THE STATUS OF SOUTH AFRICA’S PROVINCIAL NATURE RESERVES

The EMS Foundation’s recent on-site investigation into South Africa’s Provincial Nature Reserves reveals a dire situation. The majority of these reserves are unable to fulfil their conservation objectives due to poor management, insufficient funding, infrastructure decay, and strained community relations.

Key challenges include widespread poaching, invasive species, unresolved land claims, and chronic understaffing. Alarmingly, many reserves are now effectively abandoned or exist only on paper, some have even been repurposed for private use or hunting operations.

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The visible decay of South Africa’s provincial reserves stands in stark contrast to our nation’s global conservation commitments. Addressing the administrative, infrastructural, and social roots of this crisis is both urgent and essential—not only for the protection of biodiversity but also for community development and sustainable tourism.

Despite their critical role in biodiversity conservation, ecological connectivity, and rural economic growth, provincial reserves remain severely underfunded and neglected. This neglect threatens South Africa’s ability to meet its international obligations under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and to achieve its own national conservation targets.

The EMS Foundation therefore call upon national and provincial governments to act decisively to:

• Increase and stabilise funding for reserve management and operations.
• Rehabilitate essential infrastructure and ensure the deployment of skilled conservation personnel.
• Strengthen community engagement to foster local stewardship and resolve outstanding land and access issues.
• Enhance oversight and accountability to ensure that these reserves fulfil their intended conservation purpose.

Without immediate intervention, the decline of these reserves will continue, jeopardising South Africa’s rich natural heritage, its biodiversity, and the livelihoods that depend on them.

We urge your department to prioritise this issue and to initiate a coordinated response to restore and protect these vital conservation areas for present and future generations.

South Africa’s provincial nature reserves are facing a severe conservation and management crisis that threatens our ability to meet both national and global biodiversity commitments. The attached report, “The State of South Africa’s Provincial Nature Reserves,” reveals widespread neglect, underfunding, infrastructure decay, poaching, and poor governance that have left many reserves unable to fulfil their conservation mandates.

The EMS Foundation urges the Department to take coordinated national action to stabilise funding, restore critical infrastructure, strengthen oversight, and build collaborative frameworks with provinces and local communities. Immediate intervention is essential to halt the decline of these reserves and secure the ecological and economic benefits they represent for future generations.

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