More Rangelands Under Improved Management in South Africa
An additional 865 hectares of biodiversity-rich rangelands in South Africa’s Kruger to Canyons landscape will now be under improved management. This is after Conservation South Africa (CSA), our affiliate, and partners signed a negotiated Conservation Agreements with livestock farmers from Phiring and Malaeneng Villages in Sekhukhune District Municipality, Limpopo Province.
Under the agreements, the farmers have committed to a range of actions to restore their degraded rangelands, including planned grazing of livestock. In exchange, CSA will support them to improve the collective management, production and health of their livestock, and to access formal markets that fetch them significantly higher returns.
The agreements expand the CSA-managed area under improved management across South Africa to 102,865 hectares.
The agreements were signed under the Dinkwanyane Water Smart Project, funded by the Flanders Government in partnership with the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve NPC and Hoedspruit Hub.
The Kruger to Canyons landscape lies on the western border of Kruger National Park, and is one of the most biodiverse areas for large mammal species within southern Africa, with grasslands supporting large populations of herbivores and associated predators. It’s also home to a rural population.
Meanwhile, CSA has renewed conservation agreements with 86 livestock farmers from 4 Farmer Associations to improve management of 88,900 hectares of rangelands in Leliefontein Commonage, Kamiesberg region of the Namakwa District, Northern Cape Province. This region falls within the Succulent Karoo biodiversity hotspot that boasts the richest variety of succulent flora in the world, and is a center of diversity for reptiles and many groups of invertebrates.
