Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning

REPLY:

CapeNature implements a multi-pronged approach in collaboration with South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), local law enforcement agencies, the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). CapeNature also works with the relevant officials in the Northern Cape, also affected by succulent poaching:

1. Intelligence gathering, surveillance and monitoring: undertaking law enforcement patrols, implementing joint roadblocks, manning observation points; detection via a network of cameras strategically located in the affected landscape and along the roads network, and the training and utilisation of detection dogs able to detect plant scent, enabling investigating officers to gather intelligence, trace the scent and identify culprits.
2. Training and capacity building: collaborating with the Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC), an international wildlife trade monitoring network. TRAFFIC undertakes awareness raising operations in many destination countries. Officials have participated in training interventions in the Province including but not limited to: plant species identification, awareness of how poached plants are concealed and transported, the severe impact that illegal collecting has on the environment and species populations, and crime scene investigation. Workshops have also been undertaken with Prosecutors from both the Western Cape and the Northern Cape, with the aim of creating awareness and education about the poaching issue, the National Response Strategy and Plan, the impact of poaching on the natural environment, the relevant applicable legislation, and lessons learnt as it relates to successful prosecutions.
3. Stakeholder engagement and collaboration:
   1. A Joint Task Team comprising officials from CapeNature, SANBI, the NPA, and SAPS collaborate to address succulent plant poaching in the Province. The Joint Task Team convenes at least twice a year.
   2. The Provincial Biodiversity Investigators Forum comprising officials from CapeNature, SANParks, SANBI, SAPS Stock Theft and Endangered Species Units, discuss cases, share intelligence and plan joint operations to address plant poaching in the Province.  This Forum convened six meetings in the last 12 months. 
   3. Working with NGOs such as Wilderness Foundation, Endangered Wildlife Trust and TRAFFIC.
4. Law enforcement operations: over the last three years, 109 cases were handed to the NPA leading to 57 guilty findings. Ten cases were acquitted and 42 are still active.  Fines have ranged from R500 to R1 million while jail sentences ranged from 150 days to two years. Law enforcement operations are a joint effort between agencies.
5. National Response Strategy and Action Plan: identifies “the establishment of well-managed ex situ collections; capacitating the compliance and enforcement sector to enable more effective action against illegal collection and trade; as well as, exploring options for the development of a formal economy that benefits the country and contributes to socio-economic development and conservation” as priorities for “tackling the challenges and developing the opportunities surrounding the illegal collection and trade of plants within the Succulent Karoo region.”