ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: INPUT SOUGHT ON LEOPARD CONSERVATION STRATEGY

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: INPUT SOUGHT ON LEOPARD CONSERVATION STRATEGY

• 28 August 2026
• Environmental Law
• SA Legal Academy

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries & the Environment has gazetted a draft strategy and action plan for leopard conservation – calling for public comments by 27 September 2026. According to the document’s executive summary, ‘while ecological and policy foundations exist, the absence of a co-ordinated, legally grounded, and adequately resourced implementation plan is the single greatest barrier to effective leopard conservation in South Africa’. The draft strategy and action plan were developed to address this.

Once finalised for implementation, they will guide the conservation, sustainable use, and inclusive governance of leopards across South Africa, among other things by:

• introducing measures to ensure the protection, conservation, and sustainable management of the species
• enabling the evaluation of progress by way of ongoing monitoring, and
• ensuring that implementing activities are regularly reviewed ‘to accommodate changing priorities and emerging issues’.

The draft strategy is aligned with:

• the 2022 White Paper on the conservation and sustainable use of South Africa’s biodiversity, and
• the 2024 policy on elephant, lion, leopard and rhino conservation and sustainable use.

Forming ‘part of a dynamic, continuous management planning process’, it is nevertheless ‘not a formal biodiversity management plan’ as contemplated in section 43 of the 2004 National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act – although the development and related consultation process was just as rigorous. It is not clear if a ‘formal biodiversity management plan’ for leopards will be prepared at some later stage.

This notwithstanding, the draft strategy’s vision is that leopards should ‘thrive in living landscapes, support(ing) cultural traditions and local livelihoods through inclusive community-driven conservation’. To that end, it is structured around three core coals:

• ‘conserv(ing) leopards and their landscapes by strengthening ecological resilience, connecting habitats, and reducing threats’
• ‘preserv(ing) cultural heritage, promot(ing) sustainable practices, and ensur(ing) safe and inclusive access to leopards and protected areas’, and
• ‘increas(ing) fair opportunities for people to benefit from leopards while reducing the challenges they pose to livelihoods’.

Please click the links below for more information:

• draft strategy
• 2022 White Paper
• 2024 policy

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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