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ST. HELENA
AN ISLAND BIOSPHERE

Promotion of the island and surrounding waters
as an internationally recognised site
of natural and cultural heritage

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Draft document

prepared by the St. Helena Working Group
with the support of the NGO Forum for Nature Conservation in the UK Dependent
Territories

December 1992

Advisor St Helena

Draft December 1992: Executive Summary St. Helena An Island Biosphere

LINDOANY
Bibes 70s 2 8

ST HELENA AN ISLAND BIOSPHERE~°'~~
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CONTENTS

BACKGROUND

An international mechanism for realising a conservation and development strategy for
St Helena

What are Biosphere Reserves?

Why a biosphere reserve for St Helena?

Implementation of the Biosphere Reserve concept

Selection for Biosphere Reserve status

ST. HELENA: THE ISLAND PROFILE

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Local Human Population ............... 2... eee eee eee eee ee eee 8
Visitor and Visitor Facilities .............. 0... eee ee eee eee ee eee 9
SciemtifiG DRESCANCHN ooo eo oes oe oe ta ge ate ee ol Ree ee oe ee a co 9
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Management Constraints .............-5- eee e eee eee eee teens 13
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Draft December 1992: Executive Summary St. Helena An Island Biosphere

ST HELENA AN ISLAND BIOSPHERE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BACKGROUND

The Government of St Helena has set out in detail a plan of action for putting the National
Development Plan (1989-94) into action.

The main aims of the National Development Plan for St. Helena are identified as:

better use of national resources;

sustainable improvement in living standards and quality of life;
reduced dependence on the UK;

creation of meaningful employment;

reduced isolation.

* *# H# H

To help realise the aspirations laid out in the National Development Plan St Helena’s Legislative
Council ratified the St. Helena Environmental Conservation Policy (1991) "to develop a sustainable
island biosphere in which human influences play a symbiotic role"

AN INTERNATIONAL MECHANISM FOR REALISING A CONSERVATION AND
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR ST HELENA

In order to help apply the Environmental Conservation Policy, a proven international mechanism, the
Biosphere Reserve, is suggested as being particularly appropriate for St Helena.

* The Biosphere Reserve mechanism is highly appropriate for ensuring the integration of
development and a sustainable environment on St Helena. Moreover, the international
recognition conferred by receiving Biosphere Reserve status would also have the invaluable
benefit of raising the profile of St Helena worldwide, serving to reduce its current state of
isolation.

WHAT ARE BIOSPHERE RESERVES?

A Biosphere Reserve is an international designation made by the United Nations on the basis of
nominations submitted by countries and their dependencies participating in the Man and Biosphere
Programme (MAB), of which the United Kingdom is an established member. The Biosphere Reserve
concept combines conservation and development with the sustainable use of natural resources and
has at its centre the economic requirements and well-being of the human community.

be Biosphere Reserve guidelines are intended to generate an environment where government,
local people, land managers and scientists cooperate in developing a model programme to
manage land, and water resources to meet the whole island’s needs while conserving natural
processes and biological resources of local and global importance.

Biosphere Reserves consist of land and/or marine areas in which people are an integral
component, with management objectives ranging from complete protection to intensive yet
sustainable production,

Biosphere Reserves are intended to conserve examples of important natural and cultural
heritage;

Draft December 1992: Executive Summary St. Helena An Island Biosphere

Biosphere Reserves serve to increase education, training, monitoring and research;

: Biosphere Reserves provide a working model for uniting the community in managing its
human needs and natural resources;

5 Each Biosphere Reserve is a symbol of voluntary cooperation to conserve and use resources
for the well-being of people.

Because Biosphere Reserves form part of an international scientific and educational programme, as
opposed to being designated under a specific convention, they impose no legally binding obligations
or development constraints.

WHY A BIOSPHERE RESERVE FOR ST HELENA?

Biosphere Reserves have numerous beneficial applications to help communities: to conserve biological
resources; to set up mechanisms to monitor both natural- and human- induced changes, such as
erosion; to improve management of natural and cultural resources; to share knowledge through results
and application of Biosphere Reserve research worldwide, and to cooperate in solving natural resource
problems.

Biosphere Reserves are intended to become models for efficient resource-use practises. The practical
benefits for St. Helena are many and varied for Local people, Government administrators and
resource managers alike.

