De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) has won the Wildlife Ranching SA award for ‘Biodiversity and Social Responsibility’, in recognition of its approach to ecological management, the De Beers Group announced today. The company picked up the accolade for its approach to ecological management at four private game reserves it runs in the Northern Cape and Limpopo Provinces.
Judges singled out DBCM’s “disciplined approach” as being “best-in-class in the industry” and referenced the success of its sustainable wildlife management practices and promotion of wildlife tourism.
De Beers Wildlife, a part of DBCM, manages around 67,000 hectares of land in the Kimberley area of the Northern Cape.
It began to introduce a variety of species, including elephants, hippopotamus and crocodiles, at its ranches in the early 1970s and was one of the first breeders of disease-free buffalo in South Africa.
It also safeguards more than 35 species on its sites that are classed as endangered, threatened or protected, and hosts viable populations of sable, roan and tsessebe antelope.
