Regional law plays an especially useful role in transboundary management of common water resources. Watercourses often traverse the political boundaries between countries. Therefore, South Africa has to work with other countries to appropriately secure and properly manage important river systems in the SADC region or on the African continent more generally, since those water resources need to function properly to sustain South Africa's water supply in the long term. Agreements at a SADC regional scale may be entered into with a view to managing shared water resources in a sustainable way. The Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems in the Southern African Development Community Region is an example of such an arrangement.
African states have developed a host of regionalconventions and agreements that pertain to biodiversity. These regional lawswere developed with support of the African Union (AU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
In 2000, the AU Assembly endorsed the African Model Legislation for the Recognition and Protection of the Rights of Local Communities, Farmers and Breeders, and for the Regulation of Access to Biological Resources. It seeks to “recognise, protect and supportthe inalienable rights of local communities includingfarming communities over their biological resources and crop varieties, knowledgeand technologies.”
In 2003, the AU adopted the Revised African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. It providesa comprehensive account of issues that relate to biodiversity, including:
South Africa has not yet ratified the original or the revised text of the Convention.
The stated objective of the revised Draft Revised African Model Law on Biosafet y is “to contribute to ensuring an adequate level of protection in the making, safe transfer, handling and use of genetically modified organisms and products of genetically modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.” It also seeks to enable countries that are members of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to implement the provisions of the Protocol at the national level.
South Africa ratified the Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement, which is a protocol linked to the SADC Treaty. The protocol had force and effect as of 2003. Various aspects of biodiversity are regulated by the protocol, including:
The Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the East African Region (the Nairobi Convention) was adopted, along with its protocol, by the majority of the East African countries. The Nairobi Convention and the protocol (Protocol Concerning Protected Areas and Wild Fauna and Flora in the Eastern African Region) was developed in 1985 under the UNEP’s Regional Sea Programme.
South Africa is party to both these instruments, which deals with the following issues:
