Community-based natural resources management: Experiences and lessons linking communities to sustainable resource use in different social, economic and ecological conditions in South Africa

Abstract

The project, which started in 1996 in partnership with the South African Department of Land Affairs (DLA), supports communities that have a stake in nature conservation areas through ownership, or a claim to ownership, of part or all of a park or reserve. In its first phase, which ended in 2000, it worked with the community owners of the Richtersveld National Park, with the Makuleke people as they regained ownership of the northern tip of the Kruger National Park (KNP); and with three communities living in the Kosi Bay Nature Reserve. In its current, second phase, TRANSFORM continues to work with the Richtersveld and Makuleke, and has expanded its support to other parts of the country, mainly in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga provinces.