MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The Mossel Bay Municipal council decided in its most recent open meeting to move forward with the process of formally declaring the Diosma Nature Reserve a nature reserve in terms of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, No. 57 of 2003.
According to the Community Safety Services Committee meeting held prior to the council meeting, this reserve, located in Heiderand, Mossel Bay, supports a species of indigenous buchu that is endemic to Mossel Bay.
A number of other Red Data List Plant species are also found in this area.
The council decision follows a process that had already been started in November 2014 when council resolved the following:
1. That the expansion of the Diosma Reserve be approved.
2. That the identified management activities be implemented in phases pending availability of funds.
3. That the municipality submits funding applications to the Department of Environmental Affairs and Cape Nature for support in managing the reserve.
After this resolution two erfs were consolidated to form Erf 19274. The Diosma Nature Reserve is located on this erf.
To formally declare the area a nature reserve according to the Protected Areas Act, No. 57 of 2003, the municipality will have to enter into an agreement with the Member of the Provincial Executive Council (MEC) for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning and be obliged to:
• effectively implement management activities and guidelines in order to protect endangered plant species and natural ecological processes; and
• submit a management plan for approval by the MEC.
According to the item which served before council, the benefits of declaring the property as a nature reserve are:
• substantial assistance with habitat management;
• increased recognition and marketing exposure; and
• conservation authorities are able to lobby for incentives for the management of the nature reserve.
Although the item dealing with the formal declaration of the property as a nature reserve was passed in council, the item will still be referred back to council following the required public participation process set to take place.
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