The Ekangala Grassland Project is a pilot project aimed to prove that farming and the conservation of sensitive grassland areas are complementary practices. “The vast majority of grasslands are privately owned by commercial farmers and communities,” says the project co-ordinator Angus Burns.

He says irreversible degrading of 60% of South Africa’s grasslands has been caused by ploughing, mining, development or invasion by alien species. He also states that a mere  2.8% of grassland are formally conserved.

The Green Trust and Eskom, who are funding the Ekangala Grassland Project, have encouraged stewardship of over 20,000 hectares of grassland between KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Free State.

A conservation area stretching from the Pongola Bush nature reserve in KwaZulu-Natal to the Paardeplaats nature reserve in Mpumalanga has been placed under formal legal protection by the landowners and communities. “There are big chunks of privately owned land in this area that are linked by the migration of species and catchment areas,” Burns said.

Horst Filter, a fifth generation farmer near Wakkerstroom says the project is the most important thing that has happened to conservation in the country.

He also stated, “Attention is always on the game reserves and the Big Five and never on the critical areas like the grasslands. I think it’s very important that this whole initiative filters through to the rest of South Africa.”

Anthea Stephens, the co-ordinator of the national grasslands programme says, at national level, the ministers of Water Affairs and Forestry, Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Agriculture, Minerals and Energy and Land Reform are expected to formalise a co-operative relationship. She also stated that this co-operative relationship was expected to filter through to provincial and municipal level and the field workers and farmers. “Protecting our grasslands is a national necessity. It is economic survival.” Says Anthea Stephens.

"The farmers in the grassland areas are key players in water production for the country. By conserving the grasslands, they automatically become custodians of South Africa's lifeline - our water supply - as well as custodians of biodiversity in a region that has many endangered plant and animal species." Explains Burns

The establishment of protected areas on private land is now allowed due to a new Protected Areas Act, this encourages conservation practices to protect biodiversity and restrict invasive practices like unregulated mining, forestry and development. Farmers that commit to formal conservation stewardship programmes are encouraged to commit by being granted such incentives as exclusion from property rates