28 June 2007
"I am proud to announce that yesterday, at the 31st session of the World
Heritage Committee that is being held in Christchurch, New Zealand, the
Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape was inscribed on the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) World
Heritage List as the eighth South African World Heritage Site. This site joins
the Isimangaliso Wetlands Park (Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park),
uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park, Robben Island, Cape Floral Region Protected Areas,
Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, Vredefort Dome and the Fossil Hominid-bearing
Sites of South Africa (I e Cradle of Humankind, Makapan Valley and Taung Skull
Fossil Sites) as places of outstanding universal value," the Minister said.
In support of this achievement, the Minister will proclaim the Richtersveld
Cultural and Botanical Landscape as a World Heritage Site in terms of a
provision of the World Heritage Convention Act (Act No 49 of 1999). The
Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape cover an area of 160 000 hectares
of dramatic mountainous desert in the north-west part of South Africa. The
communally owned and managed harsh, dry landscape, with extremes of
temperature, affords a semi-nomadic pastoral livelihood for the Nama people,
reflecting seasonal patterns that may have persisted for as much as two
millennia in Southern Africa. It is the only area where the Nama still
construct portable rush-covered, domed houses, |haru oms.
Thus, when listing the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape as a
World Heritage Site, the World Heritage Committee had this to say about the
area: "The extensive communal grazed lands are a testimony to land management
processes which have ensured the protection of the succulent Karoo vegetation
and thus demonstrates a harmonious interaction between people and nature.
Furthermore, the seasonal migrations of graziers between stockposts with
traditional demountable mat-roofed houses, |haru oms, reflect a practice that
was once much more widespread over Southern Africa and which has persisted for
at least two millennia; the Nama are now its last practitioners."
The Nama people are descendants of the Khoi-Khoi people who once occupied
lands across southern Namibia and most of the present-day Western and Northern
Cape provinces of South Africa. Over a century or more, those in the south were
pushed north by the spread of farms north from the Cape. Today, the Nama live
in three small villages, established as mission settlements, outside the
proclaimed area: Kuboes to the north, Lekkersing to the south-west and
Eksteenfontein to the south. The proclaimed Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical
Landscape is 'buffered' by the following protected areas: the Richtersveld
National Park to the north, Nababiep Provincial Nature Reserve to the east and
designated communal grazing areas to the south and west owned by the Sida! hub
Community Property Association: Richtersveld 'Coloured' Reserve, Korridor 21
consisting of the former farm units and Korridor Wes two consisting of nine
former farm units.
The Richtersveld is an area that was a few years ago returned to the
ownership of the people under the national programme of land restitution. One
of its unique features, both in South African and international terms is that a
community has not only chosen to dedicate such a vast area of land to
conservation, but it is a World Heritage Site that is managed and run by a
community that until a few years ago had little to call its own. It is
remarkable that within a few short years this community has not only aspired to
management of its cultural and environmental assets to the highest
international standards, but that it has through acquiring World Heritage
status succeeded in achieving the highest level of recognition for this. It is
testimony to the success of the land restitution programme. It is hoped that
other communities will emulate what is a truly South African success story.
Enquiries:
Mava Scott
Cell: 082 411 9821
Riaan Aucamp
Cell: 083 778 9923
Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
28 June 2007