Were St. Helena to win Biosphere Reserve status the island’s profile in the international community
would be raised dramatically, greatly enhancing the island’s ability to attract outside recognition and
resources. Not only would this have implications on the volume of trade (through increased tourism,
for example), but it would also attract increased cooperation from the global community through
attracting research and development, whilst helping to address St. Helena’s prime constraint of
extreme isolation.

Biosphere Reserve management guidelines are intended to provide Government decision makers with
improved resource information, leading to increased technical and institutional capabilities and
enhancing access to technical and possible financial support from agencies within the United Nations
and European Community as well as non government organisations.

Research and training in Biosphere Reserve models for efficient resource managers to better assess
current land and management strategies, enabling available natural, human and financial resources
to be used to maximum effect.

Benefits to the local community can include the protection of basic resources; improved land
management skills; a more productive and diverse economic base; additional employment; a cleaner,
healthier environment; more influence in land-use decisions; reduced conflict with protected area
administrators; increased pride in traditions and enhanced opportunities to maintain and improve
existing lifestyles.

Of the world wide total of 300 Biosphere Reserves only a tiny number are islands. The most famous
of these island Biosphere Reserves are the Galapagos Islands, the US Virgin Islands and Hawaii. St
Helena would be unique in being the only island Biosphere Reserve in the South Atlantic and could
represent this important region and receive its deserved international recognition.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BIOSPHERE RESERVE CONCEPT

The Biosphere Reserve working structure is designed to carry out the complementary activities of
resource conservation and the development of sustainable resource uses. To this end, Biosphere
Reserves consist of three integrated zones: a core area, a buffer zone and a transition area.

= CORE AREAS consist of a number of types. The first includes examples of minimal
disturbed ecosystems characteristic of communities of terrestrial and/or marine habitats of
global significance. The second type may include cultural sites characteristic of the human
communities which they serve. In the case of St. Helena, the core areas could incorporate
the historic centre of Jamestown, the endemic rich Peaks and important marine sites such as
the dolphin runs off the northwest coast of the island.

* BUFFER ZONES adjoin or surround the core areas. Uses and activities are managed in ways
that help protect the core. The boundaries of this demarcated zone often coincide with those
of national parks or with multiple use areas such as the Economic Fishing Zone surrounding
the island, and the rehabilitation areas of the plant propagation programme.

The buffer zone, and the surrounding transition area, includes areas where management,
including habitat restoration, is practised. Experimental Research Areas are used for
developing ways to manage vegetation, wildlife, agriculture, forests, fisheries, and other
natural resources in order to enhance production while conserving natural processes.

i TRANSITION ZONES are the outermost parts of a Biosphere Reserve which typically
surrounds the core area and buffer zone. This is usually an unmarked interactive zone where
conservation knowledge and management skills are applied. Such zones contain settlements,
agricultural land, managed forests, reafforestation areas, areas for intensive use, such as
tourism or recreation, and other economic uses required for sustainable development of the
island.

SELECTION FOR BIOSPHERE RESERVE STATUS

To ensure effective cooperation and integration of the Biosphere Reserve on land and in the sea,
management and technical committees need to be established to provide a framework for cooperation
between fisheries, forestry, education and other managers, government agencies, local people and
scientific community.

The MAB Secretariat in UNESCO encourage each Biosphere Reserve administration to prepare a
management plan that indicates specific steps to be taken to develop and coordinate the Biosphere
Reserve. The management plan may be a separate undertaking or may use an existing integrated
process incorporating existing land and sea planning strategies. In the case of St. Helena the action
could be built around the National Development Plan, the St. Helena Environmental Conservation
Policy and other such initiatives currently underway.

In agreeing to nominate an area as a Biosphere Reserve, the managing authorities acknowledge a
responsibility to cooperate with local and regional institutions in planning and managing the area for
environmental and human benefit.

National MAB Committees are responsible for preparing Biosphere Reserve nominations and for
involving appropriate institutions and individuals in preparing the supporting documentation. In the
case of St. Helena, the Government of St. Helena, and its counterparts in the UK, have such
responsibility.

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Each nomination form is evaluated by a small independent group of experts, who recommend
nominations believed to Satisfy selection criteria for review by the Bureau, Executive Committee, of
the MAB International Coordinating Council. If the Bureau approves the site, the National MAB
Committee receives the certificate of designation from UNESCO.

