Wetlands Wire page 15

Wetlands Wire Page 15

Vol 2 No. 1 2004

World Parks Congress

IQEMBU LOMDLALO WESHASHALAZI I- SCENE TO SCENE

Iqembu lomdlalo weshashalazi i-Scene To Scene lidlalela izithunywa emhlanganweni we-People and Parks owabanjwa e-Cape Vidal ngaphambi kwengqungquthela yamazwe onke omhlaba yama-Paki (World Parks Congress). Iqembu i-Scene To Scene lasungulwa ngonyaka ka-2001 endaweni yakwa-Mnqobokazi ngoxhaso olwavela ohlelweni lwezamasiko lwe-Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, okuwuhlelo lokulwisana nobubha oluxhaswe nguMnyango KaHulumeni Wezobuciko Namasiko (Dept of Arts and Culture).
Kuloluhlelo kwakhethwa intsha engasebenzi eyayithanda ukuthuthukisa amakhono ayo kwezobuciko ukuze izuze okokuziphilisa. I-Scene To Scene isebenzisane nongoti kwezobuciko ekuthuthukiseni amakhono ayo ekubhalweni nokudlala imidlalo yeshashalazi, ikakhulukazi amakhono okulingisela izilwane. Ngaphezu kwalokho, loluhlelo lubuye lwasiza ekutheni baqeqesheke ekudayiseni umsebenzi wabo emabhizinisini ezokuvakasha. Iqembu leli selike ladla nakwi- Durban Tourism Indaba lidlalela izivakashi ezingawuvali umlomo ngalomdlalo weshashalazi kanye nokusina kwaleliqembu. Okusemqoka ukuthi loluhlelo luyasiza ekuxhumaniseni iqembu leli kanye nabamabhizinisi ezokuvakasha. Ephawula ngaloluhlelo, umphathi weqembu u-Jabulani Mdluli wabeka kanje: “iqembu lethu lizuze kakhulu ekuthuthukisweni kwamakhono ethu nethalenti. Akekho umuntu kuleli qembu oweyeke wadlala eshashalazini ngaphambilini, kanti sesiyakwazi nokuthola uhlamvana ngemidlalo yethu”.

WPC Bus Four to Cape Vidal

World Parks Congress delegates investigate Wetlands management

DIRK REZELMAN

Nick Webb, one of the organizers of the petition to save St Lucia from mining, was tour guide on bus four from Durban to Cape Vidal, carrying some of the 500 international delegates who enjoyed a field trip to the Park.
South Americans and Spaniards clustered together.
Canadians, Americans and Brits got to know each other.
Melanesians, New Zealanders and Australians reminisced about the Antipodes. Nick kept them spellbound with some of SA’s conservation history.
We had a busy schedule with visits to communities, biodiversity lectures by Fred Ellery and Kian Barker, projects in the Park, talks by anti-poaching units, and a host of other activities. Highlight of the first evening was a cultural performance which according to the delegates was ‘world-class’.
There is great knowledge about specific South African events and issues. The North Americans were concerned about litter on around St Lucia and Mtubatuba, others asked about Aids and elephant surpluses.
Grizzly bear specialist Philip Deardon of Canada’s University of Victoria pointed out the anomalies of projecting positive images of conservations sites reached through garbage-strewn accesses.
Glen Hverregaard of Augusta University College, also a Canadian, was gentler in his criticism, but still made the point.
Anur Reddy of the Indian Government’s Forest and Wild Life department said he was impressed by the vast areas under conservation. In his home country, needs of people take priority.
M Surya Prakash, director of India’s ministry for Environmental Information told us how elephants wandering from their reserves to ravage villagers’ crops are regularly wounded and have to be put down.
But on our return to Durban, there was one dominant theme: how the management of the Park had exceeded all expectations. There was talk of world best practice on a limited budget and getting priorities right - significant compliments from such knowledgeable luminaries.

Picture: These two delegates were fascinated with the hippo and buffalo skulls on show as they learnt about animal re-introductions on the Eastern shores from Dirk Rossouw

HOW THE LOCALS RESPONDED

WW reporter

Co-management and indigenous people’s rights were driven home to local delegates although some concerns were raised about partnerships with oil and mining industries.
Gordon Fakude of the Park’s Authority said: “It was a great event, truly eye-opening to see problems faced by conservation in this country are also faced elsewhere”.
He was particularly impressed with the account of indigenous nomadic people of Iran, finally being consulted about their traditional knowledge of the environment after being ignored, or persecuted, for almost a century.
Amon Sithole, one of three community delegates, said: “It was was a learning curve in which we learned good things. It was also nice to meet people and make worthwhile links”. S’bu Thusi, of EKZNW, said he felt it was “significant that building practical capacity of protected areas managers was also raised. We have plenty of theoretical capacity; now we need partnerships to enable effective management on the ground”.
While Sue McClintock of the Wildlands Trust thought it “fabulous to see the level of commitment to conservation”, she found certain critical debates were held back. In particular, “the noble way that the IUCN tried to create partnerships with extractive industry representatives like Shell and Rio Tinto was undermined when debate from the floor were stopped. Agreements were watered-down and potential opportunities for safe-guarding protected areas and prospective protected areas were diminished”.
Bronwyn James of the Authority found the field trip a valuable time to meet other delegates and share experiences. Community delegate Jaconium Mhlanga of the Bhangazi Trust, saw useful parallels to the St Lucia context in many of the discussions: “It is clear that only an integration of management and sustainable development can address growing population needs along with conserving our natural resources”
Jone Porter, of EKZNW agreed. She found it noteworthy that “around the world, local communities now form an essential part of governance of protected areas and sensitive environments, and not simply in a consultative capacity.”

IUCN boss updates locals on key protected area issues

Dianne Scott

David Sheppard, head of the IUCN Programme on Protected Areas, and secretary-general of the 2003 World Parks Congress, paid a flying visit to the Park to attend the opening of the St Lucia pre-Congress conference.
This was local in content – social and natural, scientists, historians and park managers working in and around the Park presented updates of their work. In addition, representatives of South African communities who have rights to resources and land in national parks were there to debate issues related to the rights of indigenous peoples to protected areas.
Sheppard in his plenary address on 'WPC - Streams and Themes – A global perspective in the context of the World Parks Congress’s streams and themes and managing World Heritage sites and protected areas' provided an overview of the global issues to be debated and workshopped at the World Parks Congress This allowed local scientists, manager and communities to relate the issues facing protected areas here in the St Lucia Heritage site and in other protected areas to what was going on globally around the world.
With the theme of ‘Benefits beyond Boundaries’ much of the focus of the World Parks Congress was on promoting linkage of protected areas directly to their larger contexts and regions rather than being thought of as ‘islands’ as they were in the past. Parks and their benefits are linked to local regional economies as well as being linked to broader ecological and natural systems.

David Sheppard addresses delegates at the People and Parks Conference at Cape Vidal