Well the AGM is over for another year – to those who made it, thanks for the support, it was good to see old friends again. For those that could not make it there will another AGM next year!
The venue was excellent and the accommodation very comfortable and modern.
The Symposium went well with all the talks being interesting and well prepared and the topics fitted in well with the venue.
The minutes of the AGM are still being prepared and will be circulated in a later edition of the C~S. In the meantime, herewith, a short version of the GRAA Annual Report.
As will be seen when the minutes are published Wayne Lotter stood down as Chairman due to being based in Tanzania for the next two years. Andre Botha was elected Chair of the Africa Committee with Wayne Lotter as Vice chair (East Africa) and Richard Sowry an Vice Chair.
Game Rangers Association of Africa
ANNUAL REPORT 2007
GRAA Annual Chairman’s Report – 2007/ 08 (Hlalanathi, KZN)
Indalo Yethu (SA Environmental Awareness Campaign):
The GRAA, identified by the DEAT-established Indalo Yethu campaign as “very important stakeholders”, were invited to attend their consultative forum which commenced at a meeting in Pretoria on 25 April. Unfortunately we were unable to get a representative to participate in this forum but I requested that we be kept in the loop.
The presentation made by Jan Phelan at the IUCN SA committee meeting in February 2007 was very well received, as was the one to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s Biodiversity Conservation Operations Management Meeting shortly thereafter. Jan Phelan was awarded a short term contract to develop PAMS for the function for which I was responsible in Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (the invasive alien species programme). This will provide us with the opportunity to demonstrate the usefulness of PAMS and promote its adoption elsewhere. Andre Spies of SANParks HQ should be invited to return to KZN to see PAMS now that it is in place.
It will cost a fair amount of money to attend meetings etc. in order to gain more necessary support and momentum and create the opportunities needed to make these ideas a reality until they can pay for themselves. Jan Phelan set aside 5% of her earnings from the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife contract for this task, towards travel cost for promoting the GRAA’s work in the field of protected area management effectiveness.
The paper I presented, titled “Protected Area Stewardship: a Protected Area Management System and the role of certification” at the African Wildlife & Reserve Management Conference in Johannesburg in June, was well received. Similarly, the paper I presented at the SA Wildlife Management Association Conference on 18 September, titled “The potential role of certification in protected area management”, was well received and the paper that my assistant Mrs Krissie Clark presented (and Mrs Jan Phelan and I co-authored) on the implementation of PAMS in the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Invasive Alien Species Programme was adjudged the second best paper at this conference.
I visited Ingwelala in the APNR during October (at no travel cost charged to the GRAA) to follow up on their earlier enquiry regarding PAMS and made a presentation/proposal to their Board on 19 October. Unfortunately it appears that the consulting costs quoted (although highly discounted and conservative) was more than they were willing to spend on this at the present time. The Warden of the Timbavati reserve was also visited during this trip and his interest shown in PAMS was very encouraging. A good few additional ‘interested party’ leads remain to be followed up on during 2008.
PAMS has been adopted for use in one aspect of the Selous-Niassa Wildlife Protection Corridor Project, which is linking the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania with the Niassa Game Reserve in Mocambique. It is hoped to grow the scope of it’s use in Tanzania from there.
Regional Matters:
Rory Allardice has been Chairman of the Western Cape Region since February 2007. Marius Fuls retired as Chairman of the Lowveld Region, where he did a splendid job up until April 2007 when he moved to the southern Freestate. Marius now represents the Freestate and Northern Cape Region on the Africa Committee. Richard Sowry took up the position of Lowveld Chairman since April. Wayne Erlank was appointed as the Regional Chairman for the Eastern Cape during September 2007. Bryan Havemman continues to lead the KZN Region and there are no further changes to report insofar as regional chairpersons are concerned. We are anticipating to see more and many good things happening in all of these regions during the year ahead.
Occupancy Apart from occasional private bookings, 11 groups occupied the tents during 2007. This brought in a profit after expenses, including the construction of two en suite bathrooms, of R23,211.61 to the GRAA. Thus far for 2008 there are 4 groups expected to utilise the tents.
Training:
Thank you to Arrie Schreiber and Craig Hay for your good work and reporting with regard to Training and the SAWC Partnership.
The Golf Day this year was a great success. Over R65 000 profit was made, which is approximately R21 000 better than the previous year. Thank you to Richard Sowry, the Lowveld team and everybody else who assisted.
With the approval of the Lowveld Region and the AC, Marius Fuls intends to continue organizing the annual GRAA Fly-Fishing Challenge. The 2007 event was moderately successful. However, for 2008 Marius plans to draw in the help and expertise of Peter Mills, chairman of the South African Fly-Fishing Association, and newly sourced GRAA member. Their plan is to steer away from trout fishing, due to the sensitivity of it being an alien species and they are rather looking at Tiger fish, Yellow fish or even saltwater fishing.
