 EDITORIAL COMMENT — by Dave Rorke
AN Integrated Management Plan for the iSimangaliso Wetland Park for the future management of the park on a day-to-day basis was published for comment by ACER (Africa) Environmental Management Consultants in December 2008.
According to ACER, “All world heritage sites in South Africa are required by the World Heritage Convention Act of 1999 to have an IMP [because] it is the overarching framework that will be used to conserve, develop, manage and set standards for the iSimangaliso Wetland Park for the next five years.” It also contains the vision and principles for the park, as well as practical management tools, “... mutually dependent strategies for conservation, tourism development and local economic empowerment.”
The first IDMP (Integrated Development Management Plan) for the park went out for extensive government and public consultation in the latter half of 2000, says ACER. “Since 2000, extensive work has been undertaken to ensure that the new IMP meets best practice standards in line with the World Heritage Convention Act, Marine Living Resources Act and more recently, the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act.”
ACER continues: “While the relevant laws stipulate the minimum requirements for consultation, it is also necessary to fulfil the spirit of the law, contained largely in the Constitution and the principles of our legislation.” It’s all about the best laid plans of mice and men, with the best intentions, no doubt.
And so ACER asked for comment on a number of questions, including whether the IMP ensures the development and management of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in a manner consistent with the objectives and principles of the World Heritage Convention Act and other relevant legislation. Also, whether the IMP provides for the protection, conservation and presentation of the park’s natural and cultural values for everyone, and — among others — if the tools that are being proposed to develop and manage the park are appropriate and acceptable.
See the “Background Information Document” http://www.acerafrica.co.za/ index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=4&Itemid=1.
The December 2008 draft IMP is a 190 page document which has subsequently been scrutinised by (in our context) affected angling bodies, including SADSAA, the Zululand Deep Sea Angling Association and SAUFF (South African Underwater Fishing Federation) who have responded through their attorney, Allan Heydorn (Jnr) of Shepstone & Wylie, Richards Bay.
“The provisions of the Constitution and introductory document of ACER require that administrative action should be lawful, transparent, reasonable, procedurally fair and that public participation should be encouraged,” responds Allan Heydorn. “The concern expressed by many interested and affected parties is that the powers vested in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority will be abused.
“Numerous arbitrary decisions affecting the rights of interested and affected parties have been taken without consulting the public or scientific community whose expertise could have contributed towards taking the best possible decision in the interests of conservation,” continues Mr Heydorn.
“Adequate checks and balances need to be introduced to protect interested and affected parties against unjust administrative action,” says Mr Heydorn, “and until answers are provided to the questions raised in the present document, the IMP can neither be accepted nor rejected ...” by the bodies he represents.
Mention is also made of the “... recent unilateral proclamation of the new wreck sites created by the scuttling of the two barges as Marine Protected Areas excluding offshore scuba diving, swimming and fishing, without consulting the user public, which action is both arbitrary and contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.”
All, it seems, is not as cut and dry as ACER and, no doubt, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority (in the guise of their ever-controversial Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zaloumis) might suppose. Democracy is not exclusive ...
Happy reading and good catches.
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