Holistic Biodiversity Conservation in the Anthropocene: A Southern African Perspective

In the Anthropocene the loss of biodiversity is set to become increasingly critical. Our law and governance institutions have been unable to halt this worrying trend. One of the reasons for this regulatory deficiency is that global law and governance pertaining to biodiversity are fragmented. In response to the need for a greater integration of law and governance directed at the protection of an integrated biosphere and as a measure to counter fragmentation, we argue that global biodiversity law and governance should be based on the connectivity conservation approach. While the debate about connectivity could occur in various geographical contexts, we focus for our present purposes on regional biodiversity governance in Southern Africa. It is our central hypothesis that adopting a holistic approach to biodiversity conservation in this region might go a long way towards preventing the human encroachment on biodiversity that typifies the Anthropocene.