Despite the country’s globally significant biodiversity, ecosystems across terrestrial, freshwater, estuarine and marine environments are under escalating pressure.
WWF South Africa has criticised the government’s proposed biodiversity conservation targets as insufficiently ambitious, warning that the country risks falling behind global environmental commitments despite acknowledging a deepening ecological crisis.
The criticism follows the release of the draft national biodiversity strategy and action plan 2026–2035 at a national consultative conference in Gauteng.
The plan sets out South Africa’s roadmap for implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022 by nearly 200 countries.
The draft proposes conserving 21% of South Africa’s terrestrial and freshwater areas and 20% of marine areas by 2035. WWF argues these targets fall well short of the internationally agreed “30×30” goal, which commits countries to protecting 30% of land and oceans by 2030.
