The Garden Route area, from George, extending to the Port Elizabeth municipal boundary, was granted formal recognition as a Biosphere Reserve by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, (UNESCO) MAB (UNESCO’S Man & Biosphere Programme) last week on Wednesday 14th June in Paris. The official launch of the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve (GRBR) will take place later in the year.
First day of meetings at UNESCO in Paris: From left: Vongani Maringa, Skumsa Mancotywa, Siyabonga Dlulisa
This decision is the result of many years of work by a group of dedicated people within the Garden Route with the support of SANParks, CapeNature, Eastern Cape Economic Development, Environmental Affairs & Tourism and District and Local Municipalities and Provincial and National Departments of Environmental Affairs.
The Minister of Environmental Affairs, Dr. Edna Molewa, has welcomed the approval of the Garden Route as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Her Department stated in its acceptance speech, “It is indeed a great feeling for South Africa today, as we continue on a journey of strengthening our conservation efforts.” Referring to the recent and tragic fires that have engulfed the Garden Route, the speaker continued, “What has been illuminated from these ashes, is the remarkable sense of community and compassion for fellow beings in the Garden Route as a whole. The positive response to the application to declare the Garden Route a biosphere reserve is most encouraging, not just for us, as a country, but also for the people of the region. The Garden Route, one of South Africa’s prime tourism regions, is an area rich in terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems where conservation of the rich biodiverse region is ably reconciled with sustainable use practices. ”
View over Paris from the UNESCO building
UNESCO states that biosphere reserves are nominated by national governments and remain under the sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located, even though their status is internationally recognised. The Garden Route Biosphere Reserve (GRBR) is the ninth such reserve to be declared in South Africa.
The GRBR is located within the Cape Floristic biodiversity hotspot region along the southern coast of South Africa, with a total area of 698,363ha (212,375 ha core, 288,032 ha buffer, 197,956 ha transition) and a population of 450,624 people. The area includes the Tsitsikamma, Goukamma and Robberg Marine protected areas, Wilderness Lake Ramsar site, Garden Route National Park and two components of the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage site: the Nelson Bay Cave and the Langkloof Valley.
The municipalities included in the Biosphere Reserve are Eden and Sarah Baartman District municipalities as well as George, Knysna, Bitou, Kouga, and Koukamma local municipalities. All of these municipalities have been consulted in the establishment process.
Linked to the conservation related activities, the development objectives of the GRBR are to promote growth in small business development, employment, training and entrepreneurial endeavours, contribute to poverty alleviation and to encourage sustainable biodiversity-based businesses and their contribution to the green economy on the Garden Route.
Several development opportunities have arisen from the desire to conserve the natural environment within the GRBR. Innovative solutions that support the environment are encouraged by UNESCO MAB and various eco-tourism, green economy, educational and exciting research programmes are planned.
The clearing of alien vegetation has substantial socio-economic benefits for the region in the form of several government-sponsored and endorsed initiatives such as Working for Water, Working for Wetlands and Working on Fire. These initiatives provide employment and facilitate skills development and the exchange of ideas between the different stakeholder groups. A key objective linked to community development is to develop small business opportunities linked to the use of by-products from alien plant management initiatives. For example, the vegetation cleared can be made available for making furniture and crafts, sold as fire wood and for making charcoal.
The announcement is made
The proclamation of the GRBR has come at a most auspicious time. While the Garden Route was engulfed in flames, the International Coordinating Council (ICC) of UNESCO MAB sat in Paris deciding on the status of the Garden Route. The decision to accept the nomination for this biosphere reserve was met with enormous relief, gratitude and hope, understanding the potential that it holds.
Biosphere reserves are given international recognition due to their unique natural, historic and cultural attributes. Biospheres are required to incorporate people within the landscape and, in essence, are about how man engages with his environment, how people benefit from the environment without doing harm to it and how the environment is enhanced by those who benefit from it. Innovative research, learning, job creation, youth development, relationship building, responsible tourism development and project implementation are all part of a biosphere reserve’s activities.
Front Row: From Left to Right
Ms Mpe Nthabiseng Malefane (Minister-Plenipotentiary {Deputy Ambassador} South African Embassy in France, Ms Skumsa Mancotywa (Chief Director, Dept of Environmental Affairs); Mrs Juliet Carlisle (Garden Route Biosphere Reserve)
Back Row: From Left to Right
Mr Teboho Leku (Deputy Director, Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development); Mr Vongani Maringa (Assistant Director, Dept. of Environmental Affairs); and Mr Siyabonga Dlulisa (Deputy Director, Dept of Environmental Affairs) and Ms Kgomotso Rahlaga (Counsellor multilateral agreement Embassy of South Africa in France).
For the Garden Route, the biosphere reserve status means so much but in terms of our hopes and dreams:
- We have so much to repair after the flames. However, with spring (September), comes new growth and our magnificent fynbos thrives after fire. We are expecting some magnificent gems to emerge from this tragedy. Just as we saw our communities blossom and heroes materialize from those awful flames, so too will our vegetation regrow, strong and beautiful. With international status, and eyes on us, we will be able to access funding to tackle our alien plant problems that pose such a fire risk.
- From problems emerge possibilities – every alien tree presents a job opportunity, both through the removal of the tree and the use of its wood for charcoal, firewood, crafting, flooring and so on.
- With eyes on the Garden Route we are presented with a wonderful marketing tool for tourism. We are internationally recognised for our beauty. What more could we ask for? Our coast, our forests, our fynbos.
- We have a ‘stamp of approval’ that we can use to market products coming out of the Garden Route – ‘local is lekker’ but we can sell our ‘local’ with a stamp that has international recognition.
- In our Garden Route we have researchers par excellence. Innovation is encouraged by UNESCO and biomimicry is here. We have an organisation on the Garden Route that is working on biomimicry projects, looking to emulate natural systems that ‘do no harm’ to be implemented as part of our towns’ functional requirements. We have marine researchers who are world class, as well as biologists and ecologists and social ecologists – watch this space for the next ‘university of the future’.
- In September we are sending a representative from the Garden Route, a young girl studying Nature Conservation, to attend the international MAB Youth Forum in Italy. She is being sponsored to attend this event and will return with a wealth of knowledge to share and will be instrumental in establishing a Youth Forum in the Garden Route BR.
- Culturally and historically, we can showcase man’s development going back 120 000 years – right from Pinnacle Point in Mossel Bay and all along our coastline.
The possibilities are vast and involve all our communities, organisations and people of the area.
