Water Wheel July/Aug 2024: Water And The Environment

Abstract

New Drakensberg nature reserve will protect ancient rock art, wildlife, livelihoods, grasslands and water Most importantly, it will open a new and important wildlife migration corridor. Migratory animal populations will be able to recover as they will no longer be isolated and fragmented. It took six years for landowners and conservationists to get the new park formally declared, much faster than it usually takes to have land declared protected. It was only possible due to a high degree of consensus among landowners that a commitment to conservation was the best way to manage their land for future generations. I research how land and ecological systems are governed across boundaries. I believe the new reserve takes forward a commitment made by South Africa at the COP15 biodiversity conference in 2022 that it would protect 30% of its land (including mountains) and oceans by 2030. So far, only 9.2% of South Africa’s land is under protection, and biodiversity loss is increasing. This is why strategic additions to protected areas are particularly important.

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