Expanding Biodiversity Conservation Beyond the Official Mandate of the Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve of South Africa: qualitative assessment based on Nqabara administrative area

This paper addresses the problem of extending biodiversity conservation onto the communal lands of the Dwesa-Cwebe conservation area in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, by investigating the conditions that must be fulfilled for any success to be registered. These conditions were derived based on a qualitative survey conducted in the Nqabara Administrative Area. The study developed a conceptual framework to unravel the complex nature of the whole community conservation initiative. A focus group discussion was adopted as the data collection method; and the underlying factors that have contributed to the success of the initiative in the Nqabara Administrative Area were identified. Appropriate coding was assigned to each distinct and major factor for proper presentation of the results and observations were appropriately indicated to buffer the explanation of the achieved results. Recommendations were subsequently made for the Dwesa-Cwebe in terms of the decision-making instruments that demand critical consideration for any successful community biodiversity conservation to be achieved.