A Macro-Micro Environmental Management
Model Currently Being Used in KwaZulu
Natal, South Africa, to Protect Wildlands in
Peri-Urban Settings
Roland Goetz
Abstract—Conservationists face an endless battle against the
effects people have on the environment, whether they live in formal
or informal settlements, within Reserves or on their boundaries.
Msinsi Holdings (PTY) LTD is a private conservation company that,
through sustainable environmental management, community development, and sound business principles, continually strives to
uplift the human spirit. Macro and micro strategies employed to
accomplish this mission are discussed.
Conservationists face an endless battle against the effects
people have on the environment, whether they live in formal
or informal settlements, within Reserves or on their boundaries. This is evident from reports of squatters in Zululand’s
vital Dukuduku Forest, whose slash-and-burn farming methods are wreaking havoc on the ecology of the area.
In other conservation areas near Durban, KwaZulu Natal,
bark stripping, erosion, poaching, deforestation, litter, and
the pressure of domestic dogs are a few of the problems
Reserve staff members have to combat. To come to terms
with these problems, the needs of the surrounding communities need to be addressed. This has to be done in a
sustainable way to ensure that any development can address the needs of the people but at the same time ensure the
environmental integrity of the area. Thus, sustainable development can most effectively be defined as “development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
(Brundtland 1987). Clearly, the Brundtland statement has
a strong people-centered ethical stance, concentrating on
the satisfaction of human needs rather than, for example, on
protection of the environment in general or on other species
as deep ecologists would.
In the developing world, the harsh reality of people’s
situations dictates that community needs are recognized.
The number of desperately poor people has remained steady
at about one-fifth of the human race. These are people who
live on the edge of survival. Their living conditions, housing,
health, and nutrition are an insult to the notion of equity.
In: Watson, Alan E.; Aplet, Greg H.; Hendee, John C., comps. 2000.
Personal, societal, and ecological values of wilderness: Sixth World Wilderness Congress proceedings on research, management, and allocation, volume II;
1998 October 24–29; Bangalore, India. Proc. RMRS-P-14. Ogden, UT: U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
Roland Goetz is Chief Executive Officer, Msinsi Holdings (PTY) Ltd.,
P.O. Box 2444, Hillcrest 3650, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, e-mail:
msinsi@icon.co.za.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-14. 2000
For more than a century, people have wanted to preserve
species and ecosystems, but during the last few years, the
loss of biodiversity has been viewed as a threat to sustainable development. It is against this background that the
“Macro-Micro” management strategy, as employed by
Msinsi in the protection of wildlands in peri-urban settings
in the province of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, has its
importance.
It all began with Shongweni Dam, which was originally
Durban’s largest source of potable water, owned and managed by Umgeni Water, the local water authority since 1983.
The Dam’s capacity had been considerably reduced by siltation during the 1959 floods, and the problem was aggravated by the floods of 1987. For this and other reasons, a
decision was taken to decommission the Mlazi system,
including Shongweni Dam.
Conscious that the 1,700 ha Shongweni Estate would
inevitably become environmentally degraded unless properly managed, and aware of its biological importance and its
potential as an ecotourist attraction, Umgeni Water began
searching for an organization prepared to undertake the
Estate’s management as a nature Reserve. After the Natal
Parks Board, the KwaZulu Bureau of Natural Resources,
and the Wildlife Society had turned down the opportunity,
Umgeni Water commissioned a strategic planning exercise
involving Dr. Ian Player, the founder and vice-chairman of
the Wilderness Leadership School (WLS). Dr. Player was
convinced that the Shongweni Estate, if properly managed,
would be both environmentally important and potentially
profitable.
Dr. Player proposed to Umgeni Water that the WLS take
over the management of the Shongweni Estate. To avoid
endangering the WLS’s tax-exempt, fund-raising status, it
was necessary to undertake this through a new company,
Msinsi Holdings (Pty) Ltd., with 100 percent equity held by
the Wilderness Foundation, which administers trust funds
on behalf of the WLS.
The Shongweni Resources Reserve (SRR) was formed in
April 1992, formally taking over control of the Estate in
August of the same year. As Msinsi’s first project, the SRR
was developed along ecotourism lines, drawing on the local
community to create infrastructure to take advantage of the
opportunity the Reserve provided as a financial catalyst for
the area.
