First protected area declared in Free State

The 17,456-hectare protected area, known as the Sneeuwberg Protected Environment (SPE), was gazetted on Friday 29 July 2016.

A “protected environment” is a class of protection under the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (NEMPAA), which offers the next most secure form of protection after a nature reserve. The fact that protected areas can be proclaimed on privately owned land is made possible through the national Biodiversity Stewardship Programme.

Protected environments require a management plan encompassing issues like veld management and wetland protection, while still allowing residents to make a living off the land through activities such as livestock farming and tourism.

Strategic water source area

The Sneeuwberg Protected Environment lies within a strategic water source area, feeding rivers that provide water for cities. It is also rich in fauna and flora and falls within the Grasslands Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA). The area is important for unique and threatened bird species such as the threatened Wattled Crane, Southern Bald Ibis, Blue Korhaan, Denham’s Bustard, Yellow-breasted Pipit and Rudd’s Lark. Other special species to occur in the mountainous grassland environment include the Oribi and Giant Girdled Lizard.

In terms of the gazette notice, the purpose of the declaration is to:

• Regulate the area as a buffer zone for the protection of and conservation of the provincial Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve;
  
• To enable landowners to take collective action to protect unique and threatened grasslands, wetlands, and the associated animals; and
  
• To ensure that “ecosystem services” derived from the area (such as water production) are sustained.

In 2012, WWF South Africa, BirdLife South Africa, the Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA) in the Free State and 12 landowners came together to develop a conservation plan for the valuable biodiversity within the focal area. With the declaration of the SPE, the plan is to build on this success through the establishment of additional private protected areas that are critically important for biodiversity and as water source areas in other parts of the Free State.

Use of innovative mechanisms

“The Sneeuwberg Protected Environment is another success story for our birds, grasslands and water resources, providing the springboard for future protected area declarations of this nature in the Free State. We applaud MEC Mr Malambulele Samuel Mashinini for his foresight and the Memel landowners for their commitment to conservation," comments Mark Anderson, CEO for BirdLife South Africa.

"South Africa’s rich diversity of 847 bird species relies on the successful conservation of our 112 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs). This is, in part, dependent on achieving legal protection for priority IBAs, and can be accomplished using innovative mechanisms such as biodiversity stewardship, and through strategic partnerships between NGOs, government and landowners.”

Says Dr Morné Du Plessis, CEO for WWF South Africa: “I commend the Free State provincial government, landowners and our partners for reaching this significant milestone. The declaration of the Sneeuwberg Protected Environment not only recognises the unique biodiversity of South Africa’s grasslands but also the need for those who live in this beautiful part of the country to sustain their livelihoods through caring for the environment. As an important water source area, the wellbeing of this natural system is of significance to us all.”