Pride Campaign: Succulent Karoo
Country: South Africa
Partner: Conservation International
Campaign Manager: Morne Farmer
Target Area: Northern Namaqualand, South Africa
Campaign Goal: To conserve the biodiversity of the northern Namaqualand region so that people take ownership of and enjoy their unique living landscape in a way that maintains biodiversity and improves livelihoods now and in perpetuity
Flagship Species: The armadillo lizard (Cordylus cataphractus)
Campaign Slogan: Our Quartz Rocks!
Principal Threats: Harmful farming methods (the use of pesticides and fertilizers, overgrazing and poor grazing methods), ad hoc tourism development and unmanaged tourism activities, lack of awareness about conservation amongst local people, poaching of reptiles and succulents in particular, and lack of coherent planning for conservation and development.
Notable Information from the Questionnaire Survey:
- Only 21.6% of the general public could name one threat to the northern Namaqualand region.
- Overgrazing is a big problem in the region, but 41.8% of respondents said they didn’t know what overgrazing is.
- The majority of people interviewed did not know whether the armadillo lizard is threatened because of illegal trade, and only 15.4% of respondents knew that there is legal punishment for being involved in the trade.
Campaign SMART Objectives:
- Objective 1: By December 2004, increase the number of general public who can name at least one threat to the northern Namaqualand region (from 21.6% to 45%)
- Objective 2: By December 2004, increase the number of general public who know that the armadillo lizard is threatened by the illegal pet trade (from 19.8% to 45 %)
- Objective 3: By December 2004, increase the number of general public who can name any priority wild animals from the northern Namaqualand region (from 42.6% to 65%)
- Objective 4: By December 2004, increase the number of general public who know that there is legal punishment for the trade of the armadillo lizard (from 15.4% to 40%)
- Objective 5: By December 2004, increase the number of general public who say they have heard of the armadillo lizard in the past six months (from 13% up to 40%)
- Objective 6: By December 2004, increase the number of farmers who can name at least 3 effects of overgrazing (from 6.34% to 30%)
- Objective 7: By December 2004, increase the number of general public who say they have participated in conservation related activities in the previous six months (from 26.3% to 50%)
- Objective 8: By the end of June 2005, establish a strategy to increase rehabilitation activities at small scale mines in the northern Namaqualand region
- Objective 9: By June 2005, measure an increase in reports of illegal activities related to northern Namaqualand’s wildlife (flora and fauna) conservation
Highlights from the Results (based on pre- and post-campaign surveys:)
- The number of general public who could name at least one threat to the Northern Namaqualand Region increased by 45 percentage points: to 67% up from 22%
- 58% (up from 13%) of local residents said they had heard about the Armadillo lizard in the previous 6 months.
- 85% of farmers could correctly name 3 effects of overgrazing, compared to 48% of farmers prior to the campaign.
