Original Research

Reflections on the relationships between communities and conservation areas of South Africa: the case of five South African national parks

T.S. Simelane, G.I.H. Kerley, M.H. Knight
Koedoe | Vol 49, No 2 | a121 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/koedoe.v49i2.121 | © 2006 T.S. Simelane, G.I.H. Kerley, M.H. Knight | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 18 December 2006 | Published: 18 December 2006

About the author(s)

T.S. Simelane, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa
G.I.H. Kerley, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa
M.H. Knight, South African National Parks, South Africa

Full Text:

PDF (678KB)

Abstract

An evaluation of the relationships between communities around Addo Elephant National Park, Mountain Zebra National Park, Karoo National Park, Golden Gate Highlands National Park and Vaalbos National Park shows that these communities have limited ecological knowledge and understanding of resources occurring within the parks. People within these communities rate relationships with their neighbouring parks as relatively poor. Despite this, these communities are keen to support conservation and management of biodiversity through national parks. The study further revealed that two types of communities occur around the national parks of South Africa. These are neighbouring and the distant communities. The distant communities are more urban in character than the neighbouring communities. These communities are heterogeneous with people from a variety of cultures. The varying lifestyle, age groups, cultural backgrounds and income levels lead to differences in expectations from the national parks by these communities. This, which is critical in determining the level of appreciation of conservation of biodiversity by communities around conservation areas, requires the attention of the park managers. They need to ensure that when distributing the benefits or opportunities linked to conservation, cultural, income and education differences among communities are considered and used as the basis for development and implementation of community development projects.

Keywords

Community based conservation; Biodiversity; Natural resources

Metrics

Total abstract views: 7036
Total article views: 7716

 

Crossref Citations

1. Socio-Economic Benefits Stemming from Bush Clearing and Restoration Projects Conducted in the D’Nyala Nature Reserve and Shongoane Village, Lephalale, South Africa
Tshepiso Mangani, Hendri Coetzee, Klaus Kellner, George Chirima
Sustainability  vol: 12  issue: 12  first page: 5133  year: 2020  
doi: 10.3390/su12125133

2. The impacts of tourism on two communities adjacent to the Kruger National Park, South Africa
Jennifer K Strickland-Munro, Susan A Moore, Stefanie Freitag-Ronaldson
Development Southern Africa  vol: 27  issue: 5  first page: 663  year: 2010  
doi: 10.1080/0376835X.2010.522829

3. Conservation justice in metropolitan Cape Town: A study at the Macassar Dunes Conservation Area
J. Stephen Ferketic, Andrew M. Latimer, John A. Silander
Biological Conservation  vol: 143  issue: 5  first page: 1168  year: 2010  
doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2010.02.024

4. Partnership between a private sector ecotourism operator and a local community in the Okavango Delta, Botswana: the case of the Okavango Community Trust and Wilderness Safaris
Susan Snyman
Journal of Ecotourism  vol: 13  issue: 2-3  first page: 110  year: 2014  
doi: 10.1080/14724049.2014.980744

5. Tourism management competencies for visitor experience design among natural protected areas in Peru
Sandra Sotomayor, Karen Guillén
Journal of Ecotourism  first page: 1  year: 2022  
doi: 10.1080/14724049.2022.2041647

6. Does conservation make sense to local communities?
Melville Saayman, Riaan Rossouw, Andrea Saayman
Development Southern Africa  vol: 29  issue: 4  first page: 588  year: 2012  
doi: 10.1080/0376835X.2012.715444

7. Communities' displacement from national park and tourism development in the Usangu Plains, Tanzania
Agnes Sirima, K. F. Backman
Current Issues in Tourism  vol: 16  issue: 7-8  first page: 719  year: 2013  
doi: 10.1080/13683500.2013.785484

8. Household spending patterns and flow of ecotourism income into communities around Liwonde National Park, Malawi
Susan Snyman
Development Southern Africa  vol: 30  issue: 4-05  first page: 640  year: 2013  
doi: 10.1080/0376835X.2013.832149

9. Research on tourism spatial justice based on residents' perception: A case study on Babao Town of Qilian Mountain National Park (Qinghai area)
Jiaqi Bai, Zhongxia Tang, Luqing Yan
Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism  vol: 47  first page: 100801  year: 2024  
doi: 10.1016/j.jort.2024.100801

10. Towards harmonious conservation relationships: A framework for understanding protected area staff-local community relationships in developing countries
Chiedza Ngonidzashe Mutanga, Sebastian Vengesayi, Never Muboko, Edson Gandiwa
Journal for Nature Conservation  vol: 25  first page: 8  year: 2015  
doi: 10.1016/j.jnc.2015.02.006

11. The role of tourism employment in poverty reduction and community perceptions of conservation and tourism in southern Africa
Susan Lynne Snyman
Journal of Sustainable Tourism  vol: 20  issue: 3  first page: 395  year: 2012  
doi: 10.1080/09669582.2012.657202

12. Modelling Local Attitudes to Protected Areas in Developing Countries
Chiara Bragagnolo, AnaC.M. Malhado, Paul Jepson, RichardJ Ladle
Conservation and Society  vol: 14  issue: 3  first page: 163  year: 2016  
doi: 10.4103/0972-4923.191161

13. Ecotourism joint ventures between the private sector and communities: An updated analysis of the Torra Conservancy and Damaraland Camp partnership, Namibia
Susan Snyman
Tourism Management Perspectives  vol: 4  first page: 127  year: 2012  
doi: 10.1016/j.tmp.2012.07.004

14. Assessment of the main factors impacting community members’ attitudes towards tourism and protected areas in six southern African countries
Susan Snyman
Koedoe  vol: 56  issue: 2  year: 2014  
doi: 10.4102/koedoe.v56i2.1139

15. Protected area staff and local community viewpoints: A qualitative assessment of conservation relationships in Zimbabwe
Chiedza Ngonidzashe Mutanga, Never Muboko, Edson Gandiwa, Christopher A. Lepczyk
PLOS ONE  vol: 12  issue: 5  first page: e0177153  year: 2017  
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177153

16. Spatial analysis of tourism income distribution in the accommodation sector in western Uganda
Bright Adiyia, Dominique Vanneste, Anton Van Rompaey, Wilber Manyisa Ahebwa
Tourism and Hospitality Research  vol: 14  issue: 1-2  first page: 8  year: 2014  
doi: 10.1177/1467358414529434

17. Community Perceptions of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism: A Case Study of Communities Adjacent to Four Protected Areas in Zimbabwe
Chiedza Ngonidzashe Mutanga, Sebastian Vengesayi, Edson Gandiwa, Never Muboko
Tropical Conservation Science  vol: 8  issue: 2  first page: 564  year: 2015  
doi: 10.1177/194008291500800218