An inventory of natural resources harvested from national parks in South Africa
Resource harvesting is permissible within South African protected areas under certain conditions as part of benefit sharing that seeks to strengthen relationships with communities living adjacent to parks. However, not all resource use is authorised and little is currently known about what is harves...
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doaj-d86ee17488144c9da536e3a88c3f82b42020-11-25T00:52:22ZengAOSISKoedoe: African Protected Area Conservation and Science0075-64582071-07712013-05-01551e1e510.4102/koedoe.v55i1.10961013An inventory of natural resources harvested from national parks in South AfricaNicola J. van Wilgen0Mbulelo Dopolo1Alexis Symonds2Wessel Vermeulen3Elzette Bester4Kyle Smith5Melodie A. McGeoch6Cape Research Centre, South African National ParksCape Research Centre, South African National ParksConservation Services, South African National ParksKnysna Scientific Services, South African National ParksStorms River Village Conservation Services, South African National ParksWilderness Scientific Services, South African National ParksCape Research Centre, South African National Parks; Centre for Invasion Biology, South African National ParksResource harvesting is permissible within South African protected areas under certain conditions as part of benefit sharing that seeks to strengthen relationships with communities living adjacent to parks. However, not all resource use is authorised and little is currently known about what is harvested, or the extent and impacts of harvesting in parks. This limits capacity to monitor and set the boundaries for such use. This paper provides a checklist of resources harvested within each of 19 national parks managed by South African National Parks. Data were gathered by means of a question-based survey of park staff. A database detailing the parks from which each resource was harvested and its purpose(s) was compiled, representing the most comprehensive list of resources harvested from parks to date. A total of 382 harvested biological and abiotic resources (284 terrestrial and 98 aquatic), used for a wide range of purposes, were identified across parks. Many of the resources, especially animals (96%), were harvested destructively. The strongest motivation for harvest was subsistence, although most resources were also used for financial gain through informal business. Although current data are not sufficient to determine harvest sustainability for most resources, better data and increased awareness of resource use activities will enable future research to this end. Conservation implications: The checklist of harvested resources provides critical baseline data for parks, which will facilitate assessment of park-specific priorities for research, monitoring and management action.https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1096biodiversityconservation and developmentmonitoringprotected area managementresource usesustainable harvest |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Nicola J. van Wilgen Mbulelo Dopolo Alexis Symonds Wessel Vermeulen Elzette Bester Kyle Smith Melodie A. McGeoch |
spellingShingle |
Nicola J. van Wilgen Mbulelo Dopolo Alexis Symonds Wessel Vermeulen Elzette Bester Kyle Smith Melodie A. McGeoch An inventory of natural resources harvested from national parks in South Africa Koedoe: African Protected Area Conservation and Science biodiversity conservation and development monitoring protected area management resource use sustainable harvest |
author_facet |
Nicola J. van Wilgen Mbulelo Dopolo Alexis Symonds Wessel Vermeulen Elzette Bester Kyle Smith Melodie A. McGeoch |
author_sort |
Nicola J. van Wilgen |
title |
An inventory of natural resources harvested from national parks in South Africa |
title_short |
An inventory of natural resources harvested from national parks in South Africa |
title_full |
An inventory of natural resources harvested from national parks in South Africa |
title_fullStr |
An inventory of natural resources harvested from national parks in South Africa |
title_full_unstemmed |
An inventory of natural resources harvested from national parks in South Africa |
title_sort |
inventory of natural resources harvested from national parks in south africa |
publisher |
AOSIS |
series |
Koedoe: African Protected Area Conservation and Science |
issn |
0075-6458 2071-0771 |
publishDate |
2013-05-01 |
description |
Resource harvesting is permissible within South African protected areas under certain conditions as part of benefit sharing that seeks to strengthen relationships with communities living adjacent to parks. However, not all resource use is authorised and little is currently known about what is harvested, or the extent and impacts of harvesting in parks. This limits capacity to monitor and set the boundaries for such use. This paper provides a checklist of resources harvested within each of 19 national parks managed by South African National Parks. Data were gathered by means of a question-based survey of park staff. A database detailing the parks from which each resource was harvested and its purpose(s) was compiled, representing the most comprehensive list of resources harvested from parks to date. A total of 382 harvested biological and abiotic resources (284 terrestrial and 98 aquatic), used for a wide range of purposes, were identified across parks. Many of the resources, especially animals (96%), were harvested destructively. The strongest motivation for harvest was subsistence, although most resources were also used for financial gain through informal business. Although current data are not sufficient to determine harvest sustainability for most resources, better data and increased awareness of resource use activities will enable future research to this end.
Conservation implications: The checklist of harvested resources provides critical baseline data for parks, which will facilitate assessment of park-specific priorities for research, monitoring and management action. |
topic |
biodiversity conservation and development monitoring protected area management resource use sustainable harvest |
url |
https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1096 |
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