Conservation for the people, with the people

To celebrate life on earth, and especially the value of biodiversity to our lives, the United Nations has declared 2010 to be the International year of Biodiversity.

As South Africans, we are blessed with incredible diversity reflected not only in our natural resources and biodiversity, but also with our cultural diversity. History shows that people in this country have been living in harmony with nature for centuries. Our forefathers relied on hunting and gathering natural resources for survival. It is our mission to continue this custom of mutual harmony between people and nature by harnessing the spirit of our communities towards nature friendly conservation, thus ensuring the survival of our protected areas in South Africa.

The People and Parks Programme has certainly come a long way since the World Parks Congress held in Durban in 2003 and the first People and Parks Forum session held in Swadini in October, 2004. Since then our programme has gained momentum in identifying specific activities and processes that address issues at the interface between conservation and the communities. We all work to promote and protect our country’s resources, but also to highlight and implement the rights of communities affected by conservation processes. It is only when we achieve mutual harmony and agreement between all involved parties that we can rightfully call our foundation ‘successful’.

Today we have a robust People and Parks Programme with strong community involvement, solid policies, structures and frameworks in place to ensure further success of the programme toward the future.