Monitoring consumptive resource use in South African national parks
Date
2019-01-30
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS
Abstract
Monitoring is an essential component of measuring the performance of protected areas. This
requirement led to the development of a biodiversity monitoring system for South African
National Parks (SANParks). The system comprises of ten major programmes, each focusing on
a core area of conservation biodiversity monitoring, with resource use being one of the focal
areas. With the growing appreciation of the importance of natural resources for the socioeconomic
well-being of communities and other stakeholders, sustainable resource use is an
important component of the management of natural areas and national parks. To gauge
sustainability, a sound monitoring and research programme that fits within the context of the
SANParks’ adaptive management approach towards social-ecological system management is
required. The purpose of this article was to define the context and scope in which consumptive
resource use takes place within SANParks and to outline the criteria necessary for developing
a sound monitoring programme to assess the sustainability of such use. The monitoring
programme is structured in view of the fact that sustainable resource use is achievable only
where all dimensions of sustainability (social, economic and ecological) are considered
simultaneously. In terms of the social and economic dimensions of sustainability, the
programme provides for assessing stakeholder needs, trends in resource use and the social
and economic impacts of resource use. Monitoring that relates to the ecological dimension of
sustainability of biological resource use deals with the rate of turnover and population
dynamics of target species, as well as harvest impact. In terms of abiotic (non-renewable)
resources, monitoring deals with sound management practices to minimise impact on the
environment, and to optimise benefits through responsible use.
Conservation implications: The resource use monitoring programme is intended to ensure
that monitoring relating to the harvesting of natural resources from national parks is
scientifically sound and conducted in a structured way, towards meeting the objective of
sustainable use and compliance with national legislation. The article illustrates how SANParks
meets its obligation to monitor biodiversity conservation while at the same time meeting the
needs for the consumptive use of resources.
Description
CITATION: Vermeulen, W. et al. 2019. Monitoring consumptive resource use in South African national parks. Koedoe, 61(1):a1516, doi:10.4102/koedoe.v61i1.1516.
The original publication is available at https://koedoe.co.za
The original publication is available at https://koedoe.co.za
Keywords
National parks -- South Africa
Citation
Vermeulen, W. et al. 2019. Monitoring consumptive resource use in South African national parks. Koedoe, 61(1):a1516, doi:10.4102/koedoe.v61i1.1516.