<
https://theconversation.com/south-africa-new-drakensberg-nature-reserve-will-protect-ancient-rock-art-wildlife-livelihoods-grasslands-and-water-230492>
"South Africa’s Drakensberg mountains have a new 6,500 hectare nature reserve.
The new Northern Drakensberg Nature Reserve is working with communities and
will preserve ancient rock art, vital grasslands and water sources for millions
of people. It connects a neighbouring world heritage site to another nature
reserve, expanding a huge transnational protected area from South Africa to
neighbouring Lesotho.
Most importantly, it will open a new and important wildlife migration corridor.
Migratory animal populations will be able to recover as they’ll no longer be
isolated and fragmented.
It took six years for landowners and conservationists to get the new park
formally declared, much faster than it usually takes to have land declared
protected. It was only possible due to a high degree of consensus among
landowners that a commitment to conservation was the best way to manage their
land for future generations.
I research how land and ecological systems are governed across boundaries. I
believe the new reserve takes forward a commitment made by South Africa at the
COP15 biodiversity conference in 2022 that it would protect 30% of its land
(including mountains) and oceans by 2030.
So far, only 9.2% of South Africa’s land is under protection, and biodiversity
loss is increasing. This is why strategic additions to protected areas are
particularly important.
Nearly 20% of water in the Vaal river system originates in the Northern
Drakensberg – in other words, the Northern Drakensberg supplies water for about
four million people. The way water is managed at the source matters for
everyone who will eventually use the water."
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/dawn-solar-age-same-sex-thailand-nature-europe/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
