Address by the Deputy Director-General, Biodiversity and Conservation, Ms Flora Mokgohloa at the celebration of World Wildlife Day 2023
Programme Director
Acting CEO of SANParks, Mr Property Mokoena
Acting CEO of the Mpumalanga Parks and Tourism Agency, Mr Duduzi Vilakazi
Mr Jabu Ngobeni who is here on behalf of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park CEO
UNEP GEF Task Manager, Jane Nimpamya from Nairobi in Kenya
Representatives of the communities and traditional authorities from the area
People and Parks representatives
Stakeholders and representatives of the wildlife industry,
Officials
Members of the Media
Good Day
It is a privilege to be here today to celebrate World Wildlife Day 2023 in a part of our country that is internationally known for its contribution to the conservation of a wide variety of our biodiversity.
World Wildlife Day is one of the most important days on our annual environmental calendar. It is a day in which we raise awareness about the role played by people, our communities in particular, in the protection of wildlife and their habitat. Hence we are gathered under the theme of Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation.
World Wildlife Day was first proclaimed in 2013 at the 68th session of the United National General Assembly (UNGA), with the aim of raising awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants. Key to this is the link between wildlife conservation, rural livelihoods and sustainable development, as well as the role of governance and public-private partnerships – all key actions outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals.
This year’s World Wildlife day is extra special as it marks 50 years since the adoption of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in Washington in 1973. South Africa, as one of the most mega-diverse countries in the world, was among the first countries to ratify the Convention when it came into force in 1975, and promulgated our first National CITES regulation in 2010 to ensure that we give effect to the decisions of the Convention at national level. What makes CITES unique is the fact that it is the only international wildlife trade regulatory convention in the world with the main purpose of ensuring that international trade does not have a detrimental effect on the environment.
To this effect in South Africa we have CITES Management Authorities at national and provincial government level to issue permits for international trade in endangered wild fauna and flora. These CITES Issuing Authorities are supported by the Scientific Authority which is support by science-based decision making and facilitated by the South African National Biodiversity Institute that provides evidence base for decision making on the sustainable use of wild fauna and flora.
South Africa trades in a large number of species annually. We issue in excess of 21 000 CITES permits annually and the most traded species is crocodiles for which we issue around 164 753 permits, and the grey parrot for which we issue about 17 000 permits per anum. Domestically we issue about 50 Threatened of Protected Species (TOPS) permits a year and we also issue between 20 and 25 permits a year in our Access and Benefit-Sharing areas.
This epermitting system caters for all three permits and this will support our efforts to ensure that government works better and we are more efficient in providing those services.
As a contracting party to CITES, South Africa has worked the CITES Secretariat and our Provincial issuing authorities to ensure effective implementation and compliance to the Convention in the past 50 years. South Africa working with all partners, continues to ensure that legally regulated international trade does not become a threat to our rich biodiversity.
In keeping with this year’s World Wildlife Day theme we hope to showcase partnerships that the Department has been engaged in to deliver better services to our people, and to continue to conserve all fragile and abundant plant and animal species in South Africa.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As symbol of the importance of partnerships today we are launching the National Biodiversity ePermitting System – an online system that for the application and processing of permit of electronic permits for species listed under the Theatened or Protected Species or TOPS Regulations, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and for Access and Benefit-Sharing Agreements related to the sustainable use of a wide variety of plants used worldwide for medicinal, cosmetic and other purposes.
This system paves the way for the ease of permitting and digitises information that will assist in better and more efficient decision-making by the relevant management authorities. It has been made possible with the support of the Global Environment Facility’s 6th Programme highlighting the importance of partnerships in conservation.
The first of the programme’s three components is aimed at strengthening institutional capacity and information systems for the effective management of wildlife trade monitoring. This is work led by the South African National Biodiversity Institute.
Component two comprises the development of the ready-to-use permitting systems for CITES-listed species. This work has been led by the Department’s Biodiversity and Conservation Branch.
The third and final component is aimed at strengthening capacity to reduce the rate of illegal wildlife trade. This is a multi-stakeholder effort, which is being led by the Peace Parks Foundation (PPF), South African National Parks (SANParks) and the Department.
