Kruger2Canyons.com

PRETORIA- Almost 50% of the country's national and provincial parks are under dispute over ownership in one form or another, according to the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

"Communities are now becoming owners of national parks and it is forcing the parks system to rethink how to approach co-operation with communities," said the epartment's director-general, Crispian Olver.

While co-operation with communities living on the boundaries of conservation areas had improved, the matter was still touchy, he said.

There was still an old school mindset in SA National Parks and in provincial parks that believed these conservation areas were places for animals and not people, particularly those living on the park's boundary.

But that mindset had changed considerably because of the land claims process.

Olver said conservation authorities initially saw this as a big threat.

But the department was increasingly seeing it as an opportunity as it linked some of its work, such as community-based natural resource management and building community benefits from tourism and small, medium and micro enterprise developments.

"You are starting to see a series of, I would almost say, experiments where communities are now developing various economic activities around parks and even in parks."

For example, the Makuleke in the northern Kruger National Park had game lodges that they owned and managed.

"In fact have hunting safaris, which is in its own right a controversial issue."

There were similar projects in the Richtersveld, Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park and in the Eastern Cape.

"A number of experiments are underway which are going to be valuable for the future of conservation in this country. It is forcing the pace of change with conservation authorities," he said.

Labels: land claims, land reform, national park, restitution