SOUTHERN AFRICAN PEACE PARKS
|Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park
Park Development
On 18 October 2000, the Namibian Minister of the Environment and Tourism, Mr Philemon Malima met with the former South African Minister for Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mr Valli Moosa. The then Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Prof. Willem van Riet and various officials were present at this meeting to discuss the development of transfrontier links between Namibia and South Africa.
The Transfrontier Park will be managed as a single integrated unit according to a joint management plan. The respective governments and stakeholders however need to agree to its development and formalisation. The management plan will allow full participation by the local community through elected members, inter alia to preserve the traditional lifestyle and culture of the Nama people. Each nation retains sovereign rights to the land that becomes part of the Transfrontier Park. Ecological processes will be optimised, in harmony with increased ecotourism and socio-economic benefits. The formation of management alliances between different stakeholders such as state affiliations, the private sector, local communities and non-government organisations will be encouraged.
One of the main challenges associated with the implementation of the Transfrontier Park is the rehabilitation of diamond mining areas on both sides of the Orange River and the expansion of diamond mining at Buffelsbank Diamante at Sendelingsdrift in the Richtersveld National Park. All mining concerns in the Transfrontier Park are required to cooperate to optimise the stated management objectives and economic opportunities over the broadest possible spectrum.
The two designated conservation areas are relatively recent acquisitions to southern Africa's network of protected areas and combining them into a transfrontier park will make a significant contribution to the consolidation of protected land in the Namib Desert biotic zone and the mammals associated with it.
Benefits from a conservation-based action within a desert environment can compete with that flowing from other livelihoods such as livestock farming. Inhabitants of the Richtersveld for instance are now rapidly realising that no other alternative land use could be more profitable and, more importantly, sustainable. Like similar developments in other desert economies of the world, the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park is a timeous value-adding activity of great potential to uplift the quality of life of succeeding rural generations especially through ecotourism.
A memorandum of understanding initiating the the establishment of the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park was signed by Ministers Philemon Malima of Namibia and Valli Moosa of South Africa on 17 August 2001.
Extensive community consultations were conducted beforehand, as the Richtersveld National Park in South Africa is owned by the Richtersveld communities and jointly managed in association with South African National Parks (SANParks). This management structure allows the full participation not only of local communities through elected members representing the four towns in the area (Kuboes, Sanddrift, Lekkersing and Eksteenfontein), but also of local pastoralists. These communities were keen to see the Transfrontier Park established, as they would all benefit from increased tourism to the area, while at the same time conserving its unique biodiversity. The Transfrontier Park would also help maintain the cultural heritage and traditional lifestyle of the Nama people.
Since the signing of the MOU, a number of developments have taken place. On the South African side, a management plan for the Richtersveld National Park was signed into being at Sendelingsdrift on 26 October 2002. This came about after extensive consultations with the community and several meetings between SANParks and the Richtersveld National Park Management Planning Committee.
Various bilateral committees, both ministerial and technical, as well as national working groups on community development, planning and management, security and customs, and finance were constituted to formalise the establishment of the Transfrontier Park. The signing of the international treaty effectively transformed the technical committee into a joint management board and the working groups into management committees.
Regarding the international treaty that established the Transfrontier Park, a comprehensive consultative process was initiated in June 2002 and a draft of this document, as well as draft integrated tourism and joint management plans were discussed at length over the ensuing months. Peace Parks Foundation supported the development of this transfrontier park by funding workshops, a TFCA coordinator and a community liaison officer, as well as a number of community workshops. The Foundation's GIS laboratory also assisted in the drafting of the land-use and tourism plans.
On 1 August 2003 President Sam Nujoma of Namibia and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa signed an international treaty establishing the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park.
Following the treaty-signing ceremony by the heads of state, Namibia and Angola's Ministers of the Environment signed an agreement to commence the process of establishing a transfrontier park spanning the lower Kunene River and including Iona National Park in Angola and the Skeleton Coast Park in Namibia.
As Namibian Minister for Environment and Tourism, Philemon Malima said at the ceremony: This is just the beginning of bigger things to come - |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld has opened the door. The eventual plan is to create a conservation area that will stretch from the Richtersveld National Park in South Africa all the way up Namibia's coast and into Angola. There is also a proposal to link this with Namibia's Etosha National Park, bringing it to a total area of conserved ecosystem measuring more than 19 million hectares.
On 16 October 2007, Namibia and South Africa's Ministers for Home Affairs opened the Sendelingsdrift Tourist Access Facility, thus enabling tourists and local communities to travel between Namibia and South Africa through the Transfrontier Park.
On the same day, the ministers for the Environment from the two countries officially commissioned the restored pontoon that allows visitors to cross the Orange River.
"This pontoon symbolises joint approaches to tourism across a shared border," said Minister Konjore of Namibia. "We are no longer planning tourism country by country. We are looking at regional tourism planning and seeing how best we can harness it for the benefit of all".
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