Relationships between local communities and protected areas in KwaZulu-Natal: during the apartheid to the post- apartheid era
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Date
2017
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University of Zululand
Abstract
The beneficial and magnanimous relationship between protected areas and communities staying adjacent to these areas is one of the most important mechanisms at our disposal in shaping and sustainably managing the natural environment and resources. In some instances, the progress made in developing a sound environmental governance framework, in the KZN protected areas, relating to UKhahlamba Drakensberg Park and Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Park, have been hindered by the environmental issues. The need to strengthen the implementation of appropriate environmental laws and policies still require bringing environmental sustainability principles into the mainstream of all aspects of governance, planning, decision-making and operation, in the protected areas of KwaZulu-Natal. Aswani and Weiant (2004) have affirmed that when local communities are excluded from the management of protected areas, and their needs and aspirations ignored, then it becomes extremely difficult to implement conservation policies. This research inquiry is fundamentally aimed at revealing the existing relationships between local communities and protected areas in KwaZulu-Natal: focusing on tracking the achievements made from the apartheid to the post-apartheid periods. The spatial analysis of these relationships is determined in places such as UKhahlamba Drakensberg Park and Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Park. In other words, the study seeks to objectify and establish how local communities understand the meaning and importance of the concept of conservation in the study area. It also attempts to find out if there are any business developments or partnership/relationship between the authoritative agencies and local communities. The methodology pursued in this study includes the selection of the sample, use of the research instrument for data collection in two (2) KwaZulu-Natal protected areas, namely, UKhahlamba Drakensberg Park and Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Park. Other methodologies that were used included the Semantic Differential technique, used to analyse respondents' attitudes, awareness, understanding and beneficiation.
In conclusion the study established that, on the whole, the respondents were fully aware and understood the meaning and importance of the role of relationships in the benefit and sustainable value of Protected Areas in the study area. Also established by the study is that the exclusion of local communities tends to perpetuate hostile attitudes towards policies and the management of natural resources, thus leading to the practise of illegal activities. The findings of the study further indicated that the local communities do understand the meaning and importance of conservation services within the study area. Furthermore, the outcomes also indicated that there are limited to no tourism business ventures that have resulted for the community's beneficiation from the protected area. Eventually, it may be concluded that the respondents perceived that there were no business opportunities brought by the practice of tourism and conservation in the study area. It is an indictment on the authorities that the community indicated that there were no policies and strategies that they were aware of or successfully implemented in the study area. Finally, the idea that relationships and conservation appreciation was found to be inadequately contributing to community-based tourism and that its implementation was deficient, the study anticipated that designing a management model would facilitate its effectiveness. The success of such a model would stand as the ultimate contribution of this study to knowledge in the tourism discipline leading to better community beneficiation.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Faculty Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department Of Recreation and Tourism at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2017
Keywords
protected areas --communities --South Africa