Premier of the Northern Cape, Dr Zamani Saul 
MEC Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development & Land Reform, Ms Mase Manopele
MEC: Department Finance, Economic Development & Tourism,  Mr Abraham Vosloo
Executive Mayor ZF Mgcawu District Municipality,  Councillor MC Basson
Executive Mayor !Kai Garib Local Municipality, Councillor Marshall Mattys
Chair of the SANParks Board, Ms Pamela Yako, and members of the Board
Acting Chief Executive of SANParks, Ms Hapilloe Sello, and Members of the Managing Executive
Senior managers of our partners – FNB and Total Energies SA --  Ms Mpho Mofokeng, the provincial head public service Gauteng for FNB and the General Manager Strategy for Total Energies, Mr Sunil Gandi
Community of Riemvasmaak
Officials from government departments  
Distinguished guests and members of the media 

Good Morning and welcome to this magnificent national park. 

This is my first visit to Augrabies National Park.  I am sure the feeling of awe that I experienced when first seeing the thundering waters of the Augrabies Falls is similar to the feeling that most first-time visitors to our national parks have when they see and experience the majesty of our country’s beauty and variety of plants and animals in untouched wilderness. 

This more than 55 300 hectare park was proclaimed in 1966 to conserve and restore the biodiversity of the Orange River Broken Veld with its associated flora and fauna and to maintain the waterfall and its surrounds in an unspoilt state. The park also provides opportunities for environmental education and research.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

National Parks Week is an event that is celebrated worldwide every year to raise awareness about the importance of national parks. 

Through our valued  partnership with First National Bank and Total Energies South Africa, SANParks, as the custodian of our country’s national parks allows free access to South Africans who wish to make a day visit during this week.  

Since the programme began in 2006, 619 252 South Africans, who may not otherwise have afforded to visit a national park, have participated.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

South Africa’s approach to managing conservation and biodiversity has always been characterized by the principle of sustainable use. In our national parks, tourism has been the central pillar of our approach. 

I am happy to report today that in the  2021/22 financial year, the number of visitors to the country’s national parks increased by 74% from 1 996 667 during the Covid lockdowns of the 2020/21 financial year to 3 482 514 .  This recovery, primarily at this stage in the domestic tourism market reflects that the South African Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan in the tourism sector is well on track. 

Conservation and Biodiversity management in developing countries is only sustainable if communities living adjacent to national parks benefit directly from tourism and its associated ecosystems. Currently, SANParks and its concessionaires, employ over 6 100 people, eighty percent of whom are recruited from neighbouring communities. Through our expanded public works programme, a further 13 650 work opportunities were created last year and 835 SMMEs participated in providing goods and services to SANParks during the 2021/22 financial year.  

Earlier this year in an effort to further expand the economic opportunities in our national parks, SANParks hosted a conference where over 100 projects were launched seeking investment partnerships in accommodation, retail activities and restaurants in our national parks.   

Last year my office received the report of the High-Level Panel of Experts (HLP) that reviewed our existing policies, legislation and practices on matters of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling.

The Panel made two important findings. The first was that despite having a range of biodiversity and sustainable use legislation and policies, biodiversity loss continues to threaten the health of ecosystems and survival of species, and results in negative impacts for livelihoods and the economy. Global change, habitat loss and degradation, invasive alien species, overharvesting, and illegal harvesting all threaten South Africa’s biodiversity.

The second was that South Africa’s biodiversity sector remains substantially untransformed and there is inequality in access to benefits arising from biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. 
Furthermore, this sector has not reached its potential in terms of the contribution to the economy and Growth Domestic Product (GDP). Biodiversity and its use is a catalytic engine of rural economies, and the value chains that emerge from these need to be fully realised. 

Additionally, the panel noted, that certain practices bring the biodiversity sector and its commitment to sustainable use into disrepute and harm our international status as an ecotourism destination.

The HLP recommendations provide a very clear way forward on how to address key sector challenges and highlight the importance of transformation of the sector, with empowerment and capacitation of communities living with wildlife, and recognition of their traditions and culture, as practiced through the traditional leaders and traditional healers.

It also recommended the need for a more holistic approach to sustainable use, which ensures responsible and humane use of South Africa’s biodiversity, and the ending of poor and harmful practices, such as those associated with the captive lion industry. 

The draft White Paper focuses on transformation, with access and beneficiation by communities adjacent to protected areas, as well as for previously disadvantaged individuals.

Its vision is for a prosperous nation, living in harmony with nature.  To accomplish this, the mission is to conserve South Africa's biodiversity, and maintain and restore ecological integrity. 

In doing so we must provide transformative socio-economic development benefits to the nation, through justifiable, responsible, and ecologically sustainable, and socially equitable, use of components of biodiversity encapsulated in the impact statement of “Thriving People and Nature.” 

The draft White Paper also sets out important principles which will guide future policy, legislation, and decision-making across the sector.

This includes reshaping ecologically sustainable use in a responsible manner. of This means ensuring species persistence, and the ecological integrity of ecosystems. Social responsibilities are emphasized, as is the welfare of animals. 

An important companion strategy that has been released together with the draft White Paper on sustainable use, is the Game Meat Strategy. 

The strategy acknowledges the significant contribution made by current wildlife businesses and the various associations that drive critical elements of the value chain. 

Key to taking the new strategy forward will be to harness their experience and expertise. New private sector investments will be needed, and partnerships and collaborations will be essential, meaningful, and with buy-in from all stakeholders. 

In our view, properly implemented, the Game Meat Strategy will allow for compatible land use on the outskirts of our national parks, and ensure a sustainable off take for surrounding communities.

Given the high level of interest in both policies, the Department has extended the period of public consultation until 26 September.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Among the robust regulations and strategies in place to ensure ecological sustainability and ecosystem protection in South Africa is the National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy, which guides the expansion of the country’s conservation estate. 

During the past year, 9 524 hectares of conservation land was added to four of our national parks, namely Addo Elephant, Namaqua, Table Mountain and Agulhas National Parks. During the current year SANParks plans to add at least 4000ha to the system of National Parks.

As part of the holistic approach to halting biodiversity loss, the National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy (NPAES) was approved by Cabinet 2020. This Strategy is informed by systematic conservation planning with the aim of increasing South Africa’s conservation estate by 0.5% per anum with a 20-year target to have 28% of the country’s surface area under conservation by 2036.

The ultimate target is to conserve 36% of South Africa’s total terrestrial area and marine areas, which should be representative of all biomes. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

This year in Montreal, Canada, the world will adopt the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) at the 15th Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biodiversity and Conservation.

This post-2020 Agenda for Biodiversity, identifies transformative changes to achieve the 2050 vision of living in harmony with nature. South Africa supports and welcomes all targets in the Global Biodiversity Framework and recognises the need for ambitious targets, including for Target 3, which is commonly known as 30 by 30.  

Parties are encouraged to protect at least 30 percent of the global ocean and 30 percent of land areas and inland waters by 2030 through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative, and well-connected systems of protected areas. 

South Africa, emphasises that countries’ contribution to Target 3 must be subject to national circumstances, capabilities and safeguarding the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. 

In closing ladies and gentlemen, it is appropriate that I encourage all South Africans to take pride in protecting our country’s rich biodiversity.   

I once again invite South Africans who have never visited a national park to take the opportunity to do so this week.  

I thank you