A strategic assessment of recreational use areas for off-road vehicles in the coastal zone of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

In January 2002, the Minister of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism of the South African government promulgated new regulations controlling the use of off-road vehicles in the coastal zone of South Africa. The new regulations provided for a general prohibition on the recreational use of off-road vehicles (ORVs) in the coastal zone as well as providing procedure for approving the use of vehicles in the coastal zone under specific circumstances. The regulations now specify that recreational use of ORVs can only take place in designated recreational use areas (RUAs). This paper described the process of developing a cohesive strategy for the siting of RUAs in the coastal zone of KwaZulu-Natal. This strategy was developed to avoid ad hoc application for areas that might be unsuitable (environmentally or socially) for ORV use. Potential RUAs was identified using seven principles that disqualified areas not suitable, and subjecting the potential RUAs to a number of other considerations. The seven principles are sufficiently generic to be applied to the other three coastal provinces of South Africa and probably further afield. This strategy identified a network of ecologically and socially justifiable RUAs along the coast of KwaZulu-Natal. These areas will not be designated automatically but each area will need to be further scrutinised by an environmental impact assessment.