The Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment has officially declared a new National Park in South Africa’s Eastern Cape.
The area, which will be named the Grasslands National Park, was officially declared a protected zone by Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment Minister David Maynier.
The Minister also assigned the South African National Parks (SANParks) to manage the new protected area.
Plans for the Grasslands National Park have been in the making since 2019, when the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) partnered with SANParks to begin the project.
The primary goal of the park is to protect South Africa’s grasslands, which SANParks said are among the country’s least-protected biomes.
“The new park will specifically protect grassland, one of South Africa’s least protected biomes,” SANParks said in 2022.
The group explained that the new National Park would incorporate private land through stewardship agreements with several landowners.
In the recent official declaration, Maynier listed the areas which would form part of the Grasslands Park, which included 18 properties.
In the early years of the National Parks formation, the WWF project co-ordinator, Thembanani Nsibande, said that landowners were sceptical about the proposals.
“I was received with a mixture of enthusiasm and suspicion by some landowners, as they were naturally concerned about what we wanted to do with their land,” he said.
“I went to great lengths to explain that this is about partnering; this is absolutely not about fencing the park and moving people off the land.”
He said that the proposed plans would involve stewardship agreements and would not stop farmers from operating on the land.
“Our goal is to establish formal biodiversity stewardship agreements with all stakeholders in the national park area to retain and restore the rich biodiversity here and to work together in implementing conservation grazing programmes,” he explained.
An important biome
Nsibande explained that the Grasslands National Park would also aid people living in the area through its protected status.
He said the protection would ensure that cattle grazing could continue in the area, benefiting both the park and the cattle owners.
“Well-managed livestock, especially cattle, are essential to maintaining the health and vigour of the grasslands, which become moribund in the absence of grazing,” he said.
“Healthy grasslands and wetlands are essential to a healthy water supply, as they slow down the flow of water from the catchment, mitigate against erosion, and act as a sponge, releasing water throughout the year.”
For people living in the area, he said that improving and maintaining the Grasslands area would ensure that cattle are healthy and sell for higher prices.
“Improved grasslands improve the condition of the cattle, which then fetch higher prices at the auctions,” Nsibande said.
He said the National Parks project had also improved livestock auctions for the local community, organising them closer to the area and giving other benefits.
“The communal farmers can auction their cattle in their area, instead of walking them for days to the auctions, as they had to do before,” he said.
“The communal farmers in the conservation grazing associations receive a discounted auction levy, reduced prices on vaccinations and free cattle management training.”
In 2022, SANParks also emphasised that the area is important to South Africa’s strategic water supply.
“The region is one of South Africa’s key strategic water source areas and an important corridor that will help species to ‘weather’ climate change,” it said.
In total, the new National Park will cover over 10,000 hectares of land, with biodiversity stewardship agreements being reached with several farms in the area.
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