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Dlist discussions often touch on or have in depth discussions on communal farmers, their plights, hopes, etc. However, as far as I know, we have never, or rarely, touched on the subject of commercial farmers - with emphasis on their role in impacting on the environment.
Commercial farmers own about 80% of the land in the Succulent Karoo, a biodiversity hotspot, for instance. Even if the government meets all its land transformation targets, most of the land in the Succulent Karoo, and indeed, in the country, will still belong to the commercial farmers.
Commercial farmers are therefore custodians of a a significant portion of the biodiversity in this country. This fact has been ackonowledged in conservation circles and has given birth to the conservation stewardship program, where agreements of different levels of commitment can be made with farmers to protect biodiversity on their land.
Commercial farmers are often a challenge in terms of engaging with them on conservation issues, and I would be interested to hear other people's views on this. Although they are maybe not a politically sexy topic, ignoring them, would be ignoring the potential for expanding conservation of our natural heritage. I'd love to hear from other people on their experiences in dealing with commercial farmers on conservation (and other) topics - and on ideas on how we could engage with them successfully |
Malinda is right - real conservation of this country's biodiversity will never be possible so long as it's largely confined to just our patchwork of national parks and nature reserves. This is why it's important to get commercial farmers to appreciate the critical role they - as the biggest landowners in the country - have to play in protecting nature and the environment.
Almost 20 years ago, I made a series of 10-minute films under the broad title, Farming with Wildlife. The programmes were sponsored as a public-relations exercise by a fertiliser company, with the aim of showing farmers why and how to preserve the wetlands on their farms, their good insects, their rodent-eating birds of prey, dungbeetles, oxpeckers and so on: and how to create highways and flyways on their land for the benefit of wildlife, to handle poisons and how to live alongside the so-called lammervangers. The series was screened a couple of times on SABC-TV's farming programmes, and also promoted directly, on video, to Farmers' Association study-groups and so on.
It's impossible to know what influence the programmes had in general because there's almost never any adequate follow-up on topics that are made primarily for public relations rather than sales, but over the years I've met a number of farmers who had implemented some of the suggestions made in the films and who, by farming with nature rather than being constantly 'at war' with it, had not only benefitted financially but were far happier from the moral and ethical point of view about their relationship with the wildlife on their farms.
Now, with a whole range of new technologies available - DVDs, data projection, the internet, even videopodcasting - the possibilities for reaching farmers are presumably better than they ever were. Maybe there's some concerned conservation group that's willing to give in another go because, used in the right way, film/video is still the most effective medium of communication we have and protecting biodiversity is the most important issue.
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Dear Malinda,
Precisely because of the reasons you mentioned, UNDP, with the funding
support from Global Environment Facility, implements projects that support
the efforts to mainstream biodiversity conservation principles into the
private sectors/commercial sectors. As you said, biodiversity conservation
efforts must be made by all cohorts: commercial/communal farmers, and
protected area/commercial area managers.
At the recent CBD COP9, UNDP/GEF organized a side event, titled
"Biodiversity and Business", to showcase the UNDP/GEF work on mainstreaming
of biodiversity principles into the private sector - focusing on two sectors
and the partner institutions; Fair trade/flower production with Marks &
Spencer (South Africa), transforming productive practices in the coffee
sector by increasing market demand for certified sustainable coffee with the
Rainforest Alliance (regional - Latin America). (more info available at
http://www.undp.org/gef/05/portfolio/cop9.html)
To mainstream biodiversity conservation principles into private sectors, a
project must look at beyond what is practiced on the land itself. The
project needs to look at supply chain for the eco-friendly products, needs
to raise awareness of both suppliers and consumers, needs to assist creating
markets for eco-friendly products. The change does not happen overnight,
but once suppliers are convinced that they could recover the costs of
putting extra efforts on conservation from the sales of the products they
produce (i.e., consumers buy eco-friendly products for higher price.), then
the conservation efforts at commercial land will be financially self
sustained.
A brief description of the UNDP/GEF projects in South Africa is also
available as a booklet
(http://www.undp.org/gef/05/documents/publications/sa_booklet_contents.pdf)
Best,
Akiko
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I can report on two initiatives dealing with private landowners while
planning and implementing the Lower Orange River Transfrontier Conservation
Area that forms part of the Ai-Ais/Richtersveld TFP/CA (ARTP/CA) project.
During 2006
the adjacent farms to the Ai-Ais protected area organised themselves into
the Greater Fish River Canyon Complex - an association aiming to join hands
with state / communities in integrated and development planning of this
spectacular ecoregion. During three workshops a constitution was accepted
and much progress was made with joint management and tourism planning. At
present the initiative is in limbo waiting for guidance from official
circles - with land owners still very much in favour of a cooperative
approach.
Another case study has been very successfully recently launched on the RSA
side of the 1996 targeted Gariep TFCA, whereby communities / private
landowners accepted in principle the TFCA Route towards Integrated and
Conservation Planning. The planning of this Gariep (Augrabies) Node is part
of the ARTP/CA action plan under the auspices of the ARTP/CA Joint
Management Board, that envisage a Joint Management Plan for the Lower Orange
River, representing the borderline between Namibia and South Africa. A
three pronged investigational operation is due to be finalised and
integrated in 2009 - underpinning this only real Peace Park in the SADC
region. In it self a most important venture for this former outback region
so under fire in global warming - but being the only desert area designated
as a biohotspot on the globe.
Local land owners are aware of their responsibility towards preserving this
heritage and to make a buy-in in an alternative more cooperative land use
option in a very much marginal farming business under a climatic siege.
Peet van der Walt
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