Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
that in such partnership programmes GTZ does not work in the traditional donor
way of only giving grants and donations, GTZ focuses on giving technical advice
and capacity building to development stakeholders.
Tourism has been identified as one of the fastest growing economic sectors in
South Africa contributing approximately 7 per cent of the GDP (Shakleton et al,
2007, p568). It is one of the country's top five economic sectors (DEAT, 2002). A
'new and emerging' type of tourism referred to as responsible, fair tourism was
envisioned as a potential driver that can enable local communities to enjoy a better
quality of life, through increased socioeconomic benefits and an improved
environment (DEAT, 2002). The cooperation between GTZ and the South
African government that eventually set up the TRANSFORM project was, in
essence, a result of this particular context and time, and played a role in creating a
'responsible' tourism framework.
In its first phase (1996-1998), the TRANSFORM programme was working
in direct partnership with the Department of Land Affairs, the Department that
was directly involved with land reform. TRANSFORM's area of work within land
reform was aimed specifically at supporting communities that had a stake in
nature conservation areas through ownership, or a claim to ownership.The overall
objective was to improve income at the grass roots level - to be generated from
tourism and hunting activities related to conservation, as all other land use options
were ruled out.
When assessing Phase one, it was felt that TRANSFORM's projects were
focusing on tourism and environmental issues and as a result, the collaboration
with government shifted to the Department of Environmental Affairs and
Tourism (DEAT). This had both advantages and disadvantages. It allowed the
projects to gain access to resources that were related to conservation and tourism
but had the weakness of getting little support for village-based development
outside the protected areas, in the villages where the Department of Land Affairs
(DLA) and local government had a bigger role to play.
TRANSFORM's pilot projects represented some of the first experiences
within South Africa that shifted the conservation paradigm towards a strategy of
projects that integrated conservation and sustainable natural resource manage-
ment within a new democratic and human rights framework. South Africa had
been experimenting with a contractual park model as a way of involving local
communities, the state and the private sector in the planning and management of
natural areas and reserves. South Africa's old National Parks Act (1976) section
2(b) provides for the establishment of contractual national parks. 'Contractual
parks are established on land owned either by the state or by a group of private
individuals but managed by South African National Parks (SANP) according to
the terms of a joint management agreement drawn up by a joint management
committee consisting of representatives from SANP and the landowners' (Reid,
2001, p140). Central to this framework is the fact that no change in ownership
takes place and no purchase fees are paid for the area in question. The commer-
cial and land use rights can be maintained by the legitimate owners of the land, if
agreed in the contract between the park agency and the owner. The co-manage-
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