in the early 1970's when the National Forestry Act (Act of 1968) was amended to allow the Minister to declare whole or parts of indigenous state forests as wilderness areas.  Danie Ackerman, Chief Director, a Yale Forestry graduate assisted by Don Bands and Bill Bainbridge led this move. It resulted in the proclamation of ten wilderness areas totalling 262 504 hectares.  There is thus a significant link to the American Forestry Service, the leading agent in developing wilderness legislation in the years leading up to the American Wilderness Act of 1964.  Today wilderness areas are recognised in the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act No. 57 of 2003, a move for which the wilderness NGO movement worked so long and hard.

Wilderness Movement:

The South African wilderness movement has grown since the Wilderness Leadership School was established in 1963.  The Wilderness Foundation (South Africa) (1972) and Wilderness Action Group (1983) have joined the Wilderness Leadership School as independent NGOs that work together for the promotion of wilderness conservation in a number of important ways.  These include wilderness experience programmes such as the Leadership Trails, Opinion Leaders Trails, Imbewu Project and the Umzi wethu programme, wilderness conservation awareness and management training and seminars, monitoring and advocacy work.

Status Quo of Wilderness in South Africa:

It is a sad fact that South African wilderness areas, due to their location and the apartheid laws, were not previously open to all South Africans.  It is only since our new democracy in 1994 that all protected areas and wilderness have been opened to all South Africans.  Wilderness areas have important values and benefits as areas of biodiversity conservation, which provide ecosystem services to us all.  Wilderness areas offer people places where they are able to enjoy the opportunity of solitude in landscapes that are still wild and natural.  These are also important sacred spaces such as the Drakensberg and Cedarberg Mountains with the rock art of the San people.  However, wilderness areas, along with the other protected areas, remain contested places and face many challenges as there are many South Africans who are unaware of the value and benefits of wilderness areas.

Today, there are twenty-eight wilderness areas either specifically proclaimed or as administered wilderness areas in the national and provincial protected area system totalling over 2,6 million hectares of unique and varied scenically beautiful landscapes.  For the first time in Africa there is now a combined terrestrial and marine wilderness area - the Tewate wilderness area in iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

World Wilderness Congress:

The World Wilderness Congress ("WWC") concept was born in South Africa in 1977.  There have been eight such Congresses held around the world.  The WWC9 will be held in Mexico in November 2009.  The Congress provides a discussion and engagement platform for leading politicians, scientists, sociologists, indigenous community members, practitioners from state, communal and private protected and wilderness areas, conservation orientated non-government organisations, activists and people interested in and concerned about wilderness from around the world.

Declaration:

In celebrating fifty years of wilderness conservation, 15 years into our developing democracy in South Africa, we recognise those whose vision brought us to this point and acknowledge that there is no better time to review the current state of wilderness areas and to chart the future of wilderness areas in South Africa to ensure all its citizens and future generations will be able to enjoy the true value of wilderness areas.

    Subscribing organisations
    1. Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife
    2. South African National Parks
      3. CapeNature

      4. Eastern Cape Parks

    1. iSimangaliso Wetland Park
    2. South African Wildlife College
    3. Dept. of Environment and Water Affairs
    4. Wilderness Action Group
    5. World Wildlife Fund, South Africa
    1. Wilderness Foundation (SA)
    2. Wilderness Leadership School
    3. Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa
    4. Game Rangers Association of Africa
    5. Endangered Wildlife Trust
    6. Pholela Biosphere
    7. The Mountain Club of South Africa
    8. Magqubu Ntombela Foundation