Question NW2114 to the Minister of Environmental Affairs
25 August 2017 - NW2114
Thembekwayo, Dr S to ask the Minister of Environmental Affairs
Does her department have a policy to provide material and financial assistance to strengthen smallholder farmer capacity and practice in maintaining and building biodiversity; if not, why not?
Reply:
Yes, the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has several policies and strategies for supporting smallholder game farmers and indigenous plant producers/farmers that form an integral part of the Biodiversity Economy. The National Biodiversity Economy Strategy forms the basis for this support.
Furthermore, the Department has the Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Programme’s Policy and Procedures Manual, which guides the process of funding infrastructural projects to support, among other stakeholders, emerging game farmers in the Wildlife Economy and the small-scale producers of indigenous plants in the Bioprospecting and Bio-trade Sector of the National Biodiversity Economy.
In addition, Section 42 of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, provides for the Co-Management Agreement Mechanism or Assistance through, among others, benefit sharing and development of local management capacity.
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