Msinsi was later appointed to develop and manage the
environmentally sensitive Nagle Estate and Inanda Dam
environs in a sustainable manner to preserve the water
quality of Durban’s main storage dams. In a fourth project,
the organization was appointed to assist with the development and continued enhancement of the well-known public
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bird-watching area at Darvill Wastewater Works. Albert
Falls and Hazelmere Resources Reserves were acquired
when the Natal Parks Board chose to withdraw from these
areas.
Operational Philosophy and
Approach ______________________
Drawing from the Zimbabwean “CAMPFIRE” philosophy,
a model for community conservation in Africa where communities are responsible for their own success, Msinsi has
created a blueprint for the sustainable upliftment of communities within an ecologically sensitive area.
With Msinsi Holdings making use of other external organizations such as the KwaZulu Training Trust’s Community
Empowerment Program, local development committees and
regional development liaison committees are established in
the local community. This procedure involves working with
communities at the grassroots level and creating institutional capacity.
This work has included training elected community representatives in the areas of financial skills, committee training, management, and functional literacy. Further training
offered to community members includes building skills,
plumbing, life skills, water conservation, and water health
education.
The Msinsi Holdings logo, the three-part Erythrina leaf,
supports the organization’s tri-modular approach to address
the challenge of integrating conservation and sustainable
community development. This approach includes environmental management, sound human resource development,
and business and financial principles through:
• Identification and documentation of natural resources
in the form of a natural inventory.
• Identification of possible threats, both current and potential, to the quality of the environment.
• Establishing the needs of the surrounding local communities, with respect to natural resources utilization and
upliftment of their standard of living.
position and policy of Msinsi be conveyed to the community
at large, and in particular, the mutual benefits that can be
enjoyed by a partnership approach. Therefore, it is essential
that all macro, as well as some micro, management strategies be discussed with the communities and that these
management strategies focus to a large extent on extensive
community participation (fig. 1). Macro management strategies would then include community liaison and participation as essential elements.
The first and all-embracing strategy would be to provide
education for all sectors of the community (both young and
old) concerning the importance of resource conservation and
population stabilization. Here, it is important for governmental and nongovernmental bodies to offer formal as well
as informal education to the people.
The second strategy would be to improve maternal and
child health care, addressing aspects such as:
• Parental and postnatal care at local levels.
• Educating families on the importance of simple
hygiene.
• The local availability of family planning services.
Thirdly, it is important that opportunities and encouragement exist for families to become economically and socially
self-sufficient. This would negate one of the traditional
reasons for having large families. This has been achieved
through encouraging communities to use their traditional
skills to sell crafts to tourists, not only for economic gain but
also to promote their heritage and social stability. Experiential learning has also been facilitated to expose communities
to conservation and its benefits.
A novel concept that is being planned in Msinsi areas is the
idea of community controlled conservation camps (fig. 2).
Here, areas of community land adjacent to the Reserve can
be fenced into the Reserve. In these areas, bush camps or
similar overnight accommodations will be built. These camps
will be maintained and administered directly by the community, and all monies will be used for the development of the
various communities concerned. The conservation and fencing expenses could be paid for by the Reserve. This concept
has the potential to create economic opportunities that can
Once these initial steps had been established, management proceeded to develop a proactive management plan,
which addresses the above three steps and achieves the
ultimate goal of successfully integrating conservation and
sustainable rural community development in Msinsi areas,
where the ecological quality of the Reserve improves and the
local communities enjoy the benefits previously referred to.
The proactive management plan constitutes two main
sections: macro-scale management goals and strategies, and
micro-scale management strategies.
Macro-Scale Management Goals
and Strategies __________________
Community Liaison and Participation
The critical variables that could lead to the success or
failure of the Msinsi project are the perceptions, attitudes,
and actions of the local communities residing on the boundaries of the Reserve. Consequently, it is critical that the
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Figure 1—Field Ranger liaison with members from
local communities that surround Shongweni
Resources Reserve.
