Question NW293 to the Minister of Environmental Affairs
13 March 2017 - NW293
Purdon, Mr RK to ask the Minister of Environmental Affairs
(1) Whether the SA National Parks has any plans in place to (a) sell or (b) relocate rhino that fall outside of the Kruger National Park’s proposed intensive protection zone to a custodianship programme; if not, in each case, why not; if so, what are the relevant details in each case; (2) whether the specified custodianship programmes will be linked to community empowerment projects where suitable rhino sanctuaries can be identified and incentivised; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
(1) Yes.
(a) The South African National Parks does have plans in place, and processes are also underway to finalise the sale of rhino that will be sourced from outside the Kruger National Park’s proposed intensive protection zone. The rhinos will be sold to buyers who meet the requirements drawn in terms of the Rhino Integrated Management Approach. The approach calls for animals to be sold to buyers who will keep them in safe areas, grow numbers and who will utilise them to generate an economy that will be to the benefit of local communities as per the Biodiversity Economy Strategy of the Department of Environmental Affairs.
(b) The South African National Parks has plans in place to relocate rhinos that fall outside of the Kruger National Park’s proposed intensive protection zone. The South African National Parks has a custodianship agreement in place that guides the relocation of animals and its management. This custodianship agreement is a tool to govern the shared custody of animals, allows for the loan of a limited number of rhinos and other animals into the custody of communities who are in possession of reinstituted land as a donation to cultivate breeding and use of land for wildlife management. The custodianship agreement also allows for the relocation of animals to emerging game farmers for the same reasons, to grow the numbers while growing the tourism estate and to contribute to the empowerment of these new entrants in the wildlife sector.
(2) Yes the custodianship programmes will continue to be linked to community empowerment projects that facilitate entry into the wildlife ranching sector as well as consistent with the Biodiversity Economy imperatives. These programmes entail a thorough assessment process that identifies suitable rhino sanctuaries through site inspections, and appropriate incentives are built into the programme. These incentives include support for operations and management, as well as capacity development. Furthermore, direct incentives will be derived from the benefits that will be generated from the enhanced operations of the participating entities and resultant income.