The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, David Maynier, has declared 18 properties as the Grasslands National Park in the Eastern Cape highlands. The park covers a total of 10,225.9242 hectares and is situated between Nqanqarhu and Rhodes. This new national park will help protect under-represented grassland ecosystems and part of the Eastern Cape Drakensberg Strategic Water Source Area.
The park's establishment is a significant step in protecting one of South Africa's least-protected biomes and a strategic water source landscape. Minister Maynier assigned management of the new park to South African National Parks (SANParks) in terms of section 38(1)(aA) of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, 2003. This move demonstrates how conservation and compatible productive land use can reinforce one another through voluntary, long-term partnerships.
The park has been established primarily through biodiversity stewardship, an approach that allows participating landowners to retain ownership of their properties while committing to agreed conservation and management arrangements. This approach enables conservation-compatible agricultural activities to continue, allowing the protection of ecologically important landscapes alongside working agricultural land and the livelihoods it supports.
The Grasslands National Park is the first national park in South Africa established primarily through a biodiversity stewardship model. This initiative is an example of how inclusive partnerships can drive large-scale conservation success. Landowners retain ownership of their properties, and the park's establishment showcases the potential for coexistence between people and nature.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) South Africa played a leading role in coordinating the establishment of the park alongside the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, SANParks, and other partners. WWF South Africa CEO, Dr. Morné du Plessis, expressed ambition for the park to expand significantly over the next decade, with plans to grow into a Mega Living Landscape in the order of hundreds of thousands of hectares.
The declaration of the Grasslands National Park marks a new step in efforts to protect South Africa's grassland ecosystems while showing how conservation partnerships can work alongside sustainable agricultural land use. The park's establishment is a result of pioneering commitment from landowners, who are the champions of this new park. Their efforts have made this flagship initiative a reality, poised to scale up as a model of coexistence.
The new national park will contribute to the conservation of South Africa's unique biodiversity and strategic water source areas. With its establishment, the country has taken a significant step towards protecting its natural heritage. The park's growth and expansion in the coming years will be closely watched, as it sets an example for conservation efforts in the region.
Key points
- The Grasslands National Park covers over 10,000 hectares of grassland in the Eastern Cape highlands.
- The park was established through a biodiversity stewardship model, allowing landowners to retain ownership while committing to conservation arrangements.
- The park aims to expand significantly over the next decade, with plans to grow into a Mega Living Landscape.
