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Ex-sito Conservation

Support, complement and enhance in-situ conservation through strengthening measures for the ex-situ conservation of components of biological diversity.

Ex-situ conservation is the conservation of genetic resources outside of their natural habitats, including botanical and zoological gardens, nurseries, arboreta, aquaria, herbaria, genebanks, tissue and culture collections, and captive breeding units. In-situ conservation is the conservation of biodiversity in the wild through the conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats, and the maintenance and recovery of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings.

Ex-Situ Conservation in South Africa

The responsibility for ex-situ conservation in South Africa lies with a variety of government, parastatal and private concerns. Most gene and seedbanks are held by the Department of Agriculture, and by institutes of the Agricultural Research Council, whose collections comprise both indigenous and foreign material. A genebank is also maintained by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, and a small number of endangered fynbos species are held in collections by the University of Cape Town.

Living plant collections are contained in 30-40 botanical gardens, managed by the National Botanical Institute and an assortment of universities and local authorities. About twenty zoological gardens exist, the majority of which are privately owned. The National Zoological Gardens, in addition to managing several zoological collections which contain both exotic and indigenous species, operates four captive breeding centres. Also located within the country are several aquaria.

Policy and Strategy

conservation is the best strategy to conserve South Africa's biodiversity, but ex-situ conservation, and the techniques and facilities used for ex-situ conservation, are essential to support, complement and enhance in-situ conservation. Well-established ex-situ facilities exist in the country, but there is a need for additional attention, especially with regard to the management and coordination of genebanks.

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

1. Enhance the participation of ex-situ institutions in in-situ conservation actions identified by Objective 1.1 to be a priority.
1. Promote the ex-situ conservation by relevant government departments of indigenous and domesticated livestock breeds, plant genetic resources and microorganisms suitable for agricultural, medicinal, industrial, horticultural, or other commercial purposes;
2. Enhance the characterisation and evaluation of such collections to stimulate and encourage their use and, through regeneration and multiplication, to increase their availability to potential users; and
3. Ensure that ex-situ collections are brought in line with internationally agreed genebank standards.
2. Coordinate the efforts of diverse institutions to enable the development of a comprehensive national strategy to conserve and cost-effectively manage and utilise South Africa's ex-situ genetic resource collections.
3. Regulate and manage the collection of biological resources from natural habitats for ex-situ conservation purposes so as to avoid or minimise threats to ecosystems and in-situ populations of species.
4. Adopt measures by means of ex-situ conservation for the recovery and restoration of threatened species, and for their introduction into natural habitats under appropriate conditions (see also Objective 1.5 Rehabilitation).
5. Strengthen the educational role of existing facilities.
6. Coordinate ex-situ collaborative programmes within the southern African region to maximise conservation of the region's genetic diversity.