Biodiversity and Conservation

The Biodiversity Economy- South Africa's Strategic Approach to Raising the Value

Proposition of Biodiversity

• South Africa is the 3rd most biologically diverse country (following Indonesia & Brazil)

& Chair of the Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries (LMMCs)

• SA is also a water stressed country, with on-going pressures from loss and

degradation of natural habitat, in terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments,

Alteration of flow, especially in the freshwater environment (for example as a result of

damming and abstraction of water)

• One of the key mandates of DEA is the protection and enhancement of

environmental assets & natural resources

• The SA TEEB-State of Play Report is a key strategic trajectory for South Africa, as

the preliminary findings have informed the revision of the National Water Resource Strategy, the Water Pricing Strategy and the development of a National

Biodiversity Economic Development Strategy (NBEDS)

TAKING STOCK

RESPONDING TO SOUTH AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES THROUGH RELEVANT POLICY INTERVENTIONS… • HIGH LEVEL MINISTERIAL DELIVERY AGREEMENT: NEGOTIATED CHARTER

• Outcome 10: Protected and enhanced environmental assets and natural

resources

• Output 4: Biodiversity protected

• Suboutput 4.4

• Valuing ecosystem services

• 4.4.1 Environmental costs related to the provision of resource based services

• (a)Number of tools developed for the economic valuing of ecosystem services

DIRECT VALUE Things that people are willing to pay to do

• Hunting

• $

$3,975.00 $3,500.00

$1,459.00

ACCOMMODATION

GUIDES

BIRDING

RECREATION

HIDDEN VALUES

CLEAN WATER

WATER PROVISION

FLOOD ATTENUATION

Private Nature Reserves

PEST CONTROL

POLLINATION

STABILISING SOIL

A CASE STUDY ON VALUATION

• KZN nature body told to fund itself • 2012-09-28 14:19 – The Mercury

“The nature conservation agency was under pressure to operate

independently as other departments like health and education needed

more resources to deliver services.”

March 2011, the Board discussed a preliminary assessment of ecosystem

services and endorsed the development of a proactive programme to

demonstrate and support:

(1) the importance of biodiversity in providing services to people in KwaZulu-Natal, and

(2) the role and value of Ezemvelo in providing these services.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN IN REAL TERMS? • Biodiversity offers R150 billion worth of services

• Ezemvelo is given a budget of R512 million to conserve biodiversity

• The return on this is R292.36 for every R1 invested by the province in Ezemvelo

• This value could also be taken as the amount that National Treasury would have to fund

should there be no ecosystems services provided

Concluding Remarks

• In the next decade important decisions are going to be taken in terms of large-scale

infrastructure, resource planning and economic development.

• Natural Capital must be considered as part of infrastructure development

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

“by 2030, South Africa’s transition to an environmentally sustainable, climate change resilient, low-carbon economy and just society will be well under way”.

“South Africa must also realise its full potential of its natural resources”

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

• NDP is being implemented through the National Infrastructure Plan (PICC, 2012), which includes a series of 18 Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) and is co-ordinated by a Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Committee.

• R850 billion (approximately $100 billion) has been earmarked for infrastructure investment in South Africa over the period 2012-2015.

The capex for Eskom’s 3 largest new build projects ranks

among the world’s largest construction projects…

•Three Gorges dam

•World’s largest

electricity project

25

23

Kusile

Ingula •$ billions of

capex

2

•Olympic Dam

• world’s largest mining

project

20

8

5 yr capex on

rail, port and

pipeline

upgrades

INVESTMENTS IN ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE 1

– A new approach to understanding and communicating the core intention of maintaining and restoring natural ecosystems that provide valuable services emerged.

– Communicating the concept of ecological infrastructure (i.e. the source of the service) was much more tangible to potential investors across sectors than ecosystem services

– Investment-based thinking was replacing the market-based approach of fixing a price for the provision of an ecosystem service based on supply and demand

INVESTMENTS IN ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE 2

PRINCIPLES OF IEI

IEI should build on & learn

from existing experience &

programmes

IEI should optimise its

contribution to job creation,

poverty alleviation & rural

development

IEI should take place in a

participatory & socially

sensitive manner IEI should include

monitoring & evaluation

IEI should focus on

achieving clearly defined

benefits & outcomes

IEI should focus on

systematically identified

spatially strategic areas

IEI will be strengthened by a

trans- disciplinary approach

INVESTMENTS IN ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE 3

• 19th SIP (Strategic Integrated Project) focused on investment in ecological infrastructure for water security

• The uMngeni Ecological Infrastructure Partnership was launched in 2013. It is a multi-partner programme aimed at improving water security for Durban, one of South Africa’s largest cities, through restoring and maintaining ecological infrastructure in the catchment that supplies most of the city’s water.