There is every reason to believe that St Helena stands the highest chance of obtaining Biosphere
Reserve status.

ST. HELENA: THE ISLAND PROFILE

1. CONSERVATION VALUE

It is clear that the marine and terrestrial environment, flora and fauna, as well as the human culture
and history of St. Helena, all present unique aspects of both national and global importance and that
its conservation value is widely acknowledged, meriting a place amongst islands of the first rank in
biological and cultural importance as Biosphere Reserves.

bs There are at least 10 endemic plant genera and 40 endemic species of flowering plants; a
phenomenally rich invertebrate fauna, with over 150 endemic insect species (including the
world’s largest earwig) and unique land snails potentially important for genetic research; the
endemic wirebird, 10 endemic species of marine fish and a variety of endemic marine

invertebrates.

og St Helena’s coastal waters possess perhaps the finest dolphin run in the world.

> Important palaeotological remains are found in the rich sediment areas of the island.

= The island has outstanding physical features with a unique erosional landscape, with what are
probably the highest seacliffs in the Southern Hemisphere.

= Much of the endemic flora and fauna is now severely threatened.

: By virtue of its strategic position and extreme isolation, St Helena is of enormous historical

and cultural importance. The islands historical connections with the East India Company,
Napoleon, whaling, as well as a continuous chronology of globally important scientific
research, from 1676 through to the present day, is further justification for receiving high
international recognition.

2. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

St. Helena is a British Dependent Territory situated in the South Atlantic Ocean, 1,960km from the
nearest point on the southwest coast of Africa and is one of the most isolated tropical islands in the
world.

3. DATE AND HISTORY OF ESTABLISHMENT

Management tools within Biosphere Reserves may include the establishment of various levels of
protection to safeguard natural resources and wildlife.

= Some of the earliest environmental legislation for St Helena dates from 1709 for the
protection of forests.

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x The basis of the current protected area legislation is the Forestry Ordinance, No. 9 of 25
October 1954 which empowers the Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee, to declare
three categories of protected area: national forest, dedicated forest, and protected private
forest.

= The Forestry Indigenous Trees and Plants Preservation Rules of 1959 details plants to be
protected wherever they grow on the island, and annexed amendments include all major
endemic species.

= The Crown Wastes, which are Crown Property, and so protected from private development,
are protected by ordinance against grazing animals of all kinds.

Other relevant legislation includes the Wildlife (Protection) Ordinance of 1984 and the Game and
Wild Birds (Protection) Ordinance 1950.

4. SIZE OF AREAS OF ECOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE

There is no size limit for Biosphere Reserves but the most ideal situation is to include the entire
biosphere, in the case of St Helena this would include the entire island and surrounding waters.

* Total area of St Helena is approximately 122 sq. km (47 sq. miles). Total productive forest
approximates to 1,000ha and conservation forest area is approximately 200ha.

* The marine territory of St. Helena is the 200 mile Exclusive Fishing Zone (EFZ).

5. LAND TENURE

Biosphere Reserves around the world vary in ownership and there is no obligation for land to be
under any single landowner, they range from those entirely established by the local community,
through those set up by universities to those established by central Government.

bs In St Helena land ownership is divided into crown, freehold and private. A portion of High
Peak is privately owned. Crown land and commonages are also represented.

6. PHYSICAL FEATURES

Biosphere Reserves under their representation of the interaction of man and the environment can be
used as a tool to address various integrated environmental problems, the most renowned on St. Helena
is of course the all pervading concerns of land erosion (however St Helena also has enormous value
for its physical beauty and landscape).

* St Helena is the deeply eroded summit of a composite volcano. The island is approximately
16km long, 10km at its widest point, and is elongated in a NE/SW direction. The highest
inland point on St Helena is 823m (Diana’s Peak), and on the coast some of the sea cliffs can
attain 570m.

* The physical environment of St Helena outlines the island’s unique position in understanding
the geological history of the South Atlantic. The island’s physical history is important,
because it represents the results of local conditions which can be studied in isolation from
larger, regional, geomorphological processes.

