Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning
With regard to the temporary closure of nature reserves or sections of nature reserves to the public:
- (a) At what management level in CapeNature are decisions made to close nature reserves temporarily and (b) in terms of what legislation are these decisions made;
- whether there are objective and measurable criteria upon which such decisions are based; if so, what are the relevant details;
- (a) what are the reasons for the temporary closure of nature reserves to the public, (b) how are these decisions communicated and (c) to whom are the decisions communicated;
(a) to what extent are the members of the CapeNature Board informed or consulted regarding the closing or opening of public access to nature reserves or sections of nature reserves or trails in nature reserves?
(1) (a) The Conservation Manager on Reserve is enabled to make decisions as per the CapeNature standard operation process, based on their knowledge and experience of local site conditions. Decisions are corroborated with units within CapeNature’s Landscape and Eco-Tourism & Access management.
(b) All reserve closures are in accordance with section 82, of the Nature and Environmental Conservation Ordinance (Ordinance 19 of 1974), section 5.
(2) Yes, there are objective and measurable criteria which governs when reserves are closed. CapeNature bases decisions on the following key criteria, when evaluating the need to close a reserve.
- Planned maintenance: referring to the proactive approach to maintenance with the objective of minimising the downtime and costs associated with breakdowns and repairs. In some instances, improvements are made to existing infrastructure and paths, to enhance the visitor experience.
- Emergency/Unplanned maintenance: referring to an unexpected breakdown of equipment/infrastructure, which results in an immediate threat to the health and safety of visitors and staff.
- Existence of an incident: referring to a hazardous event occurring such as a fire or other natural disaster resulting in floods, landslides and other health and safety matters.
- Incident response and management: where the presence of visitors could impede incident management operations and/or planning, where incident management operations and/or planning presents a risk to visitors or the Entity.
- Nature of Conservation Operations: where the presence of visitors may impede CapeNature in the execution of its duties (e.g. game counts, game translocation)/operations may pose a risk to visitors.
- Weather: refers to extreme weather events and risk to human life/risk of visitors getting lost.
- The number of contractors and length of work on site per contractor.
- Period of the year – low vs high seasonal period in relation to past performance.
- Budget period for the expense.
- Number of visitor bookings in the system.
- Number of events booked on reserves.
- Number of events in the closest town to the reserve.
(3) (a) Nature reserves are closed when there is a health and safety risk to visitors and/or when the presence of visitors may impede CapeNature in execution of its duties.
(b) Closures are communicated on several platforms which, depending on the closure particulars, may include:
- CapeNature’s booked clients, event organisers and trade partners impacted during the period. Mediums used are email, SMS communication and telephone.
- CapeNature’s social media where appropriate.
- CapeNature’s website.
- Stakeholder communication.
- Press release – where appropriate.
- On-reserve signage.
(c) Decisions pertaining to closure period/s are communicated to relevant CapeNature employees, key stakeholders, affected CapeNature clients, and local media (in cases where there are extended closures).
(4) (a) Reserve closures and reasons for closures are reported to the Board Eco-Tourism & Access Committee at the quarterly Committee meetings.
