Background: Although formal protected areas in South Africa date back to the turn of the 19th century, requirements for protected area management plans only became mandatory a century later. Prior to the promulgation of the World Heritage Convention Act 49 in 1999, and subsequently the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act 57 in 2003, requirements for management plans were voluntary, and guidance to the plan’s content was fragmented across an array of international, national and provincial policy instruments.Objectives: As there has been little academic debate on the relevance and content of protected area management plans, an improved understanding of these plans, and the role they play in biodiversity conservation, is required.Method: This article explores the evolution of the management plan, revisiting its historical and current legal context at international and national scales.Results: Despite being the principal legislative framework for management plans, the World Heritage Convention Act and the National Environmental Management Protected Area Act did not consolidate the plethora of management plan requirements, and hence did not bring clarity when these conflicted or were ambiguous.Conclusion: Legal provisions for management plans are highly fragmented. This risks plans not being complete, falling short of the requirement to ensure that protected areas fulfil the purpose for which they were established. A consolidation of relevant provisions, as well as emerging best practices is recommended. This may require the revision of South Africa’s environmental law, to provide greater clarity on the contemporary understanding of the contribution of protected areas to conservation and the well-being of people (viz. the ‘purpose’).
Wildlife and particularly economically valuable game are likely to be displaced as a result of the habitat change. This displacement is expressed, inter alia , in the emigration of game to a more suitable habitat. The impacts of climate change, therefore, may have significant consequences on the economic well-being of wildlife areas, which are derived from, amongst others, sale of excess animals, hunting and tourism. This article investigates whether the South African statute and common law provide sufficient protection to landowners, from a game ownership perspective, as the impacts of climate change become evident. It was discovered that the complexity derived from the relationship between landownership, legislation and common law (1) required wildlife areas to be isolated fenced areas, (2) may lead to loss of ownership of game which escapes as a consequence of climate change and (3) provided for the possible loss of ownership of all game occurring in the wildlife area and those emigrating when all or part of an encircling boundary fence is removed to establish a wildlife or climate change corridor. It is further recommended that the Game Theft Act 105 of 1991 requires substantial amendment to enable owners of wildlife areas to retain ownership of game that escapes or emigrates in response to climate change. Finally, it is recommended that landowners acquire and include into their fenced wildlife areas an additional area as an interim measure to mitigate the impacts of climate change, until such time that the desired legislative change is implemented. Conservation implications: Climate change has serious implications for continued ownership of escaped wildlife as well as for the implementation of adaptive strategies to mitigate the impacts of a changing climate on fenced wildlife areas. The South African law needs to be revised to protect wildlife owners as the impacts of climate change become evident.
The first positive COVID-19 tests in the UK were in our Trust. We were fortunate that there was a significant time delay between the first identified cases and the surge in cases that was seen across the UK in early 2020. Our department had been designed for maximal ease of access to equipment but the pandemic required us to change our layout and pathways.
Summary of Work
Across our adult and paediatric emergency departments we used targeted simulation scenarios to train staff, to help in the design of new pathways and expose latent errors. A series of basic scenarios with a member of staff as a simulated patient were used to train existing and redeployed staff in basic skills such as donning/doffing, entering and exiting a barriered room and passing samples out of the room without cross-contamination. Another series of simulated patient scenarios were used to train clinicians in the clinical management of a COVID-19 patient with an escalating oxygen requirement. We also practiced transfer of a deteriorating patient to Resus. Other simulation scenarios used an intubatable manikin to practice scenarios involving aerosol generating procedures. ED intubation simulations contributed to the design of our Trust's COVID-19 intubation checklist. We ran simulated cardiac arrest scenarios in adult and paediatric Majors cubicles and in Resus. In situ simulations were used to design our new 'Cold Majors' area in what was our Emergency Care Area. We designed scenarios to test transfer pathways from the ambulance bay to the new area and from Cold Majors to X ray and CT.
Summary of Results
In all, more than 50 scenarios were run over a six week period. Orientation simulations ran most frequently and highlighted any lapses in infection control practices that could be addressed. Deteriorating patient, intubation, cardiac arrest and fitting patient scenarios highlighted latent errors around storage of equipment and preparation of airway trollies. They also directly informed the new layout of our resus cubicles and the ever-evolving departmental COVID-19 policies. In Cold Majors, they helped to plan the flow of patients within the new area and helped to orientate staff within the new environment.
Discussion and Conclusions
In situ simulation is an effective tool to help an emergency department adapt to the new demands placed on it by the COVID-19 pandemic; from maintaining standards in infection control to designing pathways and even the layout of the department itself.
The South African government has recently proposed a streamlined environmental impact assessment (EIA) process to fast-track decision-making and expedite a broad range of activities linked to the construction and upgrading of tourism infrastructure, maintenance, conservation and rehabilitation in the Kruger National Park (KNP). This proposal is founded on the adoption of the KNP’s Management Plan and a Generic Environmental Management Programme as environmental management instruments (EMIs) under the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998. The intention is to exclude South African National Parks (SANParks), the management authority for the KNP, from having to undertake any form of EIA and from having to secure an environmental authorisation from the competent authority prior to undertaking these activities. This article critically explores the merits of implementing such an approach in a state-owned national park established to protect the area’s sensitive and vulnerable ecosystem and species, viewscapes and sense of place. It highlights an array of issues and risks associated with the proposal which, if implemented, hold the potential to undermine the effective management and conservation of the KNP. These risks include a perceived fundamental misunderstanding of the role of management plans, EMIs and EIAs; the potential broad scope of the exclusion; the extent to which the exclusion potentially undermines key constitutionally entrenched principles of administrative justice; and anomalies in the array of proposed conditions built into the exclusion that may undermine the operation of these conditions as satisfactory safeguards.