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7. CLIMA

* St Helena climate is typically sub-tropical and influenced by the SE Trade Wind Belt.
Temperatures and rainfall vary, ranging from 22°C and 300mm at Jamestown to 16°C and
900mm at Hutt’s Gate. Sea temperatures at St Helena average 23°C with only small annual
variation.

8. VEGETATION

= There are at least 10 endemic plant genera and 40 endemic species of flowering plant on the

island.

4 Over 60% of the island is now covered by eroded areas of rock or introduced plant species.
Semi-natural forest covers less than 10% of the country in isolated remnants of the central
mountain ridge. These remnants are of immense botanical and biogeographical importance
consisting of St. Helena’s plant endemics in their natural associations.

® The lower plants, although impoverished and little studied, also include endemic species,
particularly so in the case of lichens. More work is required before it will be possible to
ascertain the true number of endemics.

“3 The fern flora of St. Helena, with 14 endemics, is a notably diverse one. There are no
endemic genera, but some of the species are remarkable. The tree fern, Dicksonia, is the
main constituent of the endemic rich tree fern thicket of the Central Ridge.

= St. Helena is famous for its ‘bizarre’ plants notably Cabbage trees which have been
commented on by naturalists since before Darwin. The figure of 10 endemic genera for such
a small island is remarkably high.

9. FAUNA

St. Helena’s indigenous terrestrial fauna is dominated by birds and invertebrates. Both groups gave
rise to unique and diverse forms due to the island’s remote situation and lack of competition from
other animal groups. There are a great many introduced animal species.

- The fossil record of St. Helena is of high importance, especially in the case of birds and land
snails, which were studied by Darwin.

© Over 200 endemic invertebrate have been recorded, and approximately 70% of these species
are insects (including the world’s largest earwig). All three species of simuliid blackfly
known in St. Helena are endemic and are of significant scientific interest.

= The island is the only possible breeding place for seabirds in the eastern South Atlantic
between Ascension and the Tristan-Gough group.

= The most notable endemic bird species is the St. Helena Wirebird Charadrius sanctaehelenae.
An endemic gadfly petrel Pterodroma rupinarum related to a little-known Indo-Pacific group
is of particular interest, and may possibly still survive in the sea cliffs or offshore islets.

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if The Marine fauna of St. Helena has been subject to considerable study, with particular
attention to fish, molluscs, echinoderms and crustaceans. Of the island’s 80 known shore
fishes 10 species are endemic to St. Helena. A further 16 are found only at St. Helena and
Ascension Island.

* St. Helena’s costal waters support a notable Cetacean fauna. Large numbers of Pantropical
spotted dolphins constitute one of the finest dolphin runs in the world.

10 HI RICAL UL HERITAGE

Central to the Biosphere Reserve concept is the cultural and historical aspect, for which St Helena
is world renowned.

* St. Helena was discovered in 1502 and was administered by the English East India Company
from 1659 until it was ceded to the British Crown in 1834.

* During the East India Company time the island had a vital role in trade with the East.
Maritime connections are the basis for St. Helena’s international historical importance.
Important wrecks of Dutch East Indiamen are situated in the area of James Bay.

te St Helena featured prominently in the suppression of the West African slave trade and also
provided a major port of call for whaling fleets. The island was also used as a secure prison
for Napoleon, Zulu chiefs, Boer prisoners and Bahreini emirs.

= St Helena’s scientific history is extremely rich and varied. Notable naturalists to work on the
island include Banks, Bligh, Burchell, Darwin and Hooker.

bd The architecture of St Helena is rich in East India Company civil and military buildings, 18th
century country houses and Victorian fortifications as well as industrial remains of the islands
flax industry.

- The island has extensive archive collections which urgently require attention reflecting their
priceless importance.

~ Age-old fishing skills and country crafts still survive on the island. Traditional handicrafts
include woven baskets, banana-leaf hats and candle-lantern making. Dialects resulting from
St Helena’s cosmopolitan past have been noted but poorly studied.

11. LOCAL HUMAN POPULATION

Since the first colonisation of the island in the 1600s the local community has evolved into a unique
and harmonious multi-cultural society, a population dependent upon its island biosphere now for
almost five centuries. Man has greatly affected this largely man-made environment basing his
economy to a dependence on the UK and rural industries such as agriculture, livestock rearing and
fishing.

‘i The estimated size of the population of the island was 5,443 in 1990. The main population
of St. Helena is centred in Jamestown.

