Established in 2000, the GSLWPA is made up of representatives of government, civil society and local communities. Their workshop brought together protected area managers, scientists and representatives from local communities. The meeting was a unique opportunity for social and natural scientists to jointly explore the challenges facing integrated conservation and development in the St Lucia World Heritage site and to engage in a dialogue with community representatives involved in such sustainable development programmes.

To launch the GSLWPA’s new “stocking program”, the meeting was followed by the release of 2 Cheetah into the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park (GSLWP). The Cheetah had disappeared from the St. Lucia area around 100 years ago.
In his key note address, Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre noted the pioneering work of South Africa in implementing the World Heritage Convention by integrating heritage conservation into the regional development. Kenton Miller, Chair of IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas, expressed his satisfaction with lessons that could be drawn from the experience in the GSLWP on how to deliver “Benefits beyond Boundaries” --the theme of this year’s World Parks Congress.

South Africa joined the World Heritage Convention in 1997. Following the end of apartheid in 1994, this was a time characterized by a growing acceptance that protected area management should move from a repressive protection system towards a more integrated management model that strives to balance conservation and development. This is reflected in the World Heritage Convention Act, a unique legislative tool promulgated in 1999 to incorporate the World Heritage Convention into the law of the country and establish the legal and administrative framework to effectively manage and develop South African World Heritage Sites. Together with Australia, South Africa is the only States Party to the Convention that has a special World Heritage legislation, demonstrating clearly the commitment of its government to the objectives of the Convention.

The Act not only ensures that appropriate measures are taken for the protection, conservation and presentation of South Africa’s World Heritage Sites, it also allows for the sites to be developed in ways that meet the social and development needs of local residents and citizens. This makes World Heritage Sites a new model for protected area management in the South Africa.

A clear example of this new style of protected area management can be found in the GSLWP. Designated as a World Heritage Site in 1999, GSLWP is one of the five World Heritage Sites in South Africa.  The designation as World Heritage followed a long struggle by environmentalists and local communities to halt plans to mine the titanium deposits occurring in the littoral zone. In 1996, the government acknowledged the recommendation by the review panel of the Environmental Impact Assessment, that no mining should be allowed in the Park area as the ecosystem is a priceless asset to the nation and recognized internationally as having exceptional conservation values. Therefore, the government decided in favor of an alternative development strategy, based on conservation and nature-based tourism. In this light, it submitted a nomination proposal for designating GSLWP as a World Heritage Site.