South Africa’s biodiversity is internationally renowned. Numerous wildlife reserves provide the big five with territories to roam safely and freely. Apart from these there are many other areas that provide city dwellers and international guests alike the opportunity to appreciate nature, up close and personal, whilst retaining its wild nature. Apart from this we have beautiful coastlines, which do not only provide revelry amongst the waves, but biodiversity as well.

For the purposes of this piece, my focus will fall on our treasure trove on land. Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) provides parameters for the land we referring to. “Proclaimed by law and managed for biodiversity conservation, land-based protected areas include National Parks, Nature Reserves, Protected Environments, Forest Nature Reserves, Forest Wilderness Areas, Mountain Catchment Areas and World Heritage Sites.”

The area of land dedicated to protecting our biodiversity in South Africa is generous, to describe it euphemistically. Stats SA clarifies just how much of our land is dedicated to protecting our wildlife: “In 2020, the area of protected land was bigger than Cuba

In 2020, protected land accounted for 11 280 684 ha (or 112 807 km2) of the South African mainland. To provide some perspective of scale, 112 807 km2 is about the same size as Cuba. It’s also larger than countries such as Portugal, Denmark and Lesotho. If protected land in South Africa were its own province, it would be larger than North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga or Gauteng.

The protected area estate covers 9,2% of the size of mainland South Africa. In other words, for every 100 square metres of land across the country, just over 9 square metres are protected and managed for biodiversity conservation.”

This of course applies to land managed by the State, but a report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), released in 2019, with the title; Wildlife – Connecting South Africa’s Wildlife, Landscapes and People, highlights how private ownership of wildlife further expands on the available natural, wild resources: “South Africa has around 9 000 privately owned game farms covering 17 to 20 million hectares (14-16.8% of the land surface) and containing between 16 and 20 million animals.”

So, amidst questions about the optimal utilisation of land for economic advancement, how does all this land contribute to the economy?

Tourism – including wildlife tourism – has traditionally been a major contributor to the South African economy. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significantly negative impact on the tourism sector, with Statisa indicating that for the fourteen years between 2005 and 2019, the contribution by tourism as a sector averaged 7,64% to GDP and dramatically dropped to 3,1% and 3,2% for 2020 and 2021 respectively.

Despite this tremendous decline, South Africa’s biodiversity remains protected and stronger than ever.

With the natural resource intact, what is required is a resuscitation of the industry as a whole. The WWF report quoted earlier, further asserts that: “Southern Africa’s private wildlife and landowners play a key role in conservation.”

How then can these private wildlife and landowners play a key role in reviving this sector of the economy?

What is very clear, is that private wildlife and landowners are agile and innovative, even during the pandemic. An article published on The Conversation, illustrates this by highlighting the challenges faced by funded and State-owned wild life preserves: “Designated protected areas for wildlife – such as national parks – are the world’s principal conservation strategy. But this model to conserve wildlife in Africa is increasingly coming under pressure… Many protected areas didn’t fare well during the pandemic, particularly across Africa. Ailing economies and restricted travel reduced the funding and tourism revenues on which many parks depend. As a result, half of surveyed parks across 19 African countries reported reductions in the protection of endangered species, field patrols and anti-poaching measures.

These impacts bring into question the resilience of protected areas where conservation is funded by donations, state budgets and, in some cases, ecotourism. Additional conservation models are called for.”

The article juxtaposes this to private ownership and how it adapted to the pandemic: “We carried out a study which examined how wildlife ranches in South Africa responded to the impact of the pandemic. There are different types of wildlife ranches. They generate revenue from wildlife through a variety of activities including ecotourism, trophy and meat hunting, wildlife trade and meat sales. On some of these ranches, livestock shared space with wildlife.

Some specialised in one or two of these activities, others had a more diverse income portfolio. We found that, on average, wildlife ranches were more financially resilient and better able to adapt to the impact of the pandemic than protected areas. Importantly, ranches with mixed systems of wildlife and livestock coped the best.

We can learn from these wildlife ranches – and their adaptable business models – to build more resilient conservation systems in an increasingly volatile world.”

The article continues to outline the potential, the innovation and opportunity for growth in tourism, in the niche segment of the sector: “In South Africa, privately owned wildlife ranches span an estimated 17% of the land, over double that of protected areas. They play a major role in conserving South Africa’s wildlife, including iconic species such as white rhinos. An estimated 5 to 7 million herbivores occur on ranches nationally.

On these ranches, wildlife is used to generate livelihoods. Conservation is an outcome rather than a primary objective.

The ranches provide 65,000 jobs, compared with 4,000 permanent jobs in South African National Parks. Wildlife ranches contribute at least US$438 million annually to the economy. Tourism in South Africa’s National Parks generates US$120 million annually.”

With 2023 being a year marked by economic difficulty, private wildlife ownership should receive greater support as it provides immense opportunity for South African economic growth.