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 thecommunal lands of the Dwesa-Cwebe conservation area in the Eastern Cape, SouthAfrica, by investigating the conditions that must be fulfilled for any success to beregistered. These conditions were derived based on a qualitative survey conducted in theNqabara Administrative Area. The study developed a conceptual framework to unravelthe complex nature of the whole community conservation initiative. A focus groupdiscussion was adopted as the data collection method; and the underlying factors thathave contributed to the success of the initiative in the Nqabara Administrative Area wereidentified. Appropriate coding was assigned to each distinct and major factor for properpresentation of the results and observations were appropriately indicated to buffer theexplanation of the achieved results. Recommendations were subsequently made for theDwesa-Cwebe in terms of the decision-making instruments that demand criticalconsideration for any successful community biodiversity conservation to be achieved.