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Figure 2—Eight-bed bush camp at Shongweni
Resources Reserve.
contribute to a level of economic, and therefore social, independence being attained. If relevant education, affordable
and easily available health care, and adequate economic
opportunities are created within the context of the local
community, the long-term goal of population stabilization
and resources conservation could be attained.
Baseline Study, Evaluation, Monitoring,
and Trends
Environmental and socio-economic baseline studies for
areas in which Msinsi operates are as important to the
success of the project as the community integration mentioned earlier. Baseline studies are important because they
enable the project management to evaluate situations and
monitor trends and progress. Potential problems can either
be avoided or met with timely and appropriate responses.
Micro-Scale Management
Strategies ______________________
1. Intensive Use Zones—Areas characterized by substantially modified natural environment. Sights and sounds of
man are readily evident and the concentration of users is
often moderate to high. This zone includes accommodation,
camp and caravan sites, staff housing, service facilities, and
high-density recreation.
2. Limited Use Zones—Areas characterized by a predominantly natural environment with moderate evidence of the
sights and sounds of man. Rustic facilities such as picnic
sites, bush camps, game guard outposts, and game viewing
hides may be provided. Roads for motorized public transport
are provided.
3. Wilderness Zones—Areas characterized by lack of access roads open to the public.
4. Special Zones—An area set aside in recognition of an
important site that would receive the highest conservation
priority and may require special protection measures. Examples of such sites are: breeding sites of rare species, rare
or endangered ecosystems or components, important historical and archaeological sites, areas occupied by species of
limited distribution or special significance, sites for longterm research or monitoring, and ultra-sensitive areas.
Management of the Reserve would include soil conservation, ensuring that accelerated erosion is attended to and
vegetation conserved, and maintaining the diversity and
breeding populations of the indigenous plant species occurring in the Reserve. Fire management forms part of this area
of management as does the control and elimination, where
possible, of unwanted alien plants (fig 3).
Conservation of fauna includes maintaining diversity and
breeding populations of indigenous animal species occurring
in the Reserve, removal of alien species, and restocking
animal species that historically occurred or are deemed
important for either conservation or ecotourism reasons.
Fisheries and hatcheries also form part of this management objective, as do the protection of catchments and water
resources, as well as the control of any sources of pollution,
and the management and preservation of existing archaeological, palaeontological, and historical sites. Research necessary for the effective management of the Reserve to achieve
set objectives is carried out in both the short and long term.
Micro-management strategies relate particularly to activities within the boundaries of the Reserve. These management programs, as set out in the Reserve’s management
plan, strive to conserve the optimum number of appropriate
indigenous species and their habitats, maintain breeding
populations, and protect these gene pools. Natural, physical,
and ecological processes will be allowed to operate without
interference except under imperative circumstances, and at
the same time allow utilization of the Reserve for educational, research, and recreational purposes. Further, any
imperative consumptive utilization of a renewable natural
resource must be sustainable and not in conflict with recognized conservation morals.
Land Use Categories
The Reserve must be divided into a number of zones. Only
those activities relating to policies for each zone will be
permitted.
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Figure 3—Alien plant control.
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Administrative management is carried out to ensure that
all infrastructure is properly maintained in an acceptable
state of repair. Suitable fences are erected and maintained
to control animal movement, to demarcate boundaries of the
Reserve, and to protect personnel and their possessions or
any equipment and building against theft, damage, or destruction from human or animal sources.
Other areas include the provision of services to visitors.
This includes controlled usage by visitors to the best extent
compatible with conservation requests. Finally, the control
and management of finances is carried out to ensure the
effective running of the Reserve.
Conclusion _____________________
The way forward for conservation of natural resources in
developing countries needs to take note of people’s needs
while at the same time ensuring that this is done in a
sustainable way. Partnerships need to be developed by all
stake holders to ensure that, in the words of the Vice
President of the United States of America, Al Gore (1992), in
his book, “Earth in the Balance,” “The real solution will be
found in reinventing and finally healing the relationship
between people and the earth.”
References _____________________
Brundtland, H. 1987. Our common future. Report. Oxford University Press.
Gore, A. 1992. Earth in the balance, ecology and the human spirit.
New York: Houghton Mifflin. 407 p.
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