_ Agricultural land is concentrated in the central part of the island between the Forest Reserve
of the Peaks and the Crown Wastes. Until 1966, the manufacture of flax and allied products
were the mainstay of the economy.

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= In 1989-1990 total imports amounted to £4.97 million and exports £0.13 million (mainly
from fish and coffee etc). Agriculture, livestock rearing and fishing are now the chief
economic activities. The island is principally maintained by public revenue from the UK.

There is a groundswell of active interest in heritage issues on the island. The Prince Andrew
(High) School has a curriculum reflects local needs and aspirations, and constitutes a major
educational/research facility for all ages and for the whole community.

12. VISITORS AND VISITOR FACILITIES

Biosphere Reserves around the world have often acted as magnets to attract sustainable forms of
tourism, even in isolated island communities such as the Galapagos. The same situation could apply
to St Helena.

id Currently tourism for St Helena is reportedly restricted due to the isolation of the island.

tg In addition to visitors from RMS St Helena, occasional cruise ships and significant number
of yachts bring several hundred extra visitors to the island annually.

- The Heritage Society was founded in 1980 and its Museum attracted 500 visitors in 1987.
There are town tours and well-supported exhibitions. The potential for increased tourism is
currently being investigated by various bodies.

be Quality tourism may well have significant potential for St Helena, embracing the island’s rich
history and culture, its countryside by hiking or walking, sales of handicrafts and wildlife
safaris such as to see the dolphin runs and endemic plants which are ideal opportunities to
establish a very attractive tourist market.

13 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND FACILITIES

An important aspect of any Biosphere Reserve involves ongoing research to learn how natural and
cultural systems work, to improve management of the resource, to share knowledge and cooperate
in solving resource problems. St Helena is almost unique, certainly for a small isolated island
community, in its chronology of continuous scientific events of global importance ever since the 17th
century to the present day.

4d It is obvious from the roll of renowned scientists and explorers who have called at St. Helena
that the island must have played an important part in the global history of ideas.

s Halley visited the island to track the transept of Venus. After his visit to the island Darwin
developed his theory of natural selection in Origin of Species.

* St. Helena itself has the first recorded example of plant species conservation to prevent
biological extinction. In the 18th century various schemes were set in motion by the Island
Council to protect timber supplies from grazing destruction.

The early realisation for conservation measures resulted in St. Helena endemics contributing
to the transformation that led from exploitation of the environment to its protection.
Similarly, such ideas as management of biological natural resources and conservation
legislation were in many instances pioneered on St Helena.

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od Current and recent research has involved study of St Helena’s endemic flora leading to
comprehensive conservation initiatives for such plants as the St Helena Ebony.

~ Other research and conservation work has included palaeotological reconnaissance of the
island, large-scale invertebrate species inventories, geomorphological surveys and mapmaking
projects, major field observations of the St. Helena Wirebird and invertebrate conservation
field work for endemic invertebrates.

= The ODA has been involved in numerous environmental research programmes on land and
sea around St. Helena, its current activities are centring on Environmental Planning to address
concerns such as the devastating erosion problems of the island.

- An Endemic Plants Propagation Programme to protect a number of the threatened flowering
plant species of St. Helena has been established on the island, is coordinated by the
Agriculture and Forestry Officer and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Large scale replanting
has taken place and many of the plants which were literally on the verge of extinction have
been rescued.

= In 1988 the first ever international symposium on St Helena was convened to evaluate the
island’s immense geological, botanical, zoological, historical and cultural wealth, resulting
in the first interdisciplinary overview of these diverse fields relating to St. Helena.

14. CO VATION AGEMENT

The National Development Plan (1989-94) of the Government of St Helena aims to include cultural
and natural elements based on sustainable improvement in living standards and quality of life and
better use of national resources, key elements of Biosphere Reserves. This was followed by the
legislative council ratifying the St Helena Environmental Conservation Policy (1991) to develop a
sustainable island biosphere in which human influences play a symbiotic role. The Biosphere Reserve
mechanism is highly appropriate for ensuring the integration of development and a sustainable
environment on St Helena.

The key Objectives of the Conservation Strategy include:

* To stabilise the deteriorating environment by providing for rehabilitation of natural ecosystems
and minimising detrimental land use or management practices.

