Estuary Situation Assessment Reports
Estuary Management Plans in National Parks
Estuary management within National Parks is broadly addressed within Park Management plans, and at a finer scale through stand-alone Estuary Management plans (EMPs) in accordance with the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act. The EMP development process, detailed in the National Estuarine Management Protocol (NEMP), facilitates coordinated management by government departments and agencies whose activities may effect estuary functioning and use, or whose mandate requires co-management of a specific estuary. In addition, extensive public participation must be undertaken throughout the planning process before the EMP is approved by the Minister responsible for the Environment.
Of the approximately 300 functional estuaries in South Africa, 36 are located on SANParks managed land. They vary in complexity, with some requiring little to no management whereas a few, mostly larger systems close to urban areas, require a range of management interventions. The NEMP makes provision for smaller, adjacent, similarly functioning estuaries to be combined within one EMP, ultimately resulting in 12 EMPs needing to be developed for estuaries in parks over a 10-year planning cycle.
Work began on both the Sout (Oos) and Knysna EMPs in the Garden Route National Park in 2021. The process consists of three phases- scoping, objective setting, and implementation and monitoring. The scoping phase commences with the collation of a Situation Assessment Report (SAR), providing background information to inform the management planning process and highlighting gaps in existing knowledge about the particular estuarine system. During the objective-setting phase the actual EMP is compiled. Stakeholders, both public and departmental, are involved in the drafting of a vision and objectives, institutional arrangements and responsibilities are agreed upon, zonation is addressed, and a monitoring plan is developed.
The SAR and EMP for the Sout (Oos) were completed in 2022 and awaits approval, whereas the EMP process for the Knysna Estuary is still underway. The SAR documents for these two estuaries are provided here and serve as a useful source of background information on these systems. In time, as EMPs are approved, both SARs and EMPs will be available.
