Managers' perspectives on weather extremes prevalence in South African national parks

Abstract

The subject of weather extremes, some climate-induced, cannot be wished away. Every economic sector is vulnerable, including nature-based tourism associated with national parks. This paper seeks to establish perceptions and experiences of park managers regarding what they consider to be the most prevalent weather extremes and their impacts on South African national parks. It also aims to determine response strategies adopted to minimise damage from such weather extremes across the six biomes covered by 13 parks studied. Data were generated from 61 middle- and top-level management, with extensive training and experience, and analysed using ATLAS.ti version 23 software. It emerged that certain climate-induced weather extremes were prevalent in specific biomes and national parks. Droughts, extreme heat, floods, and wildfires emerged as the topmost recurring, with strong winds; extreme cold and frost, hailstorms, high tides, and severe storms were also reported. Floods caused infrastructure damage, especially to roads, bridges, water pumps, camps, and electricity supply. Some flora and fauna species were declining due to droughts and wildfires. There were reports of bad flowering seasons, reduced water for waterfalls, and declining snow, which were key tourist attractions in some parks. Extreme heat was associated with staff and tourist fatigue, reduced tourist visits, penguin chick mortality, and bird species migration. Overall, parks were losing income. Park management responded by building back better infrastructure, creating fire breaks, drilling boreholes, adopting solar and green building, instituting water conservation measures, having a rehabilitation programme for erosion, instituting early warning systems, and changing staff work schedules. The study provides a picture of park managers' perceptions of weather extremes, environmental and socio-economic problems resulting from such, and strategies adopted to combat them.