Southern Africa’s biodiversity conservation targets are to get a boost in early September when the final fence between South Africa’s uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site and Lesotho’s Sehlabathebe Park is dropped to form the region’s fifth Transfrontier Park. T his latest development forms part of the ground-breaking Maloti Project (MDTP), launched 10 years ago to allow SA and Lesotho conservation agencies to work together to protect the region’s rich natural and cultural splendour. The new Transfrontier Park is one of the results of the planning and collaboration that the MDTP was set up to facilitate. “conservation areas are also important in slowing down the loss of biodiversity due to a myriad of threats,” said Duncan Heard, the MDTP’s Protected Area Management Planning facilitator in SA. “These areas allow improved conservation management over their whole area, and a better response to a variety of environmental threats. In addition, they enhance Southern Africa’s value as a tourism destination.”
There is now a joint management committee under the auspices of the Lesotho Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture, and SA’s Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. The committee has already improved radio communications and fire management planning for the area, and a joint management plan for the new park has been completed. “Discussions will be held with border control authorities between South Africa and Lesotho to set up control systems between the two countries,” said Paul Nkofu, Heard’s counterpart in Lesotho. “Visitors entering the park will either gain a permit allowing them to move freely within its borders, or a stamp in their passports allowing them to hike through the park and into the other country.” B orn out of a belief that “nature has no boundaries”, transfrontier conservation areas aim to improve collaboration and cooperation between countries to create an environment in which conservation initiatives and the sustainable use of natural and cultural resources can take place. – Lloyd Phillips
