The dissertation's point of departure and contention is that the Admiralty Reserve is one of the Coastal Resources facing degradation due to the fact that it is a common property owned by the State President on behalf of all citizens of South Africa. The environmental management function has become the unfunded mandate of local authorities therefore the administration, control and management of the Admiralty Reserve is the responsibility of local government in terms of various lease agreements. There are currently no specific tools available to local government to manage the Admiralty Reserve. The encroachment of the Admiralty Reserve has been and still is a problem for all coastal municipalities including Umdoni municipality. The rationale for the topic was to study the geography of the Admiralty Reserve, the causes of encroachments and the way in which the local authorities dealt (past and present) with the Admiralty Reserve encroachments; to assess the strategies employed by the municipalities in dealing with encroachments, and with the traditional and evolving functions of the Admiralty Reserve. This was done using standard research methods and techniques. The study is located in one of the small coastal municipalities of South Africa called Umdoni, in the Province of Kwazulu-Natal. The results of the study show that the past and present strategies of dealing with encroachments were adversarial in stance and not collaborative. The failure to administer and manage efficiently can be attributed to the following reasons: lack of capacity to deal with environmental matters and legislation, lack of political willpower, negligence on the part of both national and local government spheres, lack of stewardship, lack of proper education, training and knowledge of environmental issues and negative attitudes towards environmental matters. It was also revealed that generally people encroach into the Reserve because of greed and selfishness. One of the conclusions drawn from the findings was that the Admiralty Reserve has become a victim of fragmented control and management by various spheres of government. The Admiralty Reserve requires an integrated management approach that incorporates civic organizations, the relevant government departments, the local authority and the interested and affected individuals. Local authorities are not given proper tools to manage the Admiralty Reserve. There are many laws but none of them are relevant to the Admiralty Reserve. In the absence of usable legislative tools relevant to the Admiralty Reserve encroachments, it is highly recommended and imperative that coastal local authorities (particularly Umdoni Municipality) should formulate and strengthen their bylaws. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (KZN Wildlife) needed to develop a solid waste management policy and strategy for their protected areas, as well as specific solid waste management plans for existing and new developments within these areas. These had to be in keeping with the principles of sustainable development, protected area conservation objectives, best practice and legislative requirements. A pilot study was thus undertaken at two large KwaZulu-Natal protected area visitor facilities, Hilltop Rest Camp in Hluhluwe Game Reserve and Sodwana Bay Rest Camp, to investigate the types and amounts of solid waste generated . In addition, the solid waste disposal methods employed in 1984 and 2000, the disposal options available and the constraints and impacts of solid waste disposal throughout the protected area system were investigated. A comparison was made with solid waste production and management at Skukuza Rest Camp in the Kruger National Park as well as with various international waste sources. The information was presented in the form of histograms for comparison and tree cluster analysis was used as a heuristic tool to discuss the results. Hilltop and Sodwana Bay Rest Camps produced similar waste although its composition varied according to the specific source of production within the visitor facility . The waste produced at KZN Wildlife protected area visitor facilities had a similar composition to that produced at Skukuza Rest Camp. Audits of waste management practices at Hilltop, Sodwana Bay and Skukuza indicated that KZN Wildlife was not adequately managing the solid waste at their two protected area visitorfacilities. However, solid waste was being responsibly disposed of at Skukuza Rest Camp. The type of waste produced at protected area visitor facilities in a number of other African countries and Australia, was similar in composition to that produced in South African protected areas; all were similar to that produced in developed, westernised countries. A survey in 1984 of waste disposal methods in 32 KZN Wildlife protected areas, indicated that disposal to municipal landfill was only practised by protected areas less than 5 000 ha in size and less than 30 km from a municipallandfill. The current (2000) survey showed that disposal directly to landfill without reduction within protected areas had been discontinued, and that there was an increased proportion of waste disposal to municipal landfill. Such disposal was primarily limited to areas of less than 10000 ha and less than 40 km from such a landfill. The main constraints on the choice of waste disposal method were the cost of transport and limited budgets. A draft solid waste management policy and strategy were developed. The policy set out the legal requirements , ecological objectives and constraints of solid waste disposal in protected areas and also the preferred disposal options. The strategy set out the waste disposal methods available and their associated risks, likely impacts, opportunities and implications for management. The use of a simple matrix, that combined transport costs (represented by distance to a municipal landfill site); the size of the protected area (assumed to reflect the amount of solid waste generated); and the environmental risk of leachate production (as indicated by the climatic water balance), with suitable waste disposal options, was recommended. This matrix was designed to assist in the objective implementation of the draft waste management policy and in selection of an appropriate waste disposal method for each protected area. The draft policy and strategy were applied to produce a solid waste management plan for a new development in Umfolozi Game Reserve. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

