Land Tenure, Reform And Conservation Tools In South Africa and Their Potential Application In Kenya
African Wildlife Foundation
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Abstract: The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has been working in the transboundary Limpopo landscape in Southern Africa since 2000. AWF is currently assessing potential land conservation opportunities in this landscape. This paper aims to assess relative aspects of the land tenure system in South Africa and policies, including those laws passed during the Apartheid era, that provide tools for land conservation, as well as their potential transfer and application in Eastern Africa, Kenya in particular. The current structure of land tenure in South Africa was strongly influenced by apartheid legislation, which for almost a century limited the rights of black South Africans. In 1994 the South Africa Government introduced a comprehensive land reform program that focuses on land restitution and redistribution. The current South African legislation provides for a variety of tools for private landowners to conserve their land, ranging from conservation area declaration to designation of land as a nature reserve under its biodiversity stewardship program. The lodging of land claims on strategic protected areas and other important lands has been inhibitive to conservation as the process is extremely slow, making tenure uncertain; thus, prohibiting long-term conservation outcomes. The conservation tools provided for in South Africa offer potentially useful methods for Kenya to adopt to protect and manage strategic areas outside of protected areas. The concept of co-management is a versatile tool that has been recently introduced and piloted in South Africa that could be applied in Kenya.