WILDTRUST leads efforts to strengthen community conservation in South Africa

Community-owned conservation areas (CCA's) across South Africa continue to face significant gaps in formal recognition, funding and long-term support. Fragmented information limited technical capacity and short-term funding cycles remain major barriers to effective conservation management.

To address these challenges, WILDTRUST recently completed a three-year WWF Nedbank Green Trust-funded project, ‘Bringing Community Conservation Areas into Mainstream Protected Area Management’. The project aimed to improve information on CCA’s by working with conservation partners to collect, consolidate and share data on proposed and proclaimed sites.

Through the project, WILDTRUST documented 72 CCA’s and community protected areas across seven provinces, including 29 in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Of the 72 sites, 17 are officially proclaimed, five are partially proclaimed, and 50 remain unproclaimed or have an unclear legal status.

Information on site boundaries, legal status, management arrangements and progress has historically been scattered across different organisations, making it difficult to build a comprehensive picture of community-led conservation in the country.

Limited resources and post-declaration support have historically hampered effective protected-area management. Although many communities are willing to lead conservation efforts, they often lack the financial and technical support needed to implement long-term management plans.

To advance formal protection, the project actively engaged with three priority Biodiversity Stewardship Sites in KZN to further their progress in protected area declaration.  These sites were the AmaZizi and AmaNgwane Community Conservation Areas in the Upper uThukela (Drakensberg), Bhekula, and Mabasa (Northern KZN). Following biodiversity assessments presented to the KwaZulu-Natal Biodiversity Stewardship Working Group, AmaZizi, Mabasa and Bhekula were endorsed to progress towards declaration under the Nature Reserve category. Two sites also reached the formal management plan development phase.

A key project output was a new CCA guideline designed to support Community-Based Natural Resource Management and guide the establishment of protected areas. It draws on lessons from the field and includes four case studies, Somkhanda, AmaZizi, Mabasa and Donkerhoek, illustrating different community conservation contexts.

Stakeholder engagement was central to the project and the development of these guidelines. Over the 3-year period, WILDTRUST hosted two workshops to engage with relevant stakeholders working with communities in the management of community-owned conservation areas. The attendees included government representatives, community leaders, conservation practitioners and academics, bringing a wide range of knowledge and experience to the table. The project’s findings were also presented to approximately 200 stakeholders at the National Land Reform and Biodiversity Stewardship Initiative Learning Exchange in Durban.

The project also strengthened biodiversity monitoring through Bioblitz activities at Bhekula and Mabasa, conducted in partnership with the SANBI-CREW (Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers) team. Community members were introduced to citizen science tools such as iNaturalist, while dedicated iNaturalist projects were established for AmaZizi, Bhekula and Mabasa. At one site, recorded biodiversity observations increased from 65 to more than 400 following a Bioblitz event, showing positive effectiveness of the citizen science tools.

Beyond improving biodiversity data, these activities helped build community awareness of local ecosystems and created opportunities for youth participation. Women are now strongly represented in several community trust structures, while young people are actively involved in the declaration and management of proposed conservation areas. In the Upper uThukela area, the activities also helped mobilise resources to support local employment in landscape management.

The project highlighted the need for sustained investment, strong governance and reliable data to support community-led conservation. Short-term funding cycles remain a challenge, as meaningful community engagement requires time to navigate social, cultural and political dynamics. Predictable, multi-year funding is therefore essential to maintaining progress in Biodiversity Stewardship initiatives.

Community-owned conservation areas can make an important contribution to South Africa’s national protected-area network when supported by appropriate resources and long-term partnerships. The project recommended greater youth and academic participation in Biodiversity Stewardship, stronger collaboration between academic institutions and conservation practitioners, and continued cooperation among communities, government authorities and conservation organisations to secure lasting conservation outcomes.