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Biodiversity conservation

Government intends to adopt a more holistic and coordinated approach towards the conservation of South Africa's indigenous biodiversity both inside and outside of protected areas.

Government supports the coordinated development of a law enforcement strategy, effective deterrents, and the strengthening of required capacity, but will balance this with the provision of incentives to encourage adherence to the law.

To achieve the objective, Government, in collaboration with interested and affected parties, will:

1.  (a)  Conserve components of biodiversity identified by Objective 1.1 through a variety of mechanisms such as legislation, planning controls, guidelines, and protected area designations, giving priority to components of biodiversity requiring urgent protective measures;

      (b)   Consolidate, coordinate and improve existing legislation and regulations wherever possible and appropriate in order to eliminate duplication, and to avoid conflicting interpretations and implementation.

      (c)   Introduce legal measures (See Chapter 4) and incentives (See Objective 5.2) to conserve important ecosystems, habitats, and landscapes outside of protected areas;

      (d)   Promote an ecological management approach to planning, whereby conservation is proactively incorporated into land-use plans as a specific land use (See also Objective 2.3); and

      (e)   Facilitate the development of appropriate legislation to achieve uniform legal coverage for the protection of threatened species and the regulation of trade of all CITES-listed species, in addition to threatened species listed nationally and provincially.

2.   (a)   Strengthen existing support for research on the improved understanding of the structure, function and composition of South Africa's terrestrial, aquatic, and marine and coastal ecosystems (see also Objective 4.2); and

      (b)   Improve knowledge of and take appropriate action to conserve poorly known groups such as invertebrates, fungi and microorganisms.

3.   (b)   Promote and support measures to manage conflict arising from the conservation and use of biological resources.