The City of Cape Town embarked on a conservation strategy, identifying critical areas of conservation importance across the City resulting in the creation of the Cape Town Biodiversity Network (Bionet), considering state and privately owned land for the creation of Core Biodiversity Areas (CBAs) and corridors connecting them. Given the Municipal Finance Management Act, it is not possible for the City of Cape Town to ensure implementation of the Bionet across the city as they are unable to use public funds on private land. To address this the Nature Care Fund was born in 2007 so as to act as a funding conduit for conservation projects around the city.
Each of the conservation areas has a dedicated conservation manager who is supported through the Nature Care Fund. These individuals monitor manage the sites and their teams, and carry out every-day conservation duties. Since the establishment of the first conservation area in 2007, the Nature Care Fund has continued to expand its conservation efforts entering discussions with developers and stakeholders to try and ensure the protection of important conservation areas, exploring various funding models to ensure the long-term management of these sites. All current sites have long-term funding agreements in place.