South Africa’s proposed new conservation targets fall short of the internationally agreed goal of protecting 30% of land, freshwater and marine areas by 2030, according to conservation group WWF South Africa.
A draft version of the country’s third National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) 2026–2035, presented at a national conference this week, proposes conserving 21% of South Africa’s land and freshwater systems and 20% of marine environments by 2035. WWF argues that these targets lack the ambition needed to reverse biodiversity loss and unlock the social and economic benefits linked to conservation.
The organisation says South Africa has the potential to become a global environmental leader, particularly through more inclusive conservation approaches that involve communities, traditional landowners and private landholders.
Last year, conservation stakeholders led by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and SANParks developed a vision for expanding conservation through partnerships that support both biodiversity protection and local livelihoods. These large-scale “living landscapes” aim to combine conservation with sustainable land use and community development.
WWF believes stronger targets could help attract international biodiversity and climate finance while building on South Africa’s successful biodiversity stewardship model developed over the past two decades.
The draft NBSAP does, however, commit to ensuring that conservation areas are “effectively managed, equitably governed and integrated into broader ecological and social land, water and seascapes”.
Dr Morné du Plessis, CEO of WWF South Africa, said the country has an opportunity to “rewrite the script” on conservation by creating well-managed, sustainably financed conservation landscapes that also benefit the people who depend on them.
“The bar we set as a country should send a strong signal that we are prepared to do the work required to achieve the best possible outcome for people and nature,” he said.
The NBSAP forms part of South Africa’s commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted by 196 countries at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in 2022. The framework commits countries to conserving 30% of the planet’s land, waters and seas by 2030 through inclusive conservation approaches.
