Southern Africa Route Owners & Operators Association

4x4 Guidelines now available

Written by Francois Smit

Monday, 19 February 2007

Introduction

Motorised off-road vehicles (which include 4x4s, and 2x4s), all terrain vehicles, quadbikes and off-road trailbikes) have become an integral part of the South African lifestyle, providing a means of transport for, inter alia, farming activities, construction projects, accessing the work place, and recreational activities. Sustainable routes provide various benefits to the regions within which they occur, including:

Providing an opportunity to develop eco-adventure tourism in the Western Cape, and South Africa as a whole, by highlighting the unique biological and cultural diversity within our country, thereby building broad constituencies for wildlife conservation by putting people in contact with nature.
Guiding off-road route enthusiasts and recreationists away from sensitive ecological habitats towards more adaptable settings.
Providing a convenient way for landowners to access otherwise hard-to-reach areas, facilitating the management of any existing or potential alien plant invasions.
Providing access in otherwise remote areas for fire-fighting crews to access these areas in case of a wildfire.
Providing access to training facilities (e.g. surf swash zones, river crossings and dune systems) for skills training for emergency services (NSRI, surf and rescue, SAPS).
Providing direct and indirect employment opportunities.
Assisting in the restoration and maintenance of degraded watercourse corridors and other habitats in the process of route establishment, subject to an appropriate environmental assessment and management.

The off-road vehicle (ORV) industry has experienced phenomenal growth over the past decade. This has given rise to extensive tourism opportunities and resulted in an increase in the development and use of off-road routes, 4x4 tracks and trails in a range of environments throughout the country.

Off-road routes are purpose built, either for landowner management activities, access purposes, or for recreation, and are not usually straightforward road alignments like public roads. Due to the nature and purpose of off-road or ORV routes (and the attraction of the route to make it a successful enterprise, in the event of a commercial venture), there is inherently an element of difficulty that tests the skill of the driver and the capacity of the vehicle using the route. Some typical attributes include narrow trail corridors, rough terrain, off-camber riding, and steep ascents and descents. Therefore, the planning, development and operation of sustainable ORV routes and destinations requires specific and diversified skills and knowledge.

Effective management requires best practice for all aspects of route planning, construction and maintenance. Many landowners and/or route owners have constructed off-road routes without assessing the ideal layout of such a route in the context of the local environment, and/or without obtaining the necessary approvals in terms of the relevant environmental and planning legislation. In fact, few routes have historically been specifically constructed for high volume ORV use. Most routes were originally developed as access routes to private property; for harvesting, fire-fighting or alien species clearing; for game viewing trails; or provided access to remote fishing, hunting, or camping sites.

As a result of the unplanned nature of such routes, many of them cross soils and sites poorly suited for the level of use occurring on them today. In some instances this has resulted in irreversible damage to sensitive environments and landscape features. Typically, the impacts to the environment associated with ORV routes are less significant than those associated with intensive development. However, by developing an area, the complex ecology of a system may be altered. Sometimes the effects of establishing and using an ORV route are minor and fleeting. Other times they may be more substantial and long-lasting. The level of impact on the environment is not always attributable to the level of use, but usually to the level of non-compliance by the route developers and route users, as well as the adoption of inappropriate management measures.

For landowners and managers, degraded routes are a significant environmental problem due to their direct effects on vegetation, soils, erosion potential, and site hydrology. In addition, degraded routes may have indirect effects on biodiversity, ecological systems, site aesthetics, heritage sites, and sensitive environments such as rivers and wetlands. For route users, degraded routes reduce the level of use of the route, and lead to a less enjoyable and attractive recreational off-road experience. In addition, once degraded, a route can quickly become impassable, resulting in increasing negative impacts if not closed or re-routed and appropriately rehabilitated.

Purpose of the Guideline Series

In 2001, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism published regulations prohibiting the use of vehicles in South Africa’s coastal zone (GN Regulation 1399 - Control of Vehicles in the Coastal Zone, amended in 2004). The focus for off-road recreation by ORV enthusiasts is now solely on inland destinations, and many landowners have seen an opportunity to develop off-road routes on their properties.

The total number of off-road routes in South Africa and their locations is largely unknown. Estimates indicate that there may be as many as 90 routes and trails for recreational use located in the Western Cape alone. Only a small percentage of all off-road routes in South Africa are currently regulated, with the vast majority being in contravention of environmental and planning legislation to some degree, and therefore considered illegal.

