Analysis of 20-Years of Implementing South Africa’s Biodiversity Stewardship Program : Executive Summary

Overview & Synopsis

This report presents a comprehensive assessment of twenty years of implementation of South Africa’s Biodiversity Stewardship Program, analyzing its development, impacts, lessons learned, and future requirements within a complex socio-economic and environmental context. Developed as part of World Bank supported initiatives aligned with national biodiversity economy objectives, the assessment demonstrates that Biodiversity Stewardship has become South Africa’s primary and most effective mechanism for expanding protected and conserved areas, particularly on private and communal land, while delivering significant ecological, economic, and social benefits. The program provides a flexible suite of options ranging from formally declared protected areas (national parks, nature reserves and protected environments) to other effective area-based conservation measures and entry-level partnership arrangements. The program has made a substantial contribution to securing South Africa’s ecological infrastructure. The assessment further demonstrates that Biodiversity Stewardship functions as a key enabler of national and international policy commitments. It underpins South Africa’s delivery on the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, particularly Target 3 on protected and conserved areas, as well as national priorities articulated in the National Development Plan, National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, National Protected Area Expansion Strategy, White Paper on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity, and the National Biodiversity Economy Strategy. Biodiversity Stewardship provides the legal certainty and governance framework required to unlock investment in the biodiversity economy, ecological restoration, sustainable agriculture, and nature-based tourism.