* Establish a comprehensive conservation zoning with detailed criteria for selection and
management.

* Develop a monitoring system which provides first order indicators of environmental change.

* — increase biological diversity through improved habitat management and application of
conservation techniques.

* Limit mans’ impact on the island’s biosphere, particularly where it encroaches on important
ecosystems and habitats.

* to minimise environmental pollution by developing attitude to its control.
* Foster and encourage wider understanding of the natural environment and the issues which

are associated with it through improved public education, public access and interpretation
facilities.

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- Administrative structure and management

In St Helena conservation matters come under the administration of the Agricultural and
Natural Resources Committee of the Legislative Council, which oversees agricultural,
forestry and fisheries activities.

In 1991 a new position was created, that of Conservation Officer who has responsibility
under the Director of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Activities are to include: the
coordination and implementation of the environmental Conservation Policy

* Other bodies involved in St Helena include the Agricultural Development Authority, the
Fisheries Corporation, the Department of Public Works and Department of Education.

* The St. Helena Heritage Society is the main voluntary organisation on the island, and is
taking an increasing interest in natural history.

= Conservation awareness is increasing in schools on the island. Practical conservation work
has included planting of endemic trees by Boy Scouts.

* Non-Government Organisations based in the UK have taken a strong interest in conserving
St. Helena’s unique wildlife, the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society and WWF-UK have
been active in promoting ard instigating plant conservation on St. Helena, together with the
Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and the British Section of ICBP. The Zoological Society of
London is involved in invertebrate conservation efforts. The St. Helena Working Group,
with the support of the NGO Forum for Nature Conservation in the UK Territories, was set
up in 1991 to provide assistance to the island of St. Helena in its objectives of "developing
a sustainable island biosphere in which human influences play a symbiotic role”.

Management objectives

* At present, conservation policy has been drafted by the Director of Agriculture and Natural
Resources (January, 1991). The objectives of this include: the criteria for selection and
Management as well as improved habitat management and application of conservation
techniques to increase biological diversity.

= At present 10% of St. Helena is protected as forest. This is zoned into total productive
forest for timber and fuel and conservation forest area which includes areas of well
established natural woodland and of ‘productive’ woodland. They are maintained and
established to prevent erosion and soil degradation on the very steep slopes existing on the
island.

* Four National Forest sites are managed as nature reserves and fenced off from adjacent
pasture grazing and have had small scale conservation programmes in place since 1977.

‘a The combined programme of in situ and ex situ conservation of the endemic plants of St.
Helena is incorporated into a five-year Forestry Project of the Agriculture and Forestry
Department. The project consists of four mutually supporting components:

management of existing endemic forest
re-establishment of discrete areas of endemic forest
endemic nursery development

arboretum development

*% *& #

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Draft December 1992: Executive Summary St. Helena An Island Biosphere

activities (e.g. controlled burning and archaeological restoration)

Some flowering plant species have been saved by the St. Helena Endemic Plants
Propagation Programme, coordinated by the Agriculture and Forestry Officer and the Royal
Botanic Garden, Kew.

Four main sites are under effective conservation management regimes, with attempts to
maintain integrity and maintenance of long-term viability. Currently at one site management
involves periodically cutting flax, and other exotics, and the propagation and re-introduction
of the cabbage tree.

The Agriculture and Forestry Department has undertaken large scale replantings,
particularly in the barren areas.

Since 1858, with the creation of La Domaine francaise de Ste. Helene the French have been
meticulously restoring places of Napoleonic interest and publicising the Napoleonic legend.

South Africans are concerned at the maintenance of the Boer prisoner-of-war cemetery at
Knollcombes. Other South African activities include surveying the wrecks of one Dutch
(1625) and two Portuguese (1604 & 1623) East Indiamen of prime archaeological
significance.

The St. Helena Government is attempting to save High Knoll Fort, dominating the island’s
northern skyline, an unstudied masterpiece of late Victorian military engineering.

Any system of zonation, including function and size of zones

To carry out the complementary activities of resource conservation and development of sustainable
resource uses, Biosphere Reserves consists of interrelated zoned areas.

x

Currently St Helena has elements of the classic Biosphere Reserve zonation, being divided
into forest zones, slope erosion restoration areas, fishing zones, recreational areas, grazing
areas, populated areas and two discrete conservation units, surrounded by managed forest
land which acts as a buffer zone.

