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Climate change will have an impact on SANParks’ ecosystems, infrastructure and tourists in significant and unique ways through both extreme events and long-term change. This necessitates planning for specific management interventions that allow for species and ecosystems to respond, protection of both cultural and infrastructure assets, and continued tourism, while responding appropriately to the changing socioeconomic context of surrounding communities.

The current protected area-based conservation model is vulnerable to climate change in many ways. The loss of individual species is just one small component. For example, tourism has been the major funding source for protected areas in South Africa, but it has several inherent climate change vulnerabilities. Tourism infrastructure, including accommodation and road networks, is impacted by extreme events, such as flooding, while tourists themselves can be affected by heat waves and related weather conditions. In addition, ecosystem degradation can take place quickly when surrounding land-use is incompatible with conservation, in particular where freshwater systems are impacted outside of protected areas, and where lack of connectivity and fences restrict the movement of plants and animals in response to changing conditions. At a larger scale, widespread poverty, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, increases trade-offs between livelihoods and conservation, which intensify in the face of environmental disasters. SANParks has undertaken to assess climate change vulnerability in all parks within the next 10 years, prioritising those parks undergoing review of their park management plans. The assessment will allow protected areas to better anticipate impacts which will allow time and opportunity to adapt.

Researchers assessing the distribution of birds in relation to water sources within the harsh Tankwa Karoo National Park environment.

In 2021, Tankwa Karoo and Golden Gate Highlands National Parks were added to the total of seven parks for which assessments have been completed. Assessments were conducted through a combination of site visits, literature reviews, and workshops involving a wide range of SANParks staff from across divisions, as well as external experts. Key vulnerabilities in Golden Gate relate to the nature of rainfall in the area, as well as socio-economic vulnerabilities of communities living in the areas around the park. There are concerns that lower snowfall and heavier rain events will result in water moving through the landscape very quickly resulting in reduced groundwater recharge and increased erosion, which may also lead to a reduction in quantity and reliability of surface water for people and nature alike. Additionally, while this is a strategic water source area, many surrounding communities do not have access to water because of lack of infrastructure. In Tankwa Karoo, drought, wind and high temperatures interact to temper efforts at rehabilitation of areas previously degraded by agricultural practices and also pose a threat to already scarce ground and surface water. Another concern in Tankwa Karoo is flash flooding. Although it is a natural phenomenon, flash flooding is predicted to increase in frequency and severity under climate change and hamper efforts to maintain roads.

The next phase of climate change preparedness is formulating adaptation plans using nature-based solutions. In order to work towards a sustainable future conservation model, we as a global society will need to better  integrate economies, livelihoods and nature.

This article was originally published in the 2021/2022 Research Report.