MABASO COMMUNITY PROJECT

A proactive community in Northern KwaZulu-Natal has decided to add value to land they acquired in the national land restitution programme by combining efficient agriculture with conservation ethics in a holistic plan that will benefit the people and their environment. The Mabaso Community near Utrecht firmed a Trust in order to  develop an appropriate land-use development plan for the 3 000ha they have acquired. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife then entered into an agreement with the Mabaso Community (Mgundeni Trust) and WWF-SA, in order to assist the community with appropriate conservation activities within their land, obtained through the land reform process. The project aims to investigate the development of appropriate co-operative conservation technologies in consultation with the successful land claimants. It is clear that to date insufficient attention has been afforded to land claimants in order to develop appropriate incentives for proper conservation / management of land that has been handed over to them.

The scope of the project is to develop a co-operative conservation model for the proposed project site that will address biodiversity conservation and socio-economic considerations through the development and implementation of a stewardship approach. The objectives of the project are to ensure broad stakeholder support for the project, identification and development of incentives to implement Stewardship opportunities, ensuring that contractual arrangements are formalized and that biodiversity is secured, to create and implement mechanisms to ensure long term viability of the project, to develop the capacity of the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and the Mgundeni Trust.

The Mabaso Community Project is one of eight pilot projects that have been selected by the KZN Biodiversity Stewardship Programme for a) their biodiversity value and b) the willingness of the landowner to ensure protection for some of his land.  For the first time, stewardship is investigating the development of appropriate co-operative conservation technologies in consultation with land claimants who want to look after their land.

Through funding received from WWF-SA (via Sonae Novobord and Pfizer Animal Health Products), a fFull-time community conservation officer, Ntando Mkhize, has been employed by the KZN Biodiversity Stewardship Programme to develop the mutual agreement. Currently, Participatory Rural Appraisal are being held with the community to find out more about their requirements in terms of income, how their inherent local or indigenous knowledge can contribute to the process and which biodiversity elements they want to implement on their land.

Long-term viability of the project will be ensured by involving the community at the earliest stage possible in the process, ensuring their participation and “buy-in” of all activities and objectives. In addition, much work is focusing on identifying the key issues in the community which drive the social interactions and environmental resource utilization. This will inform the development of mechanisms allowing the project to be sustainable in the long-term.