By Guy Rogers Environment & Tourism Editor -  The Herald - 13 June 2007

CONSERVATION and ecotourism on the Wild Coast have received a huge boost in the form of a R46-million donation from the UN Development Programme.

Project co-ordinator Xolani Funda said the money would be channelled through the World Bank‘s global environmental facility to the Eastern Cape Parks Board in a five-year project, and the board would use the funds to improve the management capacity of all the conservation agencies in the area.

Besides the Eastern Cape Parks Board, the other conservation agencies in the area include the water affairs and forestry department and the marine and coastal management directorate of the national environment department. Then there are eight local municipalities from the Kei River in the south to the Mtamvuna River in the north, on the border of KwaZulu Natal: Mnquma, Mbhashe, King Sabata Dalindyebo, Nyandeni, Port St Johns, Ingquza and Mbizana.

Strengthening the conservation units in each of these municipalities would be an important focus, Funda said. One of the anticipated outcomes was that conservation would feature more strongly in the integrated development plans established by these local government bodies.

Another possible focus was the issue of protected areas within communal land, and the board‘s flagship Mkambati Nature Reserve would be receiving considerable attention, he said.

The launch of the new project follows on the completion in 2005 of several studies commissioned by the government and undertaken by the Wild Coast Conservation and Sustainable Development Project, overseen by the Wilderness Foundation.

Funda said that while he was aware of other land-use development proposals considered in the studies, like the Wild Coast N2 and dune mining, his team would be focusing on conservation and would not be getting involved in the options debate.

Wilderness Foundation director Andrew Muir said he believed the launch of the project would be a key step in strengthening the case for ecotourism as the appropriate development option on the Wild Coast.

“It will put another layer in place which will support this approach.

“There is a fantastic opportunity here to create islands of excellence around Mkambati and the other provincial reserves (Hluleleka, Dwesa/Cwebe and Silaka) on the Wild Coast and to link them in a conservation corridor,” Muir said.

Posted on June 13th, 2007
Filed under: Newspaper and Media