Meerkat National Park
| Meerkat National Park | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Type | National science park |
| Location | Karoo Hoogland and Kareeberg municipalities, Northern Cape, South Africa |
| Nearest city | Carnarvon |
| Coordinates | 30°41′29.2″S 21°23′24.0″E / 30.691444°S 21.390000°ECoordinates: 30°41′29.2″S 21°23′24.0″E / 30.691444°S 21.390000°E |
| Area | 135,245 hectares (334,200 acres) |
| Designated | 27 March 2020 |
| Owned by | National Research Foundation |
| Administered by | South African National Parks |
| Status | Not open to the public |
Meerkat National Park is a large National Park in the Northern Cape, South Africa, that encompasses the Square Kilometre Array, MeerKAT and HERA telescopes. To ensure long term viability of the Karoo site for the MeerKAT and the SKA, and for other radio astronomy instruments, the South African Parliament passed the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act, in 2007. The act gives the Minister of Science and Technology the authority to protect areas, through regulations, that are of strategic national importance for astronomy and related scientific endeavours.[1][2][3] The park does not allow visitors.[4]
History
The National Research Foundation purchased privately owned rangeland, removed livestock from the area and placed it under the protection of SANParks.[5] In 2020, this park was declared in partnership with the National Research Foundation and the Square Kilometre Array project. It added 3.4% to South Africa's national parks. One of the objectives in creating the park was to increase the protection range of three unprotected ecoregions, including the Nama Karoo ecoregion from 1.5% to 2%; and in doing so, conserve quiver tree forests and other threatened species in the region.[4]
Objectives
The park will seek to study large-scale management of the area, and the impact of climate change on the local ecosystem.[5]
Ecology
After declaring the park, a number of steps were taken to rehabilitate the land, including the removal of livestock, fences and copses of alien mesquite, this saw an increase in wildlife numbers.[5] The park has a healthy population of quiver trees.[4]
See also
References
- ^ "DECLARATION OF CERTAIN PROPERTIES SITUATED IN THE NORTHERN CAPE PROVINCE THE: MEER KATNATIONAL PARK" (PDF).
- ^ "NATIONAL PARK GAZETTED NAME: MEERKAT NATIONAL PARK" (PDF).
- ^ "Protected Planet | Meerkat National Park". Protected Planet. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
- ^ a b c "Address by the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Ms Barbara Creecy, MP, at the Launch of SA National Parks Week".
- ^ a b c van der Merwe, Helga; Milton, Suzanne J.; Dean, W. Richard J.; O'Connor, Tim G.; Henschel, Joh R. (29 November 2021). "Developing an environmental research platform in the Karoo at the Square Kilometre Array". South African Journal of Science. 117 (11/12). doi:10.17159/sajs.2021/10511. ISSN 1996-7489.
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