INVESTMENTS IN ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE 4

•Incorporating ecological infrastructure for water security has informed the

revision of the National Water Resource Strategy and the Water Pricing Strategy.

•The NWRS recognises that strategic water source areas form the foundational

ecological infrastructure on which a great deal of built infrastructure for water

services depends, and are thus strategic national assets that are vital for water

security.

•The Water Pricing Strategy provides for investing part of the revenue derived

from water sales in the maintenance and restoration of strategic catchments that

supply water.

NATIONAL INVESTMENT

From Concept Project Program Institution National Treasury Institutionalized a Chief Directorate dedicated to the integration of

biodiversity and economy and the nationalization of TEEB, and the transfer and est. of an

Environmental Programmes Branch, including the Working For Water Programme to the

Department of Environmental Affairs:

CD: BIODIVERSITY ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE USE

2 Directorates

Threatened or Protected Species and CITES

Biosprospecting and Bio-Economy

PURPOSE

To develop, promote and support a national biodiversity economy based on sustainable use of

indigenous resources

POLICY APPROACH: NBEDS

• Scope: Commercialisation & trade of RSA’s biodiversity & its

components.

• Aim: Implementation framework to achieve optimum economic

benefits—direct, indirect and induced—from the

commercialisation of biodiversity in South Africa.

• Key sectors: Indigenous natural products and wildlife sectors.

NBEDS

Commercialisation of BR

Conservation & Sustainable Use of BR

Harmonization

• Coordination, Leadership, Guidance on the commercialisation and trade of South Africa’s biological diversity and the components of such biological diversity of South Africa.

• Contribute to the transformation of the Sector

NBEDS

Commercialisation of IBR

Conservation & Sustainable Use of IBR

Harmonization

• Facility for the promotion and enhancement of the use of biodiversity compounds ~ National Compound Library

• Institutional arrangements for the management, regulation and

support to the indigenous natural and wildlife sectors including industry associations / forums

IN SUMMARY…

Biodiversity is good for Business and

Business is good for biodiversity…

• SA is a member of the Global Partnership for Business

and Biodiversity- BRICS, IBSA, LMMCs,MOUs

– Est a National Business and Biodiversity Network

“redressing the socio-economic legacy of apartheid and should go a long way towards ensuring the entry and

ascendance of the black individual landowners and rural communities into the mainstream of the country

economy especially wildlife economy.”

Vision 2024

• Building a robust biodiversity economy that contributes substantially to the financial and economic climate in SA.

• Broadening rural economic development drivers by enabling black landowners and beneficiaries to participate in the mainstream wildlife economy as shareholders and entrepreneurs.

• Optimizing the land economic value through community private public partnerships without compromising land ownership or use rights.

• Developing game ranches as new and alternative engines of rural economic development with strong emphasis on human resource development, job creation and reduction of poverty.

• Building platforms for community based land use, good governance and planning.

• Participating and contributing as the key driver in food security strategy and programmes through game meat production;

• Calls for a paradigm shift that places biodiversity as viable alternatives for a business rural development model and land reform.

“THE GAME CHANGER”

• Jobs: 60 000 new sustainable jobs created

• Expansion:2 million ha of communal land restored and developed for commercial game ranching

• Equity:R4 billion in game and R3 billion on fixed assets and infrastructure resulting in improved rural income, skills development, institutional capacity building, entrepreneurship and food security.

• Conservation and Game Improvement: 300 000 heads of wildlife under private community owned ranches.

Need investment of about R2.5 billion over the next 10 years to achieve the Vision 2024.

2024 VISION KEY DELIVERABLES

FURTHER INVESTMENT & POLICY APPROACH:

SCIENCE POLICY INTERFACE

• Scope: strengthen the science policy interface through the IPBES programme of work

• Encourage Ecosystem Assessments at multiple scales

• Enhance the value proposition of Natural Capital through sophisticated

communication

• Continue to mainstream cross sectorally which is an on going process.

• Further Research on Natural Capital Accounting, Devaluation, market dynamics

• Monitor and Evaluate: Develop a suite of impact indicators

Kiruben Naicker

Director: Science Policy Interface

Department of Environmental Affairs

Knaicker@environment.gov.za

Website: www.environment.gov.za