Fynbos Forever Programme

CapeNature Protected Area legal declaration assistance project 

Conservation Outcomes in partnership with Cape Nature 

1 November 2025 – 31 December 2028 

This project aims to deliver legal assistance to private or communal landowners who enter into Stewardship Agreements with CapeNature. Funds will be used to cover the legal costs associated with a) the declaration of Nature Reserves (NR) or Protected Environments (PE); and b) ensuring that Private Nature Reserves (PNRs) that have participated in the PNR Verification and Validation Project conform with the legal requirements as stipulated in the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act 57 of 2003 (NEM: PAA). Post declaration support will be provided in the form of training and capacity building events. 

Fynbos Forever, Forever Wild: Supporting fynbos corridors through strategic proclamations in the Langeberg 

Bionerds 

1 November 2025 – 31 December 2027 

 This project aims to formally protect five properties in the Langeberg Catchment through Contract Nature Reserve declarations. These properties fall within a Strategic Water Source Area and a recognised ecological corridor between the Boosmansbos Wilderness Area and Garcia Nature Reserve — two key Protected Areas within the Cape Floristic Region. All five targeted properties have confirmed landowner commitment and are at various stages of the declaration process. Four have already undergone preliminary biodiversity assessments and two of these (Portion 7 and Portion 15 of Farm 83), are in the final stages of declaration.  

Catalysing biodiversity stewardship in the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve 

Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve

1 November 2025 – 31 December 2028 

This project aims to develop and implement a localized Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve (GCBR) Biodiversity Stewardship Plan which aligns to the Provincial Protected Area Expansion Strategy and the SANParks Mega Living Landscape Vision 2040. Through elaborate partnerships, GCBR extension staff will engage pre-identified interested landowners and advance a minimum of 3000ha of the GCBR Ecological Corridor network to the point of formal declaration as a Protected Area. 

Bridging conservation efforts: Eastern Cape Shores to Western Cape Foothills, incorporating the development and assessment of a pilot biodiversity credits system and framework 

Conservation Outcomes in partnership with Cape Nature 

1 February 2026 – 31 March 2029 

This project aims to secure new Protected Areas within two distinct geographic areas of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR): the Eastern Cape and Western Cape. The Eastern Cape portion is located in the Thyspunt to Cape Recife Coastal Corridor and the Western Cape portion is within in the CapeNature Central Landscape: Boland Management Landscape Unit and includes the Bottelary Hills Renosterveld Conservancy, Klapmutskop, Simonsberg Conservancy and Sir Lowry’s Pass Conservancy. Beyond the formal protection of sites, this project will aim to strengthen the capacity of Management Authorities in the Eastern Cape. A further component of this project will aim to address the persistent funding constraints in Protected Area establishment and management through the development of a CFR specific biodiversity credit system and framework to incentivise landowners and institutions to contribute to conservation efforts.  

City of Cape Town BioNet – aiming towards 30 x 30 

Wilderness Foundation Africa in partnership with the City of Cape Town

1 January 2026 – 28 February 2028 

This project aims to support the Protected Area Expansion initiatives within the City of Cape Town, namely the Bionet implementation project. This will be achieved through pro-actively engaging with 88 priority land-owners within the City and City buffer. The aim is to formally secure at least 12 new sites amounting to a minimum of 1300ha.  

Linking Fynbos Landscapes

Eden to Addo Corridor Initiative 

1 February 2026 – 31 March 2029 

This project aims to support the Protected Area expansion initiatives of the Eden to Addo Corridor Initiative in the four Eden to Addo corridors, namely; Robberg, Keurbooms, Bitou and Langkloof corridors. These Eastern and Western Cape corridors span across Water Source Areas and a number of threatened ecosystems that are critically important for the long-term integrity and functionality of fynbos. Through already established partnerships with CapeNature and ECPTA, this project will catalyse the declaration of 15 properties within the Cape Floristic Region and expand the Protected Area network by approximately 12 600ha. 

SANParks facilitating living landscape conservation around national parks within the fynbos biome

Wilderness Foundation Africa and SANParks 

1 January 2025 – 29 February 2028

SANParks is embarking on a landscape approach to conservation by creating a living landscape mosaic of conservation and production landscapes with differing legal status and management regimes. The aim is to connect existing protected and conserved areas to bring about ecological sustainability while unlocking social and economic benefits for adjacent communities.  The project will a) provide a technical assistance fund to SANParks to facilitate negotiations, land purchase, subdivisions and support landowners who have committed their lands to be included as part of National Parks; and b) support the appointment of a SANParks intern as a Living Landscape officer. The focal area will be on buffer zones for Agulhas, Bontebok, Garden Route, and West Coast National Parks. 

Leopards leading landscape connectivity: Linking leopards, landscapes and landowners

Cape Leopard Trust and Conservation Outcomes

1 October 2024 – 30 November 2027

Leopards, the apex predator in the Fynbos Biome, face multiple threats to their survival. As a wide-roaming territorial species, the loss and fragmentation of suitable habitat is a major concern. Therefore, protecting connectivity across the landscape is essential for the persistence of leopards and to ensure that they can continue to provide vital ecosystem services. This collaborative project aims to facilitate and strengthen voluntary landscape conservation and capacity building towards effective conservation management within three biodiverse leopard connectivity corridors. Ultimately, we aim to use lessons learnt and successes achieved within these corridors as a roadmap to catalyse and inform similar action in other priority landscape linkages across the Western Cape. 

Fire Risk Reduction in Walker Bay and Sondagskloof

Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association

1 September 2024 – 31 October 2027

Wildfires can be very harmful and destroy property, livelihoods and biodiversity when left unmanaged. It is therefore important for landowners to practice Integrated Fire Management (IFM) and to work with vulnerable communities on the wildland-urban interface (WUI) who often depend on this interface as an economic source (e.g. beekeepers, flower harvesters, wood harvesters etc.). The main objective of this project is to set up IFM plans across two identified Fire Management Units—the Walker Bay and the Sondagskloof—and use this as a pilot project that can be replicated across other FMUs. These plans will assist landowners, landowner groups, fire authorities, and the Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association with strategic planning and implementation around fire and enable resource pooling from multiple entities. 

Biodiversity Stewardship Assistance.

Conservation at Work in partnership with CapeNature.

Through generous grants from the Millennium Trust in 2011 and 2025, the TMF has been supporting the CapeNature Biodiversity Stewardship Programme. The purpose of this project is to deliver stewardship assistance to landowners who have signed contracts with CapeNature declaring their properties or portions thereof “Contract Nature Reserves” or entering into “Biodiversity Agreements” by supporting landowners with training and knowledge sharing and in implementing management actions on the Stewardship sites which will benefit the biodiversity conservation of the properties. Through an elaborate partnership between CapeNature, Conservation@Work and TMF, the formal protected area network of the CFR has grown considerably over the years and the programme continues to grow.