Garden Route National Park
"The Earth is full of heaven and there are no unsacred places."
Sedge is now in the Park - the newly formed Garden Route National Park! On 6 March 2009, the Garden Route area extending from Wilderness in the south to Tsitsikamma in the north was declared the Garden Route National Park by Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Dr. Van Schalkwyk. It was launched at SANParks offices on Thesen's jetty, Knysna. Described as “conservation without boundaries”, this move will bring about the sharing of resources and management experience for successful conservation practices. "It will facilitate important programmes like fire management, alien species eradication, land consolidation, integrated land management and improve the protection of important ecosystems" the Minister said. "As administrative and ecological boundaries vary considerably, co-operative governance is essential." The new Garden Route National Park will be approximately 121000 hectares of which 52500 hectares is newly proclaimed land. It will straddle the 2 provinces - the Eastern and Western Cape, 2 district municipalities - Eden and Cacadu, and 4 local municipalities -George, Knynsa, Bitou and Koukamma.
Sedgefield and many other towns like us now have the distinctive honour to be assimilated into a conservation area, the newly formed Garden Route National Park. What a positive move for the environment! Hopefully it will make us all more conscious of what conservation means and doing our part to implement it. We are so privileged to live in this piece of paradise. It helps us to realise though, that at the end of the day our whole planet needs to be viewed as a conservation area because it’s all we have and all the signs indicate that it's in dire need of looking after. 
Authorities have realised that diversely utilised areas adjacent to each other cannot be effectively controlled and managed as isolated pockets. Everyone has their own agendas and protects their interests, usually to the detriment of others and often simply because of lack of understanding of the issues. In every instance the most vulnerable participant, our environment, suffers most. A cooperative governance and cohesive management plan involving all stakeholders within the Garden Route National Park is the only way to create win/win situations even if it makes the solutions more difficult to arrive at. They're unlikely to satisfy everyone but the hope is that short-sighted decisions can be avoided. When many disparate voices can express their opinions and negotiate in a transparent manner through a common forum then brainstorming could enable the best outcomes to be achieved. One hopes that altruism and generosity will win over greed and self-interest. In Africa that can be a tall order, but we still have the opportunity to make the dream come true. A most important factor is having funds available to provide the meaningful monitoring and implementing of conservation practices when other concerns such as job creation, housing and attendant infrastructure are critical necessities and political levers for a great number of our population. These needn't be seen as opposing goals in our region.
The very fact that this landmark Garden Route National Park has materialised shows that the “powers that be” recognise the need to protect this fragile and diverse environment. In a world of duelling dualities and competing interests, we are entitled to hope that all parties affected, from agriculture and forestry, to municipalities and tourism, will find the will and the way to work cooperatively with SANParks who are the custodians and second largest employer in the region. If individuals within the system will rise above applying unsavoury means to attain selfish ends and use head and heart to evolve workable successful outcomes what a meritorious achievement that will be! To conserve this unique combination of marine habitat, including beaches and coastal ecology, lakes, fynbos biome, indigenous forests and mountain water catchment areas is the ultimate prize now and for future generations. I believe that if genuine long term answers and appropriate conservation measures are sought, solutions will be found. The amazing and encouraging discovery of a small free ranging herd of elephants in the Knysna Forest should spur conservation bodies on to explore ingenious ways of allowing their co-existence with humans so that they remain the free and wild creatures they are meant to be. Human nature is inherently geared to create solutions to challenges. Ground-breaking initiatives are paramount to ensuring not only humanities' survival but the survival of all other living things to revere the untouchable essence of things and fundamental qualities of existence that make life meaningful.
"Only after the last tree has been cut down
GET INVOLVED AND ADD YOUR VOTE if you feel strongly about the topic of the petition above. You can see the details first by clicking on the subject text. The petitions will change regularly when they have reached their signature target.
How to do your bit for ConservationThe best way for individuals to get involved is on a personal and local level, in manageable bites. I always think that if we each do whatever we can, all the little bits add up in the end to a huge pile of difference. Once you start, new ideas present themselves and the whole project gathers momentum! Whether its
– there’s numerous ways that we can lessen our human impact on the environment which in this case is our very own Garden Route National Park!
Never underestimate the value of good ideas - especially when contributing to "saving our planet"
So if you have few good tips however simple they may seem, please share them! Sometimes those simple ideas are the best because they are the easiest to implement! What Other Visitors Have SaidClick below to see contributions from other visitors to this page... Using worn or torn old T-shirts and Vests South Africa is trying to reduce rubbish sent to landfill to zero by 2022. Start now by getting into good habits that will help us achieve this goal. Don'...
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DISCOVER THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE GARDEN ROUTE NATIONAL PARK BY CLICKING ON THE PICTURE TOPICS BELOW.
With every patch of forest cut, wetland drained, or grassland paved, our ongoing destruction of wildlife habitat is leading to population declines, and even driving some species to extinction.
According to the experts, more than 17,000 plants and animals are threatened with extinction because of human activity, mostly through habitat loss. This includes 12% of all known birds, nearly a quarter of known mammals, and a third of known amphibians. Climate change is predicted to sharply increase the risk of species extinction within our own children's lifetime. - David Suzuki http://www.davidsuzuki.org/
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