The history of conservation and development in the Southern Africa cannot be detached from the revolution history of the region. Some of the so called National Parks in our sub-region today were areas of war conflict.
South Africa is involved in 6 trans-frontier conservation areas that involve 10 countries. The objective of establishing these cross-border conservation areas are multifaceted and they seek to achieve conservation, ecotourism, peace, harmony and stability. Unfortunately, this has not always been easy as we are faced with an up-scourge of wildlife crime in the region.
One of the key issues facing the region is that we need to deal with, for example is policy harmonisation and alignment, cross border enforcement and operations, fighting poverty, wildlife conservation awareness creation, enterprise development.
The government of SA is acutely aware of the seriousness and intensity of wildlife crime, specifically Rhino poaching, and has advanced efforts in dealing with this scourge as a cross-border challenge.
The level of poverty and unemployment that exist within communities living adjacent to national parks and those that live adjacent to privately owned farms, contributes to local community members being vulnerable to recruitment for poaching. The government has made strides in the analysis of the different levels of operation that exists within wildlife crime syndicates, which include 5 key levels of operation. In doing so, a finding was made on the link between the poacher, courier, facilitator, exporter and buyer relationship. This analysis indicates that we are dealing with a complex matter that requires a holistic approach involving wildlife range states, transit states and receiver states.
The government of South Africa has since joined forces with Law enforcement agencies in the country and has tapped into each area of threat realized, in order to close identified gaps accordingly. As government, we have been actively involved on various levels, locally and internationally, to fight this on-going scourge. We continue to do our best to ensure that the rhino population is not decimated on our watch. We will continue to engage on all developments in this regard.
In 2011, the South Africa took a bold step in declaring the illegal killing and trade of rhinos and rhino horn a priority crime and is known as “Operation Rhino”.
Some of the initiatives undertaken by South Africa thus far include:
- The inclusion of environmental inspectors within the national OPERATIONAL monitoring teams to observe transgressions of wildlife legislation.
- We have strengthened capacity of members of the security forces by educating them on Environmental Legislation.
- We have established a specialised National Wildlife Information Management Unit, responsible for endangered wildlife security, nationally and internationally;
- Intensified Awareness and establishment of partnerships with members of the communities around national parks;
- Intensified consultation with the private farm owners, with the aim to standardize practices and procedures, including enhanced security measures.
On the international front, we encourage state parties to co-operate, using different platforms to push back the scourge of wildlife crime. In this light, the government of South Africa has initiated engagements with several countries and suggests co-operation on, Law enforcement, information exchange, technology use, capacity building, research and awareness. Poaching, in general, has undoubtedly developed as a systemic socio-economic phenomenon and a growing number of the involvement of foreign nationals in the illegal wildlife related activities, arrests and convictions is being recorded.
Inevitably, the Kruger National Park is the hardest hit by poaching, since it has the highest concentration of rhino.
South Africa has established, with its neighboring partners, the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP) which was officially initiated on the 10th of November 2000. Following the signing of a treaty, a Ministerial Committee meeting is being held once a year on a rotational basisin an effort to continue increasing efforts towards curbing this scourge. Some of the issues on the agenda currently, include the development of the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA) by integrating identified areas and continued joint operations along the borders.
The long term plan is for each country to have an operation centre which will have communication capabilities linked to centres in other countries (land lines, mobile phone coverage, radio communication and satellite communication in accordance with the existing Protocol on Transport, Communications and Metereology of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region).
As a result of all these interventions, the number of arrests has seen a steady increase from 165 and 232 in 2010 and 2011 respectively to 267 in 2012, with prominent convictions coming through to send a strong message to the traffickers and any other stakeholders in the chain.
There are indications that elephant poaching is also on the increase. In response, we have intensified enforcement and employed new technologies that include air monitoring.
As part of our efforts in the war against rhino poaching, and poaching in general, South Africa has also amended legislation with the aim of strengthening the regulatory and enforcement provisions directed at curbing poaching.
The National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill, which was split into two Bills: the National Environmental Management Laws First Amendment Bill [Biodiversity amendments] and the National Environmental Management Laws Second Amendment Bill [NEMA amendments].
Amongst others, the Bill compels the national registration of professional hunters, hunting outfitters and trainers involved in the hunting industry. It still prescribes that all specimens in transit through the country must be accompanied by the necessary documentation. This important provision will assist in addressing the movement of illegal specimens.
The Bill also makes additional provision for an issuing authority to suspend, defer or refuse a permit in certain circumstances.
While it is acknowledged that the Bill alone will not stop rhino poaching, it is expected to assist in addressing activities associated with poaching and closing the loopholes in terms of the abuse of the permitting system.
At the end of January the South African Government published the Biodiversity Management Plan for Black Rhino which provides guidelines for the management of the endangered species in South Africa. A BMP for white rhino is in the final stages of preparation.
On the international front, it needs to be said that our efforts are already starting to bear desired fruit. There has been progressive steps from a recently concluded partnership, whose measures have led to several arrests for illegal possession of rhino horn in since January 2013.
I would like to re-assure parties represented here this morning that the South African Government will continue to implement its various interventions and work jointly with key stakeholders to address the challenges faced.
