Component 2: Sustainable Ecosystem Management

      

This component is concerned with restoring, securing and enhancing the biodiversity and ecosystem processes that support sustainable benefits to local communities on communal lands. The component will adapt its support according to national conservation priorities and the needs and current status of targeted Community-based Organisations (CBOs). Some CBOs will only require basic support for the community-based integrated ecosystem management planning and prioritization of activities, for developing methodological approaches for pilot activities, for designing an appropriate knowledge management and replication strategy and action plan. Whereas other CBOs, where there is a need and which have more capacity to plan and implement their plan, can take advantage of an enhanced and more detailed approach.

Specific objective:

The component aims to: 
Establish approaches for CBIEM planning including inventory and baseline assessment as needed in targeted sites; Restore, maintain and enhance ecosystem services as part of the implementation of the management plans as needed in targeted sites; and Develop capacity for local monitoring and evaluation functions related to ecosystem management (including replication) as needed in targeted sites.

The three sub-components are: 
CBIEM Planning: The sub-component will support the development of up to 15 integrated conservancy management plans that will guide resource management activities. The plans will be based on a detailed baseline assessment of the ecosystem status, its threats and roots causes. The sub-component provides for support for equipment and services relevant to such planning. Targeted conservancies will be assisted with up-grading their existing thematic wildlife utilization plans into CBIEM plans or with drafting new CBIEM plans. A CBIEM plan should contain multi-sectoral information including the ecosystem status (e.g. vegetal and animal habitat quality and status, livestock and game carrying capacity, wildlife corridors), potential and planned resource uses, and existing and planned infrastructure developments (e.g., water points, accommodation, roads, fencing, tourism enterprises). Targeted training of conservancies to improve the local level planning process with involvement of MET, conservancies and NGOs will include the organization of participatory stakeholder workshops and meetings. If project target sites include San populations, their participation in the planning process will be enabled through culturally appropriate means.

Depending on the level of existing land-use planning information (e.g., zonation, inventory, mapping) and on the indication of key biodiversity issues (e.g., existence of red list species within a given conservancy) as well as on the results of a rapid survey of economically valuable species of plants and wildlife resources, the need for a detailed baseline assessment of the ecosystem status, its threats and roots causes will be defined. Support will be provided to develop special expertise for planning and implementing ecosystem inventories as well as baseline assessments carried out under the leadership of MET's Directorate of Scientific Services. Aerial surveys as well as remote sensing GIS satellite resources will be used to cover the areas of target sites. The sub-component will provide TA for training and equipment to increase MET's capacity to conduct these aerial surveys and undertake GIS analysis. Some work will also be outsourced under this activity. All baseline information collected will be stored in MET's new central CBNRM database (supported under Component 3).

CBIEM Implementation: 
This sub-component deals with technical implementation of key activities identified in targeted conservancies. The sub-component is concerned with restoring, securing and enhancing the biodiversity and ecosystem processes that support sustainable benefits to local communities on communal lands. 

It aims to:
a. Establish integrated ecosystem planning and management in priority zones; 
b. Provide funds and technical assistance for ecosystem baseline assessments,
    ecosystem restoration and maintenance; and 
c. Develop capacity for local monitoring functions.

Four site-based interventions are planned to be initiated in Year 1 (in addition to providing core support to MET for baseline assessments and inventories), i.e. upgrading management plans to integrated environmental management plans, wildlife resource rehabilitation, integrate forest management into conservancies, and human wildlife conflict management. Contribution to ecosystem restoration includes, for example, the restocking of conservancies with wildlife (including rare and high value species) with the aim of improving the conservation status of such rare species, while also providing benefits to communities from these high-value species. 

Other examples are:
i.  Game capture and translocation of common as well as more valuable species; 
ii. Direct conservation of threatened species such as the black rhino through provision 
    of adequate scientific and technical support; 
iii. Breeding camps for high value-added, keystone species (such as black-faced 
    impala, roan antelope, sable antelope); 
iv. Restoration and sustainable management of the biomass (wild plant cultivation and  
    nurseries of key species such as Marula, Quiver Trees); 
v. Improvement of occurring land degradation through sustainable land management 
    actions including erosion control measures and improved grazing techniques.

The sub-component provides further technical assistance for supervision during implementation including further meetings and workshops with all involved stakeholders, including San populations if living in project target sites, to assess and review the design of the management plans as necessary.

CBIEM Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E): This sub-component focus on: 
i.  Designing an adaptive and comprehensive CBIEM M&E methodology (socio-economic 
    and environmental) for local level users and uses; 
ii. Implementing M&E through support for data collection (tracker; aerial surveys, GIS); iii. Providing training for central and local level stakeholders on M&E development and 
    use.

At the local level, the sub-component deals with the establishment of appropriate mechanisms to monitor the impact of the activities supported under component 1 and 2 (socio-economic and environmental interventions). As conservancies are areas of production, drawing on a diverse set of resources in ways that will return optimal sustained benefits within productive ecosystems, monitoring must be specifically relevant to conservancies’ objectives. Therefore, the conservancy members will be trained to select adaptive ecosystem management indicators, to collect and up-date their own baseline information on a regular basis and to develop and use a simple local M&E function. The piloting of the "Conservancy Development Guide," developed during project preparation, has provided lessons for refining this and other participatory self-assessment tools. In addition, some conservancies have been sensitized to the needs and benefits related to M&E. They employ trained community members as "community game guards" or "environmental shepherds" which currently use a simple M&E methodology based on an "event-book." The sub-component will provide technical support to review and adapt these local monitoring practices and tools as needed.

Component 2 beneficiaries: 

The primary beneficiaries of this component are the CBOs in target conservancies, and the constituent members of those conservancies. The MET Directorate of Parks and Wildlife Management and Directorate of Scientific Services will also be beneficiaries to the extent that they are involved in planning and implementation of the specific interventions that support the local management plans.