South Africa honoured with WWF’s highest award
The South African government has been honoured with the World Wildife Fund’s highest award, the Gift to the Earth, for its commitment to protecting marine resources.
MPAs are the marine equivalent of national parks, and South Africa’s allow different categories of use ranging from limited fishing and controlled tourism, to full “sanctuary zones”. Future efforts would have to be directed at conserving substantial components of the continental shelf, extending into South Africa’s economic exclusion zone.
Currently some 75 percent of the world’s commercial fish stocks were either fully or over-exploited and only some 0.5 percent of global oceans enjoyed formal protection.
