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Environmentally sound and sustainable development adjacent to protected areas

Biodiversity should be conserved, not only within protected areas, but across the landscape, and sustainable development be promoted throughout South Africa. The viability of protected areas is dependent upon activities occurring in the surrounding areas and on the extent to which such areas are socially, economically, and ecologically integrated into the surrounding region. The Convention has a specific provision aimed at promoting sustainable development in areas adjacent to protected areas.

Government will bolster such initiatives, and will among other things:

1. Promote integrated protected areas and encourage conservation in adjacent private and communal areas
2. Support and promote activities adjacent to protected areas that are compatible with and which complement the objectives of the protected area (see also Objectives 2.2 and 2.3)
3. Support the development of community-based wildlife management initiatives
4. Promote the development of partnerships between conservation agencies, community organizations, NGOs, and private entrepreneurs
5. Enhance the capacity of communities residing in or adjacent to protected areas to participate in protected area management through providing appropriate training and education
6. Take steps to avoid or minimize damage caused to people and property by wildlife (see also Objective 1.2)
7. Seek innovative ways of improving benefit flows to people in and around protected areas
8. Seeking outcomes which will combine the objectives of restitution with the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.