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LCCSA Submission |
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Written by Jonathan Tee, LCCSA
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Wednesday, 12 October 2005 |
OVERVIEW
This document has been compiled by the Land Cruiser Club – Southern
Africa (LCCSA) in response to the National Off-road Workshop (NOW) call
for submissions in response to the Minister of Environmental Affairs
and Tourism statement below:
"Two other sectors that need to move more rapidly towards
better-regulated and more equitable practices are the hunting industry
and the owners and users of inland 4x4 recreational driving tracks. Our
Department will this year engage withhunters to thoroughly analyse the
sector, especially in terms of ownership, management, and skills
development"
More specifically this document aims to address the specific objective identified by NOW:
"To encourage the different sections or interest groups in
the off-road industry, to organise themselves into unified bodies with
a unified opinion. It is the purpose to encourage these groups to come
to the national workshop with unified points of view."
The LCCSA strongly believes the first change that needs to take place
is in the use of the term “rough-road” rather than the more traditional
"off-road", as "rough-road" more correctly refers to the use of
existing unpaved roads and trails. The term "offroad" has become
synonymous with a "go anywhere, do anything" public perception.
Ultimately the LCCSA believes the solution has to be about ethics, education and
treading softly.
BEFORE THE NOW
It is the belief of LCCSA that before the NOW the Ministers statement
needs to be clarified and important questions asked. We believe this is
required in order to enable any response from the off-road industry to
be focused and accurate.
Some of the questions raised include:
- Where are these sensitive areas that have been referred to and are
they not already under the protection of Nature Conservation services?
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The Minister refers to an ‘ecological grading system’. What effect
does the Minister believe such a system will have in preventing further
degredation to such ‘graded’ areas?
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What is exactly meant by the term, “industry body”
- Does it mean all users of 4x4’s
- Recreational 4x4 users,
- Tour guides operating 4x4 trails,
- Owners of land on which 4x4 trails currently exist, or
- The whole industry, from manufacturers of 4x4 vehicles to manufacturers of ancillary 4x4 equipment, tour operators, users etc?
- What effect does the Minister believe the representative industry body will have in prevention of damage to sensitive areas.
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Will the representative body be an empowered body? Without any form
of empowerment the representative body will not be able to assist in
any way to prevent or regulate or advise other members within the
“industry“, with regard to prevention of further degradation. If not, will the representative
body be allowed certain executive and enforcement powers similar to
honorary, part time wardens, who would be able to operate in
conjunction with current enforcement agencies.
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What regulations are envisaged and what aspects of the “industry” does the Minister wish to regulate?
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What is the Minister expecting in the form of deliverables after the
initial six months period? Bearing in mind it is a very short time to
allow a very diverse and fragmented “industry” to get together, firstly
to take cognisance of the issues that government has, and secondly to
form complex proposals which could ultimately lead to self policing of
the “industry”.
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Why are only the owners and users of inland 4x4 recreational driving
tracks the target? Why not simply, owners and users, “of remote and
eco-sensitive environmental resources”?
INITIAL CONCERNS
The members of the LCCSA have also expressed several concerns and
these ideally would also need to be addressed prior to the NOW:
- It would appear that the Minister has pre-judged the “industry”,
with the statement stating up front that “regulations will still be
required”.
- Many members felt any proposal submitted will not be seriously
considered and that we are being asked merely to “go through the
motions” for the sake of inclusion.
- There is overwhelming concern that the “rough-road user” will
soon be banned from exploring and discovering the beauty of our own
country and that these sensitive areas, once identified will become
reserved solely for the tour operator and his international tourists.
- The possible introduction of unaffordable and/or impractical
and/or unenforceable regulations leading to an outright ban on
recreational roughroad activities.
- As an “industry” we need to be extremely careful of organising
ourselves into a corner; of feeling we need to rush a proposal and
initial over-delivery, which cannot be put any better than the original
quote: “Just now we end up giving the Minister a Mercedes when all he
wanted was a Tazz.”
THE FIRST STEP
As was stated previously LCCSA believes the solution has to be about ethics, education and treading softly – lightly.
And whilst there has been much debate and many creative ideas have been
proposed LCCSA believes the first step in this process should be the
formation of an independent “industry” body, with the sole mandate of
“increasing public awareness and encouraging responsible outdoor
practices”. It should be left up to this body, in partnership with the
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, to develop the
message, educational materials, and a communication strategy.
LCCSA proposes that this body, be formed along the line of the
international nonprofit organisation, Tread Lightly!
http://www.treadlightly.org
“Tread Lightly!, Inc., is a non-profit educational
organization established to communicate the Tread Lightly! message to
recreational outdoor user nationally and internationally. Tread
Lightly! conveys the message and concepts through: commercial
advertising and promotion; the production and distribution of
educational materials; through instructor/teacher transmittal; the
media; educational institutions; public service organizations; and
public and private land management agencies.
Tread Lightly! is funded/or supported through sponsorship and
membership fromprivate industry, organizations, clubs, and private land
management entities. In addition, funds are solicited through
individual membership. Government and private grants are also potential
and variable sources of funding.”
Tread Lightly! originated with the U.S. Forest Service in 1985 as the
result of a U.S. Forest Service review of management concerns related
to rough-road vehicle use on the National Forests. The review team
concluded that a long-term educational program was needed to educate
users of rough-road vehicles on responsible use of the National
Forests. A program called, Tread Lightly! was developed. In 1990 the
Forest Service concluded in order to optimise the program’s operational
and promotional potential, it seemed logical to transfer the promotion,
marketing, and management of Tread Lightly! from the government to the
private sector.
Tread Lightly! conveys the messages about responsible use of public and
private lands by producing and distributing informational materials,
developing educational programs and through advertising, promotion and
publicity campaigns. Our premise is that the world’s lands and
waterways are there for all to enjoy. However, growing interest in
outdoor recreation has negatively affected the environment and caused
recreational use restrictions on land and waterways around the world.
The only way to ensure future access to these magnificent areas is to
teach people how to minimize the impacts of their outdoor activities.
Tread Lightly! works with many public and private entities to find
common interests and cooperate toward accomplishing these common goals.
Government agencies feel a responsibility to protect public land and
water. Recreational vehicle manufacturers want to preserve a healthy
market for future products. Print and broadcast media want people to
remain interested in their outdoor activities. Environmental protection
groups want to preserve the natural wonders for future generations. In
the past, these groups have competed against each other to control land
use. Now, Tread Lightly! brings them all together under a charter they
can all support to teach and motivate individuals to use land and water
responsibly.
LCCSA also proposes that the self-regulatory body, established out of
the NOW and in consultation with DEAT, become country sponsor for the
Tread Lightly program as this will help convey a common message with an
international theme to both local and
international users of rough-road vehicles in Southern Africa. Becoming
a country sponsor also gives access to the structures, methodologies
and materials used by the Tread Lightly organisation, whilst at the
same time allowing each country to develop
programs, messages and materials specific to it own unique situation.
T ravel and recreate with minimum impact
R espect the environment and the rights of others
E ducate yourself, plan and prepare before you go
A llow for future use of the outdoors, leave it better than you found it
D iscover the rewards of responsible recreation
Compiled on behalf of the Land Cruiser Club – Southern Africa
from the comments and discussions on the LCCSA web forum
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