Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

South Africa is home to 10 per cent of the world’s plant species, seven per cent of its reptile, bird and mammal species, and harbours around 15 per cent of the world’s marine species [ ] 207 Assessment tools aid wildlife management effectiveness The formal assessment of the man- agement effectiveness of protected areas managed by Ezemvelo was undertaken in line with the or- ganization’s Annual Performance Plan (APP) Medium Term Strategic Framework target (2014–2019), which seeks to ensure that 90 per cent of the Ezemvelo PA estate meets or exceeds the national minimum standard of 67 per cent effectiveness by the end of 2019. The 2014–2015 assessment made use of the Ezemvelo Manage- ment Effectiveness Tracking Tool, which ensures that scores are fully comparable and allows for trends to be identified. The nature of such assessments means that rigorous engagements with protected area management take place and it is therefore of paramount importance that their collective concerns and obstacles relating to the fulfilment of their duties are also doc- umented. The findings of the assess- ment are based on objective scientific criteria developed over the years by the World Bank and the World Wild- life Fund and have the full endorse- ment of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In addition to the improved area of effectively managed PA estate com- pared to the previous year, the results also show an increasing dichotomy between low- and high-scoring PAs. It appears that those PAs with higher scores are maintaining their stand- ards of management, whereas once PAs enter the lower-scoring categories they continue to decline. Despite the increase in effectively managed PA estate compared to the previous year, the mean score decreased by 1.7 per cent to 60.44 per cent effectiveness. A major concern is that many of the problem areas identified in previous years are still constraints on PA man- agement. The assessment concluded that the organization’s focus on achiev- ing goals as paper exercises and its in- ability to resolve issues on the ground are highly problematic, as is the lack of adaptive management initiated and driven from the executive level. The assessment advised the estab- lishment of a task team to develop a turnaround strategy for PA manage- ment, to be championed by the Strat- egy Unit. Further recommendations are that senior managers should en- sure that all low-scoring areas per PA should be tabled through the relevant management structures, to facilitate ongoing adaptive management, and that a process should be initiated for the delineation of buffer zones. Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park, South Africa South Africa S outh Africa has revised aspects of its Protected Area (PA) management strategy as a result of issues revealed by an in-depth research initiative. An annual assessment of PA management effectiveness for Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (Ezemvelo) protected areas in 2014–2015 showed that although the area of effectively managed protected area estate increased compared to the previous year, the mean score for all protected areas decreased by almost two per cent, with only about half the protected areas achieving the minimum standard. Concerns included the growing number of many small- to medium-sized protected areas scoring below 60 per cent effectiveness, lower than the national minimum standard of 67 per cent. Matthias Mullie on Unsplash