SANParks.org Forums

My name is Uncle Kev.

As a newly appointed Guru I would like to introduce myself and tell you a bit about People and Conservation in SANParks. The organisations mission talks about biodiversity and cultural heritage conservation to the benefit of various constituencies, which is supported by three tiers. These include conservation, tourism and People and Conservation (P&C). A quick glance through debates on the forum show that little debate has been held in the realm of P&C which I hope to rectify. I have been fortunate to have spent the last 17 years working within this "thing" called P&C and hope to be able to open up some debate which will benefit both people and parks in the long term sustainability of protected areas.

I would foremost like to invite you to visit the home page where you will be able to learn a bit more about P&C and that which we strive to achieve as a conservation organisation.

Thereafter, I invite you to comment on the objectives of People and Conservation within the broader objectives of SANParks. Some suggestions for debate may include:
-Should SANParks be involved in education when there is a much larger mandate already filled by the education dept
- why should SANParks be involved in community conservation in communities bordering parks? are they into conservation or social welfare? There are government and non-government organisations already doing that.
- Youth development. Again, is that not the mandate of government through initiatives such as the National Youth Services programme?
- Cultural heritage. Whose heritage? and where does this link with the initiatives of the Ministry of Cultural heritage?

I can list many more but await your constructive debate.

Cheers

Uncle Kev

Hallo, again, Uncle/Oom Kev!

And welcome, again! I am convinced that the subject has everything it takes to become one of the most visited topics on the Forums.

In due time... first you will have to sit through a full Forum-style welcoming session!

Good to hear from you too. I hope that this will open a much broader angle to that which SANParks does and hopes to achieve. Uncle Kev

Welcome Uncle Kev :D

Some deep topics you have listed there! Really looking forward to the debates!

welcome Uncle Kev
Am really looking forward to these debates!

Hi there

I'll PM you later, but it might be possible that we could work on something together in future.

In the meantime welcome.

Hi and a Big Big Welcome Uncle Kev.

Welcome uncle Kev.

Welcome, and I look forward to the many discussions. I am sure that they will assist us in understanding the bigger picture and perhaps deal with many anxieties about the role of Sanparks and the future.

Hi Uncle Kev ..

The Tannie's from the Avian mission can be really persistant hey

Hi and welcome
Ok , lets get the ball rolling .


Yes , because the education department does precious little to address anything to do with our national parks or conservation , it was like that when I was at school , and is still like that now that my kids are at school.
They are more interested in popular history (And dare I say low level political propaganda) and there take on nature is more of a botanical one , very often on things that are taken from overseas studies .


They are probably into social wlfare , but I reckon an ultimate goal would be to turn these community's into conservation nuts , because they have learned about the benefits .
I don't just mean benefits in the form of hand outs , or money in the pocket , but even just the villages looking more beautiful and being more healthy due to conserving of trees in the area instead of utilizing them for firewood , getting rid of the myths like for instance "owls are evil magical birds" and where these birds are killed because of this belief , rather than realising it is a highly beneficial creature in terms of rodent and other pest control .
I think this is a very important area , especially considering that Kruger shares almost 300KM of border fence with the neighboring community's .


Youth development in terms of conservation and teaching as stated above - yes , but to try further unrelated development is going further than the mandate of SANparks .


Difficult one , and I am not sure to be honest , what are peoples cultural beliefs in wildlife - To be honest , everyones cultural history was not that great for wildlife (It was ok when there where a couple of billion people less , and a couple of million more animals )
I reckon a new culture of protecting the wildlife should take precedence over the older cultures like the "great white hunter" or the killing of lions to celebrate manhood , the wearing of leopard skins by village chieftains , the association with certain animals that they are bad creatures (The belief that hyenas carry the spirits of the dead , or as I stated above about owls) etc etc .

Hi Uncle Kev and a big WELCOME! I know the forum members are going to enjoy your contributions immensely! We're very lucky to have you online!!

Dianne

Hi Uncle Kev & welcome to the forum.

I bet you are not old enough for me to call you Oom, but I shall anyway, Sonny

I hope we can get to know more about P&C as opposed to PC Many of us are contributors to My Acre in Africa. I have been privileged to see my brick in the walkway.

Just one pice of advice, wear a thick skin.

Thanks for the welcome Dinky Bird, Christo, Meandering Mouse, Bucky, Wild @Heart, Di and Bush Baptist. I look forward to the debates.

Wow! I have an uncle I never knew about! But welcome Kevin!

Hmmmm.. 4 topics in 1 topic, that can become a nicely confuzzled topic... So let's answer just 1:

Yep! SANParks has even more reason to be actively involved than the education dept.
Those kids are the neighbours, so if some animals break loose they need to know how to act. To act in the proper way you need to know about the animal and it's habits. And when they do that it's quite possible that the animal is transported or herded back to the Park, instead of killed.
They are also both future clients and staff, so if they have a proper education SANParks benefits. Educated people earn more, one way or another, and can thus visit more often.
And of course when those kids are educated and got a love for the Parks there is less of a chance of them trying to get little bits of the Parks for building purposes etc...