The Tourism Conservation Fund, which aims to raise substantial funding to support large-scale, long-term conservation projects in Africa, is now several major steps closer to entering its implementation phase.
This was announced at the recent Satsa Conference at Spier, Stellenbosch, where Keira Powers, Owner of Spirit of Africa, told the audience that the independent non-profit company (NPC) has been registered and the SARS tax ruling which will make contributions tax-deductible has been finalised, as well as the Fund’s BBBEE scorecard ruling.
Powers, who has volunteered to take on The Tourism Conservation Fund portfolio on behalf of Satsa as a board member, says the Fund will prove critical to the long-term sustainability of Africa’s tourism industry, which relies on flourishing wildlife populations and wilderness areas for its survival. Satsa and the Peace Parks Foundation are the founding members of the Fund.
Werner Myburgh, CEO of Peace Parks, emphasised that the Fund will not be a levy, but rather an entirely voluntary contribution, with the trade committing to providing the Fund with a percentage of turnover.
Powers says: “The finances will be underwritten be Peace Parks for the next three years, after which the funding mechanism will need to kick in so that the Fund becomes self-sustaining.” The recruitment process for the Fund’s CEO has begun, with over 100 CVs received so far, while Mavuso Msimang has been appointed as the Fund’s chairman.
In terms of the next steps, the board, will only meet once it has been ascertained that the tourism industry subscribes to the concept of the Fund in order to ensure scalability of the project. Myburgh emphasised that the Fund will not be an implementing agent, but instead will give guidelines based on inputs from the trade and the board and will send out notifications for applications from conservation initiatives.
During the Satsa Conference, Dean Cherry, Owner of Nhongo Safaris pledged an initial contribution of R10 000, which kicked off several tourism industry stakeholders to raise their hands and pledge an additional R130 000 of funding.
