SANParks Research Report 2019/2020
South African National Parks (SANParks) delivers a public-good (i.e. service provided without profit to the benefit of all) conservation mandate through a system of 19 national parks, including three World Heritage Sites and six Marine Protected Areas. This represents approximately 70% of state-owned terrestrial protected areas and 22% of state-managed marine protected areas, comprising over 4 million hectares on land and almost 370 000 hectares at sea. In addition, five parks are integral components of transfrontier conservation areas with Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Lesotho. In South Africa, our national parks also strive to promote shared natural and cultural heritages and contribute to building national solidarity and pride.
The 2019/20 annual report for SANParks proudly presents and celebrates “diversity within diversity”. This represents a slow but deliberate shift across the past 2-3 decades, from focussing primarily on biodiversity research and management to encompassing a holistic approach to conservation. The reports showcases diversity in disciplines, highlighting research and monitoring work from individual species, such as work on Indian Ocean cigar wrasse and Winterberg cycads, to ecological processes such as Cape fires and Kruger droughts.
