The Endangered Wildlife Trust made a clarion call ahead of the Budget Speech for the formal recognition of the findings of the State of Provincial Reserves report by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) after tough questions were asked by civic at the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). Such a recognition would pave way for budget allocations for the preservation of the country’s natural and biological assets.
When President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last week, he outlined the government’s response to South Africa’s most pressing crises. These include electricity shortages, water insecurity, failing logistics networks, and rising crime. But one national emergency unfolding quietly across the country received no mention. The systemic collapse of South Africa’s provincial nature reserves.
Only 6% of 53 reserves fully functional
The national assessment conducted by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), which evaluated 53 provincial nature reserves, found widespread crisis. This includes infrastructure collapse, staffing shortages, and rising poaching of endangered species.
The report, based on field inspections and operational data, exposed a conservation system under severe strain. Many reserves are unable to perform basic protection and management functions.
The report found that only 6% of 53 provincial nature reserves assessed were found to be fully functional. Many others have fallen into disrepair. Broken fences, crumbling roads, abandoned accommodation facilities, and shortages of staff and operational funding. Some reserves have been closed to the public for years. Others exist largely on paper, unable to fulfil their conservation mandate.
DFFE Minister Willie Aucamp acknowledged the findings in a written response to NCOP questions. But he distanced the department from acting on the report’s recommendations.
He said the assessment was “an independent civil society initiative and has not been formally legitimised. Nor has it been adopted as an official government report.” He added that “the DFFE could not implement its recommendations until formally recognised”.
Widespread underfunding
The questions, submitted by Freedom Front Plus MP, Tanja Breedt, referenced both the EMS Foundation’s findings and a 2023 national assessment conducted by the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa. These assessments identified widespread underfunding. As well as deteriorating infrastructure, staff shortages and weakened biodiversity protection. Also growing commercial pressures undermining the conservation mandate of provincial reserves.
The EMS Foundation said the response highlighted the absence of urgent intervention. This is despite evidence of systemic institutional decline. “The Minister’s response does not dispute these findings. It simply avoids addressing them,” said EMS Foundation.
Nature reserves protect ecosystems that sustain both biodiversity and human life. It preserves wildlife, water sources, and natural landscapes that would otherwise be degraded or lost.
South Africa’s protected area network includes approximately 427 protected areas covering more than 3.3 million hectares. Thus forming a cornerstone of the country’s biodiversity economy. Provincial nature reserves represent a huge portion of this system. Particularly in rural areas, where conservation supports tourism, employment, and ecosystem services.
National reserves in crisis
Provincial conservation agencies manage hundreds of protected areas covering millions of hectares. They are facing severe financial and operational constraints. Budget cuts, declining tourism revenue, and governance challenges have eroded their ability to maintain infrastructure and enforce environmental protection.
The consequences of a system increasingly unable to perform its core function of protecting South Africa’s biodiversity are visible across multiple provinces. Damaged fencing allows wildlife to escape and poachers to enter. Broken roads limit ranger patrols and tourism access. Water and electricity systems have failed in some facilities, rendering them unusable.
The report found that many reserves lacked sufficient operational staff. This includes rangers and technical personnel, thus limiting their ability to conduct patrols. They are also unable to maintain infrastructure, and monitor wildlife. In some cases, critical conservation functions had effectively ceased due to resource constraints.
Budget to fight crime ignores poaching
Ramaphosa pledged intensified action against organised crime networks. However, weakened conservation enforcement is creating space for wildlife trafficking syndicates.
These operate within the same illicit economic ecosystems the government seeks to dismantle. Illegal activity, such as poaching, snaring, and illegal hunting have increased in several provincial reserves.
The biodiversity economy forms part of that growth agenda through tourism. South Africa’s biodiversity underpins a major segment of its tourism industry, which contributed R27.7-billion to South Africa’s GDP in 2024. It supported more than 90, 000 jobs, according to Statistics SA.
Biodiversity visitors spent approximately R60.6-billion in the country in a single year. This is according to the South African National Biodiversity Institute. As reserves deteriorate, tourism declines. Revenue falls, and agencies become trapped in a cycle of financial and operational decline.
Water budget ignores wetlands
Ramaphosa warned that South Africa’s water infrastructure crisis would require billions to repair. Yet protected wetlands, catchments, and biodiversity-rich landscapes that regulate water systems are deteriorating in parallel.
This ecological infrastructure helps maintain water quality, regulate flows, and reduce the impact of drought. As conservation areas degrade, long-term water vulnerability will increase.
A major structural challenge is the fragmented governance of conservation in South Africa. Provincial governments are responsible for managing nature reserves. While the national DFFE provides oversight but has limited authority to intervene directly.
The DFFE has acknowledged challenges in the conservation sector. But it has not announced a national recovery plan for provincial reserves.
