Eleanor McGregor [Director: Conservation]

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Overall Policy Perspective on Biodiversity
Governance
Keynote Address

• Eleanor McGregor Director Conservation
• Gauteng Department of Agriculture Rural
  Development
• On behalf of Adv. John Nesidoni (Acting HOD)

Biodiversity is life- Biodiversity is our
life WRC Seminar Tswaing Meteorite Crater
Reserve Soutpan (Soshanguve) 17 September 2010
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Overview of presentation

• Biodiversity- South Africas rich heritage
• General value of Biodiversity
• Biodiversity management pressures challenges
• Legal tools and broad policy framework
  Governance.

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South Africa3rd most biodiverse country in the
world
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Biodiversity underpins development

• Biodiversity can alleviate poverty and create
  work
• Biodiversity can increase agricultural
  productivity
• Biodiversity can prevent a water crisis in SA
• Biodiversity can reduce the cost of disaster
  management
• Biodiversity can help us adapt to climate change

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Pressures on biodiversity
Forestry
Mining
Agriculture
Loss of natural habitat single biggest threat
to biodiversity in SA
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Other key competing pressures / Challenges

• Increased urban sprawl/ urban development
• Socio-economic drivers
• Non aligned legislation
• Aligning and integrating importance of
  biodiversity knowledge of conservation tools in
  development strategies

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Legal context for biodiversity management

• Four main pieces of legislation-
• Constitution of SA (sec 24)
• National Environmental Management Act 1998
• National Environmental Management Protected
  Areas Act 2003
• National Environmental Management Biodiversity
  Act 2004 (established SANBI)
• Several regulations linked to these Acts

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• BIODIVERSITY GOALS
• Representation Persistence
• Climate change design principles

Biodiversity Act, NEMA EIA regs
Protected Areas Act
Tools for conservation agencies (incl contracts
with private and communal landowners)
Tools for land-use planning decision-making in
other sectors
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Policy context for biodiversity management

• NBSAP National Biodiversity Strategy Action
  Plan (2005)
• NSBA National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment
  (2004)
• NBF National Biodiversity Framework (2008)
• NPAES National Protected Area Expansion Strategy
  (2008)

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Examples of National Protected Area Expansion
Strategies in South Africa
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National Protected AreaExpansion Strategy (NPAES)

• First for SA
• Includes terrestrial, freshwater and marine
• Ecosystem-specific protected area targets
• Strong focus on climate change resilience

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NPAES Focus areas for land-based PA expansion
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Offshore MPA Focal Areas
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NFEPA

• Identifies National Freshwater Ecosystem Priority
  Areas (FEPAs)
• To inform water resource planning and management

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Governance
3 key elements linked to BD Governance
Definition of Governance The way in which
society as a whole manages the full array of its
political, economic and social affairs.
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Levels of Governance
International Agreements
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International Agreements
Current flow of inter- relations in SA
Provincial EA Conservation Authorities
E.g. Gauteng Dept of Agric Rural dev.
etc
LA
NGO
LA
Comm
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National Frameworks
Systematic Biodiversity Plan (usually provincial)
Map of Critical Biodiversity Areas (local
government)
Biodiversity sectors input into
New ones in future?
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Conclusion

• Improve decision-making processes
• Support biodiversity governance at the local
  level
• Improve policy coherence and mainstreaming of
  biodiversity across all sectors
• Resourcing biodiversity conservation
  implementation on the ground
• Value ecosystem services in order understand what
  it is worth how much it would cost to attempt
  to replicate these services Cost would be
  astronomical

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Take home message

• Biodiversity governance should be the way
  society at all scales manages its social,
  economic and political affairs with the aim to
  protect ecological functioning and biodiversity