The Mkondeni / Mpushini Valley is located approximately 10 minutes drive from Pietermaritzburg, the capital city of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The area has a variety of different vegetation types ranging from tall grasslands and open Acacia woodland in the areas close to Pietermaritzburg to dense valley bushveld thicket in the Mpushini Valley and along the Msunduzi River Valley. This area is now under threat of high to medium density housing estate developments with proposed units amounting to thousands of new houses. The African Conservation Trust feels strongly that once the development of housing estates begins, the potential to create an alternative biosphere reserve will be irreversibly lost. We do not believe there is a need for the proposed developments. We recognise individual land owners rights to  develop their land within the scope of local, provincial and national legislation at the same time we believe that the scarcity of large, near natural landscapes, offer more potential and reward to the people of KwaZulu-Natal than do the proposed housing developments.

For a preview of the proposed developments click here

One of the alternatives to the proposed housing developments is the creation of the Mkondeni Mpushini Biosphere Reserve. To this end the Preservation of Mkondeni Mpushini Biodiversity Trust is in the process of being registered. They have taken a strong stand against the proposed developments and a letter of objection is available for viewing here.

A biosphere reserve is an internationally designated protected area that is managed to demonstrate the value of conservation.  The management objectives are to conserve, for present and future use, the diversity and integrity of biotic communities, plants and animals within natural ecosystems, and to safeguard the genetic diversity of species on which their continuing evolution depends.  Each biosphere reserve must be approved by UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere International Co-ordinating Council before it is officially recognised internationally.

In KwaZulu-Natal, biosphere reserves are founded on the co-operative management of natural resources by an authority, e.g. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, and the neighbours of a reserve.  Humans are regarded as an integral part of the process, and the importance of the concept is the idea of consolidating established protected areas with local community involvement.  Because the concept of biosphere reserves as applied in KZN is not quite the same as the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme it has not been incorporated in the international programme.

All biosphere reserves have a fully protected core zone wherein strict nature conservation is practised and enforced and an outer zone where research, tourism and other forms of sustainable exploitation are permitted.  Humans and human activities (provided that they are ecologically sustainable and do not degrade the natural environment) are an integral part of a biosphere reserve. 

The Lower Mpushini Valley Conservancy has initiated a working group to challenge the developments and to encourage conservation and ecotourism related developments which will be sustainable and profitable in the long run, in accordance with initial municipal plans.  A recent land claim that has been settled in the Emkhambathini municipality on the border of Ashburton aims to develop a 5000ha game reserve.  It is still in its infancy but has the support of KZN tourism and the Etekweni Municipality (with major international financial backing). The associated industries from this development would be enormous, but if all the high density proposals take place it would render the concept and potential unviable. A unique opportunity exists to integrate all these developments under one plan.