This has resulted in a need for the ORV industry (including route planners, operators and users) to balance the use of the ORV routes with the potential environmental impact associated with off-road activities. At a national level, the off-road industry is developing self-regulation mechanisms, which aim to address the concern over the increasing impact of off-road activities on the South African environment, as expressed by the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in April 2005.

The location of almost a quarter of all of South Africa’s ORV routes in the Province, together with the sensitivity of the Western Cape environment (largely due to highly diverse ecosystems, including the presence of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) and associated biodiversity) resulted in the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (WC D:EA&DP) taking a particular interest in off-road route regulation. As approximately 80% of the Western Cape’s land is privately-owned, conservation of the environment largely depends on the development and enforcement of the Province’s land use and planning legislation. Existing mechanisms encouraging private protection of biodiversity are poorly applied, and there are few incentives to sustainable land use.

The guideline series draws on Best Practice within specialist fields of expertise relating to the industry, as well as input from key role-players in the industry, in order to highlight the constraints associated with the planning, operation and management of off-road routes, and to provide a checklist for evaluation and regulation of these routes.

In essence, the guideline series aims to:

Provide criteria for the assessment of planned and existing ORV routes throughout the Province.Provide criteria for the evaluation of proposed and existing ORV routes throughout the Province.
Provide a mechanism to manage ORV activities, routes and essential associated infrastructure (including parking areas, general ablution facilities, etc.), and to give effect to relevant and applicable legislation and regulations.
Promote local solutions to local problems.Enhance the management and protection of off-road route designated areas.
Promote consistency of assessment, decision-making and management regarding off-road routes amongst EIA practitioners and regulating authorities by promoting understanding of off-road route construction and management goals.
Provide guidance to route owners and users for off-road routes within the Western Cape to promote responsible ORV use and environmental protection through the reduction of habitat degradation and potential impacts to environmental resources.
Regulate the industry to the benefit of both the applicant (in that a better and more sustainable end-product is realised) and the environment (i.e. a so called ‘win-win’ situation), without making the regulation and requirements of the authorisation process prohibitively detailed and expensive.

The objective is to facilitate user-friendly, easy to implement and economically practical procedures to regulate off-road users within the Western Cape. The guideline series can, however, not revise any existing legislation or regulations. In addition, the guideline series cannot be utilised to close any existing routes or authorise any proposed routes, although it can be used to aid in the decision-making process to this effect and will thus be used as a decision-making tool. Decisions regarding off-road routes will continue to be made through the land use planning and environmental authorisation processes.

The planning, construction and maintenance of other tourism infrastructure typically associated with recreational off-road routes (such as overnight accommodation and resorts) should be guided by other relevant provincial legislation and guidelines. The following guideline documents form part of this series:

Guidelines for Planning and Managing Sustainable Off-Road Routes: A Handbook for Route Planners and Operators

Guidelines for the Assessment and Evaluation of proposed and existing Off-Road Routes: A Handbook for Environmental Assessment Practitioners and Authorities, and Route Planners

Guidelines for Sustainable Use and Environmental Protection of Off-Road Routes and Trails: A Handbook for Trail Users

In developing this guideline series, a number of overarching considerations were identified:

A route is more than a thin line traversing the landscape. To respect the environment, a route must be planned in conjunction with its zone of influence.

In establishing a route, certain impacts on the environment will be unavoidable. However, routes should be planned and established with an understanding of the implications for the environment in the long-term. An understanding of both the existing and potential impacts of a route on the environment can help set more realistic goals for an off-road route project.

When planned in the context of the environment within which they are located, off-road routes can be effective management tools that help reduce the impacts of people on the environment.

In many cases, scientific findings alone cannot determine whether environmental impacts are significant enough to preclude a route from a particular area. The decision also should be based on community values, including the benefits the route will offer communities and/or the public at large.

The best strategy in planning routes is always to avoid impacts to the environment. The next best is to minimise the impacts. The last resort is to mitigate for impacts. Routes must be planned and managed in ways that result in user actions being regulated and predictable, so as to minimise impacts on the surrounding environment. Therefore, although the guideline series has been developed with specific reference to the Western Cape Province of South Africa, their core elements are more widely applicable.

[ Back ]