Mega Living Landscapes Emerge as a Model for More Inclusive, Sustainable Conservation in South Africa

Anele Kumalo & Natasha Wilson

South African National Parks (SANParks) is the largest statutory conservation agency in South Africa. Currently, SANParks manages 4.2 million hectares of land, comprised of 22 national parks and four marine protected areas (MPAs). Its mandates for managing these protected areas are set out in the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, 2003 (NEMPAA). SANParks’ work is further guided by national policies and strategies, such as the National Biodiversity Framework and the National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy, as well as by international instruments, such as the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework. 

South Africa’s biodiversity, which is some of the most diverse in the world, is under significant pressure from development. Recognizing this, SANParks works to intentionally contribute to South Africa’s 2030 National Development Plan—the nation’s blueprint for the next five years of economic development—to ensure protected areas receive necessary consideration. SANParks aims to not only expand its protected-area estate but also to work toward socio-economic transformation.

Mega Living Landscapes innovate conservation to better serve people and place

In September 2024, SANParks launched its new long-term plan, “Vision 2040”, which is a strategic roadmap that aligns biodiversity conservation with participation from, and inclusivity of, local people. It presents a call to action to develop protected areas under a new management strategy. Areas developed using this strategy will be called Mega Living Landscapes.

Mega Living Landscapes will reimagine how people can manage and conserve biodiversity on a larger scale and in a more inclusive manner. They acknowledge the interconnection of biodiversity protection, climate resilience, and human well-being. These landscapes will go beyond approaches like fencing to encourage a holistic management style, inclusive of the many different activities that take place on land. They frame diverse activities as being part of a conservation plan when done sustainably, thus ensuring historical redress and widely shared economic growth.

The Grasslands National Park is a pilot for the new tool

SANParks is one of South Africa’s leading conservation authorities and the party responsible for about 70 percent of the nation’s state-protected land. This means it is uniquely situated to influence both biodiversity and local socioeconomic outcomes. It takes a conscious and deliberate approach to ensuring inclusivity and sustainability through its work. It exemplifies this in its novel approach to establishing the Grasslands National Park (GNP), one of the first examples of a Mega Living Landscape.[1]

Currently earmarked to be declared as a national park using the contract National Park mechanism, the GNP is unique because it will protect a largely agricultural landscape. To establish the park, SANParks and its partner the World Wide Fund for Nature have worked closely with private and communal landowners. The 30,000-hectare region in the mountainous Eastern-Cape area is critical for regional drinking water security, high-altitude grasslands, and climate implications. But it also supports the pastoral lifestyles of many people and communities.

Landowners within the park’s region were given the opportunity to incorporate their land in the park on a voluntary basis and were offered financial incentives to steward land sustainably. In 2021, SANParks’ stated that the goal of the GNP was to raise government funding to restore and maintain the landscape, thus improving water security, creating employment opportunities, and opening the door to ecotourism.

It is all part of a broader legal and procedural framework to guide more responsible conservation

The GNP is representative of the strategies SANParks uses to implement stewardship through contract National Park agreements provided for in the NEMPAA, which are agreements between SANParks and landowners or communities that have rights of occupation and use in State land, referred to as communal land in South Africa.

In these agreements, landowners and communities give prior, informed consent for their land to be included in a national park but remain the owners/stewards of the land. They also undertake certain management actions to conserve their land but are not expected to fundamentally change land use. SANParks plays a supporting role in achieving conservation objectives.

Currently, 21,964 hectares of private and communal land is under negotiation for declaration as part of the GNP. This progress is key, as it illustrates the level of buy-in that the project has garnered over several years and the value it provides local land-users.

At its heart, the GNP seeks to conserve biodiversity, while also providing tangible livelihood opportunities for local communities who depend on the land. As a model, it represents innovation in conservation and the path that SANParks hopes to pave toward a more sustainable future for South African land and natural resources.

[1] This is a provisional name for the proposed new national park. The name may well change before the national park is declared.