This is a ongoing debate and will be updated regularly. Any contributions can be sent to sawac@soft.co.za

The well known fire hazard warning road sign, "Look what you have done", depicting a weeping buck in a burnt out forest is surely one of the most hypocritical examples of nature conservation in South Africa.

In a way it is typical of our South African’s distorted sense of nature conservation.

The people and organizations who have their financial assets established in thousands and thousands of hectares exotic Eucalyptus and Pine plantations try to create the public impression that fires in plantations impact negatively on the wild animals and their environment, and that such fires should be seen as a national disaster. They use the sugary Walt Disney method to evoke sympathy, so that people must take care not to burn down their "forests". Actually they are only concerned about their investments.

It is these exotic plantations that are one of the biggest destroyers of our natural heritage. Before the wood moguls planted their exotic plantations, the plains and rolling hills were the prime habitat of animals such as the mountain Reedbuck and the Oribi. I mention these two species specifically as they are seriously threatened by lack of suitable habitat. But readers must realise that these same grasslands and hills now covered in pine needles and eucalyptus leaves once teemed with animals such as the Eland, Redhartebeest, Blesbuck, Gnu’s and Zebras. In contrast to the mountain Reedbuck and Oribi, these animals can adapt to a different environment.

These days we are so used to seeing the black wildebeest and zebra in the bushveld only, that we seem to think it has always been like that. Actually it was South Africa’s grassy plains that teemed with life.. Unfortunately the early European settlers in the Orange Free State, the Transvaal and Natal quickly realised that these grassy plains are also ideally suited to cattle, sheep and maize farms, and also plantations..

Where it was flat they planted maize, and where it was slightly more hilly sugar-cane, pineapples, bananas and also pine and eucalyptus plantations were established.

Soon the wild animals had to move on.

All that remained of the natural bush was in the Transvaal Lowveld, and the Northern Transvaal. Today we think the Buffalo belongs in the National Parks only. I wonder how many buffalo, Eland and Black Wildebeest roamed where today the earth is being ploughed by Western Transvaal farmers.

But surely, worst of all is that picture of the weeping buck. The audacity of these clever foresters. Their plantations stand on soil, which used to be the home of our most beautiful buck. As far as I’m concerned, it is not the fires which makes the buck cry but the "forests" themselves….. the trees which invaded their beloved grasslands.

Recently we also had the example of the paper mill which spilt toxic material into the crocodile river. Thousands of fish died. And then a company spokesperson publicly declared that no harm was done to any people or animals! Of course there is many examples of activities that destroy habitat. To a large degree the destruction of our indigenous forests by timber merchants, farmers and plantation moguls also meant the end of our forest game, like the Blue Duikers, Red Duikers, Soenies and Nyalas. Beautiful forests containing Yellow wood, Kiaat and Stinkwood were felled. Think also of the Knysna forests. But also in Natal the overwhelming majority of our coastal forests had to submit to the onslaught of developers, foresters, farmers and loggers.

Think about it. Our most beautiful buck are our Oribies, Mountain Rheedbuck, Blue Duikers, Red Duikers, Soenies. But these animals are faced with extinction, due to the loss of their life blood, their habitat.

These plantations are sterile, lifeless tree farms, which means nothing to our indigenous fauna and flora. If all the alien Pine trees in South Africa should burn down tomorrow, it would be no loss to our natural heritage, least of all to our buck species.

Of course we need these tree farms, we cant do without them. To that I will agree. The fact remains, the companies delivering essential services also carries a great responsibility towards nature, our country and its people. It has become time that they fulfil this obligation in a transparent way, on a daily basis. The big corporations ought to rehabilitate the damage done to the environment, even if it takes 200 million rand. At the same time they should make money or land available for the establishment of more natural heritage sites, for the rehabilitation of damaged soil, and the extermination of invader alien trees.

Look at the invasion of wattle, jacaranda and seringa trees. A good example is the historical Klapperkop monument in Pretoria. The whole hill is covered in wattle trees. Lets chop those alien trees down, and rehabilitate the grass, natural trees and game. Such a project would create jobs (and fire wood) to many disadvantaged people, and at the same time a small nature reserve could be established in the heart of Pretoria. And let the big companies contribute. Millions of hectares of land has already been destroyed. Lets start somewhere, and try to rectify the areas where it is still possible.

As South Africans we imagine ourselves to be such great conservationists. We are especially fond of pointing incriminating northwards. We soothe our conscience by saying "See how we are protecting the elephant in the Kruger National Park, and see how we saved the rhinoceros from extinction". I say this is pure hogwash. Of course we are glad about the elephant and the rihno, but that is not enough. In any case, South Africa "owns" only 7000 of Africa’s 700 000 elephants. Is this such a big achievement? And these elephant are confined to the Kruger, the Addo and some smaller reserves. What makes us better than the other African country’s? We are as destructive to nature as our brothers on the other side of the Limpopo. Country’s like Botswana and Zimbabwe has percentage wise much more land set aside for nature conservation. South Africa is far behind in this regard. We ought to acquire much more land for nature reserves.

Personally I am tired of the politics of the day, it brings us nowhere. Traditional party politics are boring, and creates more problems than it solves.

Maybe it has become time for green politics. Around the world this trend is on the increase. In country’s like Germany and Australia these so called "greenies" are becoming a political power. Unfortunately these greenies are slightly radical, but still plays an important role. They use their support to force political parties to make decisions which affects nature conservation positively. They don’t rule, but as pressure groups they are extremely effective. On issues such as hunting though, they lose credibility.

Magnum  July 1990

Gerrit Marais responds