Since the establishment of the first protected area in 1872, the Yellowstone National Park, the concept of protected areas and their management have witnessed several controversies and conflicts. Generally, ownership and management of most of these protected areas has in the past been restricted to state -governments. Other stakeholders and particularly local communities neighbouring these areas were excluded from their management and ownership. Since the last three decades, however, conservation bodies have been trying to encourage various other protected area governance (management) approaches to address failures in the existing management approach (in which state governments almost solely managed and owned these protected areas ) to achieve the conservation goals. Some of these include co-management and private protected area management approaches. In Component A of this study, "Co-management as an option for private protected areas: A case study of the Shongweni Resource Reserve", attempts were made to explore a selection of literature in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the concepts of private protected areas and co-management. Through this documentary review of literature from various sources (internet, libraries, personal communication, etc) the study identified, examined and documented various issues associated with the concepts. It also explored and documented the historical and current perspectives as well as the legal and policy context of these concepts in South Africa. In addition, the study examined the study area and the methods explored in the study. The study concludes in this Component that: 1. Protected area co-management is a pluralistic approach to the management of protected areas. It recognises a variety of stakeholders that are conducive to the achievement of sustainable conservation goals. 2. Private protected areas have tremendously increased in South Africa, with a total of 13% of the land surface under private protected area management. This is more than double the land surface under public protected area management. 3. South Africa has adequate legal and policy framework provisions that encourage comanagement as well as private protected area management. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

The study was conducted in the Amazizi Traditional Administrative Council Area, in the Obonjaneni community, which is the closest community to the Royal Natal Park, KwaZulu-Natal. The aim of the research was to evaluate how trust-based relationships can affect the ability of protected area managers to meet the objective of biodiversity conservation. The objectives of the study involved determining the nature and basis of the current relationship between communities and park authorities in the Royal Natal Park; determining the resilience of their relationship and commenting on how these relationships might be better developed. Data collection was undertaken using focus groups from the community; key informant interviews with Park authorities (represented by the Officer in Charge), the Community Conservation Officer, and the Tribal Authority (represented by the inkosi). Three dimensions of trust, adapted from Grunig and Hon (1999), were used as a conceptual framework in investigating the extent to which trust can be assessed in the case study. The dimensions of trust are: integrity, competence, and dependability. The researcher found that there is no forum for the exchange of ideas where the Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (EKZNW) authority can act to address community concerns and facilitate the formulation of greater levels of trust. Several issues came up during data collection which showed that all the three dimensions of trust were under serious threat. There was inadequate communication amongst all the parties involved. Misunderstanding and the lack of adequate communication are key threats to trust between these parties. Findings draw attention to deficiencies in the competence and dependability of all parties and in the ability to develop and maintain trust-based relationships. In order to develop a better relationship between the community of Obonjaneni and the Royal Natal Park authorities, it is recommended that the Park involves the community members of Obonjaneni, who are the interested and affected party, in decision-making processes that directly affect them. This entails the formation of a forum for the exchange of ideas and one where the EKZNW authority can act to address community concerns – and where the community can voice its concerns. Furthermore, success in meeting the main objective of the park, that of biodiversity conservation; requires recognition among all stakeholders that the Park alone cannot solve poverty and underdevelopment in the surrounding areas. Other Government Departments also need to be involved in poverty reduction. The Park also needs to continue to play its role of providing resources and improving the communication with surrounding communities: these are critical areas of competency of the park authorities. Communities, because they have different levels of understanding and capacity, need to be helped to understand issues of conservation. Sharing the same set of values, which in this case is biodiversity conservation, may be successful if people, despite issues of poverty, are made to understand the critical importance of such a conservation ethic. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.