New regulations have been published under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity
Act ('the Biodiversity Act') that regulate activities regarded as 'restricted activities' by that Act
involving listed species of flora and fauna. The regulations include several provisions relating
specifically to five species of large predator (lions are a notable exception) and to black and white
rhinoceros and represent the end of a lengthy law reform process. The regulations came into force
on 1 February 2008.
South Africa is a signatory to several international instruments concerned with the protection of
biodiversity including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ('CITES'), the
United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the SADC Protocol on Wildlife
Conservation and Law Enforcement in the Southern African Development Community. The
Biodiversity Act is the key national law concerned with management of large predators from a
conservation and biodiversity protection point of view. Several Acts administered by the
Department of Agriculture, such as the Animals Protection Act and the Performing Animals
Protection Act, provide for the welfare of animals in captivity. However, the management of wild
predators has up to now been regulated at provincial level by a series of outdated nature
conservation ordinances that are inconsistent with one another and with the provisions of CITES.
It is clear from the Game Theft Act, from national policy instruments such as the National
Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and from the draft Game Farming Policy that hunting and
game farming are seen as important contributors to the South African economy with the potential to
address rural poverty and create employment. Hunting is itself a multimillion rand industry in
South Africa and a substantial part of that industry is trophy hunting. Large predators in South Africa are most affected by trophy hunting practices, but other animals and other predators are also
affected. Large predators are also the subject ofboth national and international trade. In recent years
captive breeding of large predators has increased dramatically in order to supply the trophy hunting
industry. During the late 1990s concerns began to be raised in the press regarding so-called 'canned
hunting' practices and the law reform process mentioned in the first paragraph was partially a result
ofthis focus on canned hunting.
The new regulations provide, among other things, for greater control of the wildlife industry and for
the setting ofhunting off-take limits, but they have several weaknesses. On the most basic level, the
regulations contain drafting errors, are overly complex and may conflict with existing provincial
legislation. They are likely to impose a greater administrative burden on provincial authorities
already struggling to implement the existing provincial legislation. It is submitted that the
provisions relating to animal welfare (for example, those dealing with prohibited methods of
hunting) should have been enacted elsewhere. The provisions relating to self-regulation of the
hunting industry and black economic empowerment are ineffectual as currently drafted.
Most importantly, the new regulations do not represent a significant departure from the utilitarian
approach to wild animals that has characterised South African law since its earliest days. In this
sense, the regulations conform to the current policy of 'making conservation pay'. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/5613 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Kvalsvig, Sarah Dene. |
| Contributors | Couzens, Edmund. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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