Biodiversity Policy and Strategy for South Africa: Strategy for buffer zones for National Parks. Notice no. 106 of 2012.

This strategy develops the White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of South Africa's Biological Diversity published in 1997 and applies also to World Heritage sites, according to UNESCO operational guidelines, in order to reduce or mitigate the negative influences of activities taking place outside the parks and to better integrate parks into their surrounding landscapes and for the proper conservation and effective protection of the national parks. The following principles guide application, assessment and development of the Strategy: intrinsic value, duty of care, sustainable use, fair and equitable distribution of benefits, precautionary principle, recognition and protection of traditional knowledge, practices and cultures, coordination and cooperation, integration, evaluation and review.
The Strategy defines the following relevant terms: biorespecting, catchment area, buffer zone, capture, cumulative impacts, game farm, management authority, national park, priority natural areas, protected area, protected environment, ranching, special nature reserve, translocation. The Strategy addresses six objectives of a buffer zone: 1) ensure the persistence of important species and ecological processes; 2) promote broad based and sustainable economic activity; 3) preserve, adapt, restore and stabilise cultural heritage and secure its sustainable use; 4) preserve and improve the quantity and quality of water from catchments in park and the Buffer Zone; 5) protect and enhance the wilderness experience of park users; 6) protect, enhance and restore the image of parks.