Proceedings:
Biocontrol of Alien Invading Plants in South Africa

(Strategy Workshop)

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Executive Summary

A workshop to pave the way for the development of a strategy for biological control of invading alien weeds in South Africa was held on 2 & 3 December 1999 in Stellenbosch. The workshop was attended by a wide range of stakeholders, including commercial growers of invading alien plants, conservation agencies, NGOs, and local and international scientists. The specific objectives of the workshop were to:
  • establish contact between interest groups, as a precursor to ongoing dialogue and the development of partnerships,
  • identify issues of concern to various parties and interest groups,
  • identify barriers to achieving the aim of developing biocontrol to its full potential, and finding solutions to overcome these barriers, and to
  • design of a set of strategic actions, and a timeframe for achieving these.

The workshop was successful in establishing contact between interest groups. Unfortunately, there was no representation from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, despite two delegates of this department confirming their attendance. In addition, the environmental lobby group was overlooked when planning the workshop. The workshop was quite successful in identifying the issues of concern. However, the absence of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, as well as the environmental lobby, means that all potential issues of concerns may not have been raised. Those taking the process further (developing the strategy) should liaise with these groups to ensure that their issues of concern are also taken into account. Some advances were made in identifying the barriers, the third objective of the workshop. Finding solutions to these barriers probably needs further examination. Some useful ideas were raised during the last session of the workshop when strategic actions were discussed. However, these ideas should now be taken further and incorporated into a plan which could be used as a basis for finalizing the strategy.

Due to time constraints the process of developing implementation time-lines, as well as short-term and longer term goals, and a process for developing the strategy could not be finalized. In this document a course of action is proposed for completing the process of developing the strategy. This course of action includes the following key steps:

  1. The Working for Water programme commissions the task of developing a strategy.
  2. The consultants compile a draft plan indicating the sequence of actions that need to take place, including the time-lines for achieving these. The draft plan is circulated to stakeholders for comment.
  3. The revised plan is used as a basis for developing a strategic approach (a strategy) for using biological control as the principle means of dealing with the problem of invading plants.

It is further suggested that the process of developing the strategy, and the implementation thereof, should be driven by the Working for Water programme. The Working for Water Board, planned for institutionalisation sometime in the future, will ensure that there is collaboration among participating organizations and that appropriate funding mechanisms are in place.

Prepared by:
CSIR
Division of Water, Environment and Forestry Technology
PO Box 320, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 888-2404
Contact Person
Dr Francois van der Heyden
E-mail: fheyden@csir.co.za