Scientific Services

Delegates in discussion about the Table Mountain MPA at Cape Point.

In May 2019 South Africa declared 20 new MPAs in the South African Economic Exclusive Zone. This increased South Africa’s marine protection levels from 0.4 to 5%. SANParks was assigned to manage three of the new MPAs, more than doubling the extent of MPA’s under SANParks’ responsibility from 147 540 to almost 370,000 hectares at sea. The three new MPA’s include Addo Elephant (Eastern Cape), Robben Island (Western Cape) and Namaqua (Northern Cape). SANParks’ significantly extended marine management responsibility now includes management of almost 40% of South Africa’s coastal marine protected areas (MPAs). Managing these MPAs and associated estuaries signifies a substantial commitment to conserving South Africa’s coastal biodiversity and ensuring the sustainability of marine ecosystems and their ecosystem services for future generations.

A French-South African quadripartite cooperation agreement on biodiversity was signed into effect on 7 June 2022 at the French embassy in Gauteng. Within this, an opportunity was identified for expertise and capacity exchange between the Office Français de la Biodiversité (OFB) and SANParks, to collaborate on various issues, including the development of MPA management and/or effectiveness assessment and monitoring approaches and tools; a better understanding of social-ecological trade-offs for the management of MPAs; and the role of governance and co-governance within and adjacent to MPAs.

This work is financed by Agence Française de Développement (AFD), under the overarching South Africa-France cooperation agreement. The “Partnership for Biodiversity and Marine Conservation” includes SANParks, SANBI, OFB and AFD as key partners, and will run for three years. It will result in technical knowledge exchange, capacity development and interaction with other biodiversity agencies and/or international events of significance for biodiversity and marine conservation.

The first Partnership steering committee meeting was held in Cape Town on 1 March 2024 with representatives from the four agencies and other key stakeholders to officially launch the diverse activities. Formal proceedings were followed-up with a field mission arranged by SANParks to Cape Point and associated Table Mountain National Park MPA. Subsequent to this, an MOU was signed in early May 2024 between SANParks and OFB to facilitate the capacitation of SANParks through the recruitment of a 3-year contract marine scientist to facilitate the knowledge exchanges and contribute to SANParks’ marine conservation mandate.

First steering committee held in Cape Town on 1 March 2024, with in-person and online attendances from SANParks, OFB, AFD, SANBI and related experts.

Steering Committee delegates from OFB, AFD, SANBI and SANParks on a field trip to Cape Point to discuss issues relating to Table Mountain MPA.