Limpopo Heartland: Adding Community Land for Sustainable Biodiversity Conservation through the promotion of Community Private Partnerships (SAF/03/06)

Project Details & Results

The project supports two pilot areas in Limpopo, South Africa. These communities are bordering the Kruger National Park and the Mdluli Game Reserve. It has been designed to add community land for the conservation of wildlife and sustainable use of natural resources. The aim of the project activities with the Huntington Community, Kruger National Park, will be to failitate signing an agreement between the South African National Parks and the Huntington Community. They will assist the community, at the same time developing capacity, in appointing board members for the community management board and participatory conservation management approaches. In addition, the project will identify economic opportunities related to sustainable development and develop capacity in this regard.
The project activities relate to the Mdluli Community will include but not limited to, facilitating community resolution on th appropriate land use to be adopted, facilitate the formation of the Community Property Association/Trust and jointly agree on opportunities for the broader comunity involvement in economic opportunities. Finally, the project assists communities with capacity development, empowerment and information management. To ensure that community members are able to base their decisions and actions on sound information.

Notable Community Participation
The primary aim of this project is to ensure active community participation in the appropriate land use choices, based on sound information. The South African National Parks in the past, limited community access and participation in decisions relating to parks. Since the new dispensation in South Africa communities were encouraged to act on land claims to have ancestral lands returned. As a result this many areas in the Kruger National Park were subject to the land claims process. These claims have been awarded to the Huntington and Mdluli communities and the project ensures that land use choices are the result of the whole community's input to the decisions.

Capacity - Building Component
Capacity development is a strong component to the project in two instances, firstly through information management and empowerment activities relating to the land use choices capacity will be developed. In the second instance, in looking at alternative livelihood opportunities the project is expected to assist communities in realising these economic opportunities through availing training workshops and education material related to the economic activities identified.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods
To address community livelihood through sustainable means the African Wildlife Foundation facilitates partnerships between the community and private sector investors in which the community is actively involved. The aim is to empower communities to understand and take responsibility for their role in realising tangible benefits.

Gender Focus
The project's intervention strategy is driven by gender equality, transparency and respect for democratic rights. Thus gender is not addressed as an isolated component of the project but rather intergrated into the entire project.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples
The Mdluli community consists of four rural villages that have recently won back their land which they were dispossessed from in 1976. The Huntington community, partners in this project is also an indigenous group who won back their land back through the land claims process in South Africa.