Earlier this month, Kruger National Park announced a new Zoning Plan and a peripheral development zone (PDZ) that has been approved for the park. Many believe that these plans are controversial and that they will lead to a commercialisation of the park.
The planned luxury hotel had conservationists up in arms and the peripheral development zone (PDZ), a planned conservation corridor between the park and Mozambique’s Greater Lebombo Conservancy, lead to a lobby group being formed, called Against Interference in Kruger and other National Assets (Aikona).
On Monday 25 June, South African National Parks (SANParks) released a statement responding to these criticisms. It states that “the approved KNP Zoning Plan is sufficiently comprehensive and covers all aspects of managing a national park in the 21st Century, and there is nothing controversial about this plan.”
SANParks CEO, Dr. David Mabunda said the following. “People are part of ecosystems and their needs inform how national parks should be managed in the 21st Century.” He believes that national parks can’t be seen as islands that are removed from the societies that created them. They should rather be seen as an integral part of these societies.
According to Mabunda, the old plan was updated to meet international best practice and protocols. He said that Section 24 of the constitution makes it clear that national parks should be managed for the benefit of society and may pursue development that is ecologically friendly. Mabunda further stated that the new approach is completely different from the approach followed by both the Colonial and Aparthied era and that these informed a purist view that national parks must be exclusively managed for animals.
Is the park being commercialised?
In response to claims that the park is being commercialised, Mabunda said that commercialisation is part of SANParks’ total transformation of the conservation system in South Africa and that this generates money to save the rhino, amongst other things. There are about 3m people living in the villages surrounding the park, and an unemployment rate of 80 percent in some of these areas, meaning that these communities had to be considered in the new Zoning Plan.
SANParks strongly believe that certain developments are needed in order to manage the park in this day and age. More roads need to be constructed and gates added to accommodate the increasing numbers of visitors to the park.
Peripheral Development Zone and rhino poaching
The PDZ is a 2km wide development and security zone that extends from the south of Pretoriuskop, across the Nkomati into the new proposed buffer zone in Mozambique up to the Massingir Dam. This area includes the place for the proposed hotel, many rhino poaching hotspots as well as the area that has land claims by adjacent communities.
Since rhino poaching is a major challenge, especially on the eastern boundary with Mozambique, the PDZ will serve as a security zone against poaching.
According to SANParks, it is now the time for a new holistic philosophy of managing parks for the benefit of all. They feel that our parks have a legacy of exclusion and that we can’t continue with “apartheid conservation” and a “purist conservation approach” that exclude the majority of the people living around the park.
Read the full press releases on SANPark’s website:
SANParks refutes claims that new Zoning Plan for KNP is controversial
Facts about new peripheral developmental zone for KNP
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