Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
an overview of lessons learned by TRANSFORM during the process of imple-
menting two different kinds of tourism in the Richtersveld and Makuleke, being
community-based tourism and private-sector led tourism respectively. The
general areas of concern will be the national policy context, tenure and usufruct
rights; local institutional building and development; social facilitation; capacity
building; and enabling partnerships within the private tourism sector.The chapter
concludes with a perspective on the way forward for sustainable community-
based tourism in South Africa.
History and context
Following the South African transition to democracy in 1994, policy and
programmes were set up to eliminate the legacy of inequitable governance (Reid,
2001, p138; Spenceley, 2003, pp1-2; Spenceley and Seif, 2003, p8). One strategy
of the new government was to amend the skewed land tenure patterns inherited
from the past and focus on historically disadvantaged groups that claimed rights
to land and natural resources (Everingham and Jannecke, 2006; Spenceley, 2003,
pp1-2). Poverty alleviation was attempted by linking land claims to an integrated
and sustainable rural development strategy. As such, one approach of government
to eradicate poverty in rural areas has relied on integrating the growth of the
tourist sector within approaches targeting sound environmental management and
local economic development (Matlou, 2001). Social and political pressure regard-
ing human rights issues and changing paradigms in managing protected areas
severely shaped the approaches taken by government to address the above
mentioned issues (Spenceley, 2003, p2). New policy suggested concepts of local
level governance, which included devolving the decision-making authority over
natural resources to local users. The creation of South Africa's Communal
Property Association Act of 1996 allows communities to establish legal common
property institutions through which they can claim and own communal property.
At the same time, the 1996 White Paper on the Development and Promotion of
Tourism emphasized the development of tourism as a potential economic catalyst
benefiting rural communities, whilst at the same time enabling and promoting
sustainable linkages between the private sector, government and local communi-
ties (DEAT, 1997; Spenceley, 2003, p2).
GTZ's involvement with Community Based Natural Resource Management
(CBNRM) in South Africa came about as a request from the South African
government for assistance on policy related to land claims and community owner-
ship of land in protected areas. TRANSFORM's role was to help design and
implement some initial policy guidelines and try out intervention approaches that
could become models for success combining tourism, conservation and rural
development. Three specific pilot sites were chosen in 1998 for TRANSFORM's
assistance: the Kosi bay, Makuleke and Richtersveld communities. The selection
of pilot sites was made on a general basis of the valuable contribution that these
cases could offer to the transformation of policy and practice in relation to
protected areas and communal management agreements. It must be understood
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