Conservation Outcomes and BirdLife South Africa have built a strong, long-standing partnership dedicated to safeguarding critical habitats in KwaZulu-Natal, with a particular focus on the remaining fragments of endangered Mistbelt Grassland and Forest ecosystems. Working closely with landowners through the Biodiversity Stewardship Programme, the partnership supports the proclamation of new Protected Areas and promotes sustainable conservation on private and communal land. The project further aims to strengthen landowners’ capacity to manage their protected areas effectively, ensuring long-term biodiversity conservation, compliance with the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (NEM:PAA), and the provision of ongoing management support.Â
The KwaZulu-Natal Mistbelt Grassland and Forest ecosystems provide critical habitat for threatened bird species such as the Blue Swallow and Cape Parrot. Securing the future of these species depends on protecting and effectively managing the habitats on which they rely. Through the formal declaration of these areas as Protected Areas, important breeding, feeding, and nesting sites are safeguarded for the long term. However, legal protection alone is not sufficient. The ongoing conservation of these habitats requires active and informed management. To achieve this, we work closely with landowners and local communities to build understanding of the ecological needs of these species and to support the implementation of management practices that maintain and enhance habitat quality.
Blue Swallow, © Warwick Tarboton
As part of our conservation efforts, we undertake Blue Swallow monitoring through a long-term programme that has been running in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands for more than a decade. This monitoring aims to track population trends, assess habitat condition, and inform conservation interventions to protect this Critically Endangered species.
To improve the efficiency and accuracy of data collection and reporting, field observations are captured using the EarthRanger app. The monitoring data also plays a key role in informing our protected area expansion strategy by identifying and prioritising sites that are actively used by Blue Swallows during the breeding season.
Also see: https://www.conservation-outcomes.org/birdlife-sa-partnership-2/Â Â
Mistbelt grasslands in KwaZulu Natal
Protected area expansion is a cornerstone of the project’s conservation strategy, securing the long-term protection of critical habitats through the Biodiversity Stewardship (BDS) Programme. The project focuses on the highly threatened KwaZulu-Natal Mistbelt Grasslands and Forests of the southern Midlands, ecosystems that support several globally threatened and endemic bird species, including the Blue Swallow, White-winged Flufftail, Cape Parrot, Secretarybird, and Southern Bald Ibis. These landscapes also form part of South Africa’s Strategic Water Source Areas, making their conservation essential for both biodiversity and water security. Working in partnership with BirdLife South Africa, the project supports private and communal landowners to voluntarily declare their properties as Nature Reserves or Protected Environments, providing long-term legal protection while allowing landowners to retain ownership and continue sustainable land-use practices. This collaborative approach enables the expansion of South Africa’s protected area network in a manner that is both ecologically effective and economically viable, ensuring that key habitats for threatened species are secured for future generations.
Management support is a fundamental component of biodiversity stewardship, ensuring that declared protected areas are effectively managed and continue to deliver meaningful conservation outcomes. Drawing on many years of implementation experience and the lessons learned through this work, the project has shifted its approach to facilitating the Annual Plan of Operation (APO) and Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) processes. Rather than undertaking these processes individually with each protected area, the project now delivers them through a series of collaborative workshops that bring together multiple protected area landowners and managers.
These workshops promote knowledge sharing, peer learning, and collaboration among participants while streamlining the APO and METT processes. More than a once-off intervention, they represent the start of a longer-term capacity-building programme aimed at strengthening landowners’ confidence, skills, and independence, ultimately enabling them to manage their protected areas more effectively and sustainably.