- Significant training, interpretative and extension programmes

Training is an important element of Biosphere Reserves, aiding local communities to understand better
their environment and potential benefits of resource protection as well as improved land management
skill, and for the resource manager training aids them to use limited human and financial resources
to maximum benefit.

*

Notable initiatives in St. Helena such as the Endemic Plants Propagation Programme and
associated training, e.g., foresters of the Agriculture and Forestry Department have
undertaken four month training programmes with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. The
new post of Conservation Officer involved study and training visits to the Zoological Society
of London, World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Increased awareness by the studies of the endemic plants propagation programme and
enhanced by the islanders’ school children has meant that conservation and endemic plant
field studies are now part of the curriculum. Publication of further educational material is
envisaged.

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Draft December 1992: Executive Summary St. Helena An Island Biosphere

- Recommendations for future conservation and management of the territory

The ‘St. Helena: Natural Treasury’ meeting at the Zoological Society of London in 1988 made a
number of recommendations after reviewing the material presented, it was clear that the marine
environment, geology, landscape, plants and animals, as well as the culture and history of St. Helena,
all present aspects of importance and uniqueness when considered both locally and globally.
Recommendations made included:

= A full survey of the lower plants (algae, mosses, lichens and fungi).

= A survey of the present status of the endemic invertebrates.

= A detailed study of the wirebird, and the present status of the seabirds.
* A study of erosion and its biological and agricultural consequences.

Essential Action identified included:

~ Planting and fencing of scrubwood and other endemic plants on the Crown Wastes to restore
natural cover and check erosion.

* Control of introduced animals on the Crown Wastes, particularly grazing animals (which
destroy endemic plant cover) and mice (which predate endemic invertebrates).

* Environmental protection of Horse Point Plain, important for its endemic invertebrates.

= Provision by Government for education, training and the publication of educational material,
to promote conservation and to encourage co-operation between all interested persons, from
research scientists abroad to school children in St. Helena.

* Appointment of a biologist with natural history interests to go to St. Helena, possibly under
the VSO scheme, to initiate a programme of conservation education, in association with the
High School.

15. MANAGEMENT CONSTRAINTS

An important element of the Biosphere Reserve is to cooperate in solving natural resource problems,
which sums up the key purpose of Biosphere Reserves and of the MAB programme itself.

a St. Helena has been described as ‘the most devastated of all the tropical islands in the South
Atlantic’. Since the introduction of goats in 1513, the natural forest has became reduced
to its present remnants, which themselves are being invaded by exotics.

* Major problems are erosion, caused by vegetation clearance for fuel, timber and agriculture,
as well as a result of overgrazing, leading to changes in climate (loss of forest cover leading
to reduced precipitation and a decrease in mist interception).

bd The reported greatest single biological threat is from the spread of exotic species of plant,
primarily the encroachment of acacia and eucalyptus.

= Since 1875 authors have noted the declining populations and extinctions of endemic species.
Many species and habitats unique to the island have vanished and many others are under
threat of extinction in particular: St. Helena olive, St. Helena giant earwig, the St. Helena
dragonfly and the St. Helena ground beetle.

= Age-old fishing skills, rural crafts, and dialects, are under threat.

It is widely regarded that too little has been done in the past to maintain the architectural
treasures, crumbling fortifications, barrack quarters, archives or to renovate decaying town
buildings.

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Draft December 1992: Executive Summary St. Helena An Island Biosphere

16. STAFF

In 1990 the classification of waged workers on St Helena was divided into 318 professional and
technical staff, 451 management, administration and clerical staff, 212 sales workers, 32 agriculture,
forestry and fishing, 188 crafts and production workers, and 1,639 others.

* The Forestry Section of the Agriculture and Forestry Department have on average 10 forest
guards who each patrol and carry out routine silvicultural activities in their respective
districts. The recently trained supervisor has a staff of 10 specifically allocated to the
maintenance and re-establishment of endemic flora.

17. BUDGET
= Revenue in 1989-1990 was £4.17 million, approved budgetary aid £3.95 million and

recurrent expenditure is £8.34 million

REFEREN

A full list of of references are listed in the technical report.

\report\execut.sum

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