When goes it goes live on 1 April this year, the Coordinated and Integrated ePermitting System (CIPS) for eCITES, eTOPS and eBABS (collectively referred to as the National Biodiversity ePermitting System) will coordinate and integrate all individual authorisation, licensing and permitting procedures into a single permitting system to maximise efficiency and resource use, while meeting the needs of those who rely on these documents for the import, export and management of the plants and animals they work with on a daily basis.
The development of this electronic system has been led by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, which entered into a service level agreement with the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) to develop, host and support the system. This work was concluded in 2021.
Since then we have trained officials and potential clients to use and manage it. This is the first step in a broader Departmental strategy of providing electronic environmental authorisation across all our permitting branches.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
South Africa is one of the most megadiverse countries in the world with high levels of endemism.. This includes the majestic African elephant, the black and white rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard – our iconic Big Five. Our country is also home to a wide variety of exceptional and unique biomes, plant species that are found nowhere else on Earth, reptiles, amphibians and birds. Some of these species are abundant. Others are threatened with extinction.
But, because of South Africa’s success conservation record and our adherence to strict guidelines when it comes to the sustainable use of species, our country is able to assist in the range expansion of species that have become extinct in other countries because of, for example, poaching and over-exploitation. A most recent example of this has been the successful relocation of 12 cheetah from South Africa to India to rebuild a population of the world’s fastest cats in a country where cheetah became extinct in 1952.
As a developing country, wildlife in South Africa plays a crucial role in creating opportunities and benefits for local communities living around protected areas. Opportunities are also created for the broader economy adding to the importance of effectively managing our country’s natural ecosystems. While they play an important part in sustaining the livelihoods of people in the areas in which they are, people remain the main threat to the conservation of our environment.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Developing our Biodiversity Economy to ensure that the livelihoods of communities are improved through the sustainable use of biological resources is being achieved through a number of initiatives. Through the Biodiversity Economy Strategy more than 418 000 jobs are being created which contributes to the improvement of the livelihoods of many communities. The hunting sector also contributes a significant percentage to our country’s GDP.
These include the:
- Environmental Monitors programme which has successfully increased conservation capacity within our national parks, and provincial and private nature reserves through patrols, biodiversity monitoring, environmental education, and awareness raising about the importance of wildlife conservation and the threats posed to species by poaching and the illegal wildlife trade within local communities.
Through this initiative, which employs more than 1 600 people, we have been able to create conservation conscious communities, improve environmental management practices and increase anti-poaching capacity in a number of areas.
- Peoples and Parks programme was initiated back in 2003 with the aim of empowering communities who had been removed, or directly threatened with removals, from their land to make way for protected areas, such as the Kruger National Park. Through People and Parks local communities who live with, and alongside wildlife, have been working closely with the Department to manage wildlife through their participation in decision-making linked to the management of fauna and flora in our country.
Through this programme the government espouses the approach that nature is not divorced from people, thus recognizing their interdependence and co-existence. At the heart of the initiative is a reminder of the history of land dispossession and the celebration of the rights that citizens enjoy today. Through the land reform programme people previously discriminated against are able to reclaim their land. Many have opted to set aside their land for conservation and the protection of endangered species, placing our local communities in the first line of defense in keeping with the central tenets of CITES, which is that wild fauna and flora which are part of the natural systems of the Earth must be protected for current and future generations.
- the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Khetha Program, was established in 2018 and is being implemented by WWF SA. The aim is to halt the impact of wildlife trafficking on key populations of flagship species, including elephant and rhino. Through this programme communities living in and around the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA) are assisted to better benefit from wildlife and conservation efforts.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today I would like to take the opportunity to thank our law enforcement officials, conservationists and ordinary citizens for the work you do to ensure that our wildlife is protected for generations to come.
Wildlife crime not only threatens natural resources, but also the economy through financial burdens and the loss of economic and development opportunities.
On this World Wildlife Day let us recommit ourselves to combating wildlife crime, to becoming the eyes and ears of the Green Scorpions, the police and the prosecuting authorities to ensure that those involved in any form of illegal trade in our country’s fragile species are brought to book.
Although government has implemented a number of programmes to root out this cross-border crime, international syndicates continue to exploit our poorer communities by drawing them into a life of wildlife crime. This is where we can all work together.
I thank you
