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Buyelwa Sonjica, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs and eight
MECs responsible for environmental affairs from Gauteng, North West,
Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Northern Cape, Free State,
Kwazulu-Natal and the Western Cape today, signed the Grasslands
Declaration committing Government to the conservation of grasslands
biodiversity.

The Declaration is an effort to collaborate in good faith to pursue
biodiversity targets and objectives in securing and sustaining the
ecosystem services of the grasslands biome. The goal is to sustain and
secure biodiversity and associated ecosystem services of the grasslands
biome for the benefit of current and future generations. The Declaration
also intends to take active measures to involve a wide range of
interested and affected parties, including local communities and
resource users, in the management and conservation of biodiversity in
the grasslands biome.

The South African grasslands biome is the second largest biome in South
Africa, covering an area of 339 237 km² and it occurs in eight of South
Africa's nine provinces. The grasslands biome is one of the most
threatened biomes in South Africa, with 30% irreversibly transformed and
only 1.9% of the biodiversity target for the biome formally conserved.

Minister Sonjica said that Grasslands contain the economic heartland of
South Africa and produces the bulk of water needed to sustain human life
and underpin economic growth. The grasslands biome provides essential
ecosystems services, such as water production and soil retention
necessary for economic development, and contains important biodiversity
of global and domestic significance and value.

Sonjica said, "Several of South Africa's priority river catchments
occur in the grasslands biome, including the Thukela River catchment.
Good management of South Africa's mountain grasslands will result in
more water released back into the river catchment system in the form of
12, 8 cubic meters of water in winter riverflows. In rand value, this
equates to between R18 million and R88, 7 million per annum."

Government established the Grasslands Programme to protect and conserve
grasslands. The Programme's unique conservation approach includes
working with various production sectors to reach conservation targets.
The Grasslands Programme is managed through the South African National
Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) in collaboration with the Department of
Environmental Affairs.

The ecosystem services and biodiversity of the grasslands are found
across the biome and cannot be secured only through formal conservation
areas. The Grasslands Programme seeks to implement an alternative
approach of mainstreaming by working in partnership with the
agriculture, forestry, urban development and coal mining sectors to
secure and sustain grasslands.

In Wakkerstroom, commercial and communal farmers are committing to
manage their land in a way that protects biodiversity through
stewardship. The Programme is also working with land reform
beneficiaries whose land contains important biodiversity.

The Grasslands Programme and Forestry South Africa (FSA) are working
with forestry companies to have set aside 37 sites comprising
approximately 42 000 hectares for conservation. This is an important
step the commercial forestry sector is taking to conserve biodiversity
rich land and protect the water production value of the grasslands.
The significance of this action is that collectively these sites will
extend the area of the grasslands biome under formal conservation by
almost 5%.

To conserve significant sites for biodiversity in urban areas, the
Programme is working in partnership with Gauteng's municipalities,
including Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. The signing of the
Grasslands Declaration will strengthen cooperative governance and fast
track initiatives underway to protect grasslands in Ekurhuleni.
Ekurhuleni still has relatively high ecosystem services value linked to
the wetlands in the area. Ekurhuleni is located on the continental
divide and is therefore in the upper part of at least 3 water catchment
areas.

One of the initiatives that have come off the ground in Ekurhuleni is
the Leeupan Regional Park Project in Boksburg just north of the N17.
The project is aimed at rehabilitating an existing wetland to a
functioning ecosystem. In addition, an environmental education precinct
center will be established to create meeting space for surrounding
communities and allow them to engage in environmental and recreational
activities.