In KZN George Zaloumis continued to spearhead fundraising efforts in his usual determined and committed way, primarily through the annual hunt raffle. Further fundraising efforts included three birding weekends. Thanks to George Zaloumis, Drummond Densham, Andre Botha and everyone else who helped with these fundraisers.
Secretariat
Don Yunnie continued to provide another year of excellent service regarding the administration for the AC meetings, minutes of AC and KZN meetings, filing and AGM arrangements, and dealing with email and mail correspondence.
Game Ranger Magazine:
Two editions of The Game Ranger were produced during 2007. Thank you to Paul Phelan who took over my editorial role for the second edition. Thank you to the sponsors of the magazine during 2007, namely Spar Buildit, Cheftrapps and the eLan Group.
Web site:
Once again Ron Physick has done sterling work this year and has continued to update and tweak the website where necessary. The items the GRAA trades can be seen and purchased. The site is quick to load, an archive of the C~S is available here for members to look up items of interest, and there are also the GRAA statements, position papers and a copy of our manifesto.
Tim Snow represents us on the IUCN SA Committee. Rory Allardice attended the meeting in Cape Town on 22 October, on his behalf, and provided a written report-back from that (thanks Rory). Bryan Havemann, our KZN Chairman and the National Director of Conservation for WESSA, also participates on that committee and was elected as Vice Chairman thereof some months back. Congratulations Bryan! Tim can report further regarding progress with the IUCN SA Committee in relation to the furtherance of the GRAA’s objectives.
Additional conservation issues:
South Africa:
Jeremy Andersen reported (initially verbally, then briefly on email) a number of serious concerns relating to inadequate management within/of provincial protected areas in SA and stated that he felt the GRAA was too silent on these issues. I updated him w.r.t. the GRAA’s liaisons with DEAT i.r.o. the QwaQwa National Park debacle and invited him to provide evidence of mismanagement and concerns in writing so that we can respond appropriately. However, nothing substantive has been received to date. He has been spending more time outside of SA than within the country of late and has had very little time to spare.
The GRAA Statement on the allowing of fishing in the Tsitsikamma National Park was well received, particularly as it supported those by other NGOs, notably the EWT and WWF.
East Africa:
The GRAA’s gave support to the environmental consortium group opposed to the proposed mining at Lake Natron in Tanzania and Kenya. There has been a lot of the attention, public meetings and media coverage of this battle in the media in East Africa and some significant ground has been won by the consortium.
World Ranger Day was celebrated on 31 July 2007. Two TGL movie Premiere events were held in South Africa – one in White River which had 61 paying guests attend, and another smaller event at Aghulas National Park. Thank you very much to Peter Scott and others who made this happen! Are there any ideas regarding how to celebrate World Ranger Day in Africa during 2008?
We are very pleased to have the President of the IRF with us at this AGM. David and Handa Zeller are here on leave from his current post in West Africa.
Thin Green Line:
I have submitted reports for each of the editions of the Thin Green Line (TGL) since the Scotland IRF World Congress. Tim Snow continues to circulate copies of the TGL to representatives in other African countries and I will forward to AC members who are not on the distribution list. If anyone has something to include in the next edition please let me have it.
The IRF has also started a regular e-newsletter named “Guardaparque”. I have referred their editor, Bill Halainen, to the Cleft Stick and another hunting and wildlife newsletter (HuntNetwork) to subscribe to for news from Africa and Tim Snow has sourced further news items from African representatives for him.
Thank you to Andre Botha for standing in for me when it was necessary. A sincere thank you to Don and Muriel Yunnie, Martin Schofield (chair of the AGM Local Organising Committee), George Zaloumis, all the members of the Africa Committee, Regional Committees, and everyone else (including our families and spouses for their support and tolerance) who served the GRAA during 2007 in too many ways to mention!
Finally, I remain firmly of the opinion that the key to the long-term success of the GRAA lies in our ability to identify, promote and implement meaningful projects that can attract or generate ongoing funding whilst adding value to our conservation vision at the same time. The GRAA could assist conservation organizations with conducting objective management effectiveness evaluations of protected areas and in compiling integrated management plans for protected areas. The proposal to become an active service provider in areas related to our mission and objectives should be actively explored and pursued. Comments and collaborators willing to help work towards this end will be welcomed.
The SAWC Agreement, and the PAMS and related initiatives concerning the assurance of management effectiveness, are early positive steps in this direction. Quality control would be an important component of such projects, if pursued, and I would like to remain involved with it if the AC approves, albeit whilst working in Tanzania.
“To keep doing only the same things and expecting different results is insane.” If we want to achieve more it is time to try some new approaches.
It has been an honour to serve as Chairman of the GRAA over the past year. Thank you to everyone for your support and best wishes to the new committee and Chairman for the year/s ahead!