A New National Park Is Born In The Eastern Cape

South Africa has a new national park, and it is in the Eastern Cape highlands.

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environmental Affairs Minister, David Maynier on Friday declared 18 properties covering 10 225 hectares between Nqanqarhu (formerly Maclear) and Rhodes as the Grasslands National Park.

The new park is set to protect one of South Africa’s least-protected biomes as well as a critical water source and forms part of the Eastern Cape Drakensberg Strategic Water Source Area.

The highlands are vital to water security, biodiversity and the livelihoods of communities that depend on the region’s agricultural land.

Maynier has assigned management of the park to South African National Parks (SANParks) in terms of Section 38(1) (A) of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act. “The declaration of the Grasslands National Park is an important step in protecting one of South Africa’s least-protected biomes and a strategic water source landscape,” said Maynier. “It also demonstrates how conservation and compatible productive land use can reinforce one another through voluntary, long-term partnerships.”

What sets the new park apart is the way it was established. It is the first national park in South Africa established primarily through a biodiversity stewardship model, under which participating landowners retain ownership of their properties while committing to agreed conservation and management arrangements.

This means productive activities compatible with conservation, such as responsible grazing, can continue within the protected landscape. “This is the first national park established primarily through a biodiversity stewardship model. This initiative is an example of how inclusive partnerships can drive large-scale conservation success,” said Maynier.

The Department and SANParks worked with World Wildlife Fund South Africa and a range of other partners, including the landowners who committed their properties to the initiative. WWF South Africa CEO, Dr. Morné du Plessis said the 10 000-hectare park was only the beginning of a much larger conservation ambition.

“The ambition is for the park to evolve and grow into a Mega Living Landscape over the next decade in the order of hundreds of thousands of hectares,” said Du Plessis, before thanking the landowners and describing them as the champions of the new park.

“With their pioneering commitment, this flagship initiative is now not only a reality but poised to improve as a model of co-existence between people and nature,” said Du Plessis.

He said the Eastern Cape highlands grasslands had long been recognised for their importance to water security, feeding rivers that sustain towns, farms and cities downstream. However, only a small fraction of the grasslands had been formally protected.

The establishment of the Grasslands National Park now brings the landscape into the SANParks network while opening up new potential for ecotourism along the Nqanqarhu-Rhodes corridor. At the same time, the biodiversity stewardship model allows productive agricultural land to remain in use, creating a model in which conservation and farming can exist within the same landscape.