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S. Africa, Namibia Sign Memorandum on Establishing Conservation Area
South African Environmental Affairs Minister Valli Moosa and his Namibian counterpart Philemon Malima on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a transfrontier conservation area (TFCA).
Speaking at the ceremony held in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, Moosa said that by early next year both he and Malima would be ready to agree on the text of a formal international treaty between the two countries.
"By June 2002 it should be possible for both to formally declare the park in existence," he was quoted by the South African Press Association as saying.
He said the conservation and protection of ecosystems knew no political boundaries, and the establishment of the park would bear testimony to this.
South Africa and Namibia would develop a common tourism strategy and a joint marketing campaign for the park, which was in a very economically poor part of the subcontinent, Moosa said.
"We need to examine the tourism needs and develop a multi- sectoral approach to alternative sources of income," he said.
The two countries, he said, would also examine the issue of allowing tourists access to the whole transfrontier park.
The park would stimulate socio-economic development and employment in both countries, he said.
Malima said he welcomed the agreement, which had taken two years, and would ensure that the TFCA promoted eco-tourism, preserve biodiversity and facilitate sustainable tourism development.
The 5,086-square-kilometer park is one of the most desolate and unspoilt desert wildernesses in southern Africa, a piece of land that includes the Richtersveld National Park and Namibia's Ai-Ais Game Park.
Known as the Richtersveld/Ai-Ais, the park will stretch from near Khubus in the Northern Cape, across the Orange River -- which marks the boundary between the two countries -- and up to a point north of Hobas in Namibia.
About two thirds of the newly declared area is in Namibia. This section includes the Fish River Canyon, the second biggest in the world after the Grand Canyon in the United States, and the Ai-Ais hot springs.
The South African section comprises the entire Richtersveld park.
Biologists have labeled it one of the most bio-diverse desert zones in the world. It is a landscape of jagged mountain ranges, wind-sculpted rock and bizarre vegetation and flora.
Friday's signing came just two months after a similar agreement was signed by South Africa and Lesotho to establish the Maluti- Drakensberg Transfrontier Area.
South Africa has also signed transfrontier agreements with Mozambique and Zimbabwe to create the Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Park, and with Botswana to establish the Kgalagadi Park.
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