The government is redressing a legacy of dispossession by enabling previously disadvantaged communities to reap the benefits of the country’s biodiversity‚ says Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa.

She told an environmental summit in Durban that South Africa was richly endowed with natural capital. As the third most mega bio-diverse country on earth‚ the country was home to at least 17% of the world’s biodiversity.

But unfortunately‚ the enjoyment of and benefit from the country’s biodiversity had previously been the preserve of a select few.

“Our people were forcibly removed from the ancestral land on which they had lived and depended‚ so that protected areas could be established.

“The indigenous knowledge of our people was taken‚ and in some instances stolen‚ and used by foreign companies to make fortunes‚ as our people got nothing‚” Molewa asserted.

“It has been under this ANC government that we are redressing this legacy of dispossession‚ to bring our people not just into the mainstream of conservation but to enable them to reap the benefits of this country’s biodiversity‚” she added.

Molewa said the government’s 14-year National Biodiversity Economy Strategy (BES) had been developed to increase the biodiversity contribution to Gross Domestic Product between now and 2030 while conserving the country’s ecosystem. It focused on enhancing growth in both the wildlife and tourism sectors by facilitating the entry of previously disadvantaged individuals.

“This strategy has the strategic objective of capitalizing on the conservation successes of our country to contribute towards the socio-economic development of communities.

“A key component we are driving is making communities owners of wildlife.

“We have already begun the process of facilitating the transfer of wildlife assets to previously disadvantaged communities‚” Molewa said.