Climate change will increasingly impact species and habitat composition of protected areas, even if precise impacts are difficult to predict, especially in smaller areas.This raises questions for management authorities, not only regarding the ecological integrity of protected areas but also regarding wildlife that 'escape' and cause damage.The protected area is traditionally the primary responsibility of the management authority, but the introduction of charismatic and potentially damage-causing wildlife touches on the overlapping and shared commercial interests of the tourism industry and the neighbouring rural communities.As climate change manifests, the complex relationship between these three stakeholders is likely to become strained by the increased frequency of damage caused by wildlife as they attempt to move out of or expand their home ranges beyond the boundaries of the protected area.It is concluded that a laissez-faire approach to climate change by conservation authorities or protected area managers is likely to be problematic -particularly with respect to relationships with neighbouring rural communities.A greater awareness of climate change impacts among all stakeholders is required, including conservation agencies, the tourism industry and neighbouring rural communities and managing escaped wildlife should become a joint responsibility which is founded on a contractual agreement between these stakeholders.
Objective The aim of this project was to design and trial a way of investigating the root cause of serious incidents, while simultaneously allowing institutional learning to be led by the staff in the area involved. This would increase participation in the process of root cause analysis and quality improvement. Method We recreated the circumstances of a Serious Incident in an in-situ simulation session in the bay where the incident occurred. Participants were a patient (actor) and a doctor and nurse from the same ward. Observers included 14 other ward staff, watching via video link. We asked each participant and observer to fill in pre- and post session questionnaires. The session ran in real-time with group feedback using an advocacy with enquiry model. Results Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, many more staff became aware of the incident than would have done via the usual process. Specific questions highlighted that: Certain team members didn’t feel that EWS were useful The understanding of the escalation policy was poor The majority believed that 80–85% of EWS as calculated by them were accurate – this highlighted the concept of an ‘illegal normal’ within the group The group discussion allowed all members of the team to engage with the root cause analysis and develop collective targets. The ward now have a self-generated improvement project to improve care of the deteriorating patient. Conclusion Using in situ simulation to learn from a serious incident has potential to increase engagement and ensure the lessons learned from the incident are communicated more effectively with the frontline staff. Staff felt ownership of the process and engagement with the root cause analysis was greater than would usually happen during an investigation. Where staff were able to identify learning points themselves, there was greater willingness to address these points than when given proscriptively.
A significant proportion of South African biodiversity occurs in extensive private wildlife areas. As such, the continuance of these private reserves is paramount to conservation of the country’s biodiversity. The areas are, however, vulnerable to being divided into smaller camps as landowners enter into the new and rapidly growing industry of selective breeding and intensive management of antelope and predators. Concerns are being raised as to the long-term consequences of the products and impacts of this industry on, inter alia, integrity and conservation of the country’s wildlife, and the landscapes these facilities are located in, as well as the country’s reputation as a free ranging and fair chase hunting destination. Using the public trust doctrine as a foundation, this article characterises the relationship between the country’s environmental law and the roles played by government as the regulator, the wildlife industry, research and the public in achieving responsible wildlife management and the long-term conservation of this resource. These relationships are seen to be finely balanced between the provision of robust science, and evidence-based and cautious or risk-averse decision-making. It is concluded that the public trust doctrine is a powerful tool to limit the impacts of unsustainable and parochial use of wildlife on the conservation of biodiversity. It is also concluded that an improved understanding of the doctrine by researchers, public and the wildlife industry would lead to a greater relevance of research, and in turn sound evidence-based decision-making and ultimately sustainable use of wildlife.
The Hibiscus Coast Municipality assumed it had the authority to issue or amend by-laws to formalise an existing nudist friendly beach within the Mpenjati Nature Reserve. Following a complaint, the Public Protector concluded the same when she investigated the legality of the Municipality’s actions. Two immediate questions arise. The first, whether the Municipality and the Public Protector were correct in their view that the Municipality has the authority over the beach irrespective of the presence of a protected area, and the second, whether nudism is a legal activity therein. Both the Municipality and the Public Protector overlooked the relevance of the nudist friendly beach being located within a protected area and the power of the management authority to determine the nature of the tourism that takes place therein. Nudism within a protected area appears not to be in conflict with the Sexual Offences Act 23 of 1969 and hence may be a legitimate activity within such area. The National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act 57 of 2003 and the Regulations thereunder appear not to contain provisions that prohibit nudism or other niche nature based tourism activities. Provided that the activity conforms to the purpose of the Act and protected area management plan and zonation and does not pose a significant physical risk to the integrity of the protected area, the conservation agency may be hard-pressed to refuse a request for a niche nature based tourism activity, such as nudism, to be included in the zonation – should one be received.
The Republic of Namibia recently lost a High Court case preventing the sale of antelope that were selectively bred and intensively managed to produce traits that are uncommon in the wild. This paper looks at the foundations that the Namibian government may draw on to develop a policy context which would enable the country to redraft and amend existing legislation. The Namibian Nature Conservation Ordinance has exceeded its usefulness, in that it is ill-equipped to maintain and protect the countrys' wildlife and its traditional enclosed extensive wildlife systems on private farms - and the Ordinance should be replaced. It is further concluded that the provisions of the Maputo Convention and the Nagoya Protocol apply to selective breeding and intensive management of wildlife. Caution is raised that provisions of these agreements, when read in isolation with the definition of biodiversity in the Namibian Environmental Management Act, may be interpreted in a manner contrary to the conservation of this resource. It is concluded that a formal inclusion of the public trust doctrine into the Namibian environmental jurisprudence, as has occurred in many African and countries elsewhere, would provide the necessary omnibus to address current and future challenges to the country's wildlife and other components of the environment.
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