National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004 (Act No. 10 of 2004)

In the Eastern Cape, the majority of the tappers are informally trained by traders and processers of A. ferox and they are also provided with illustrated training manuals in order to further facilitate the sustainable harvesting of the species. There is an issue of untrained harvesters in some communal areas, but permitted tappers who form part of the lkhala Agricultural Co-operative in the province have been well trained and equipped with training manuals published by the International Trade Centre (Domeisen et al., 2006; Melin et al., 2017). The manual recommends that only larger plants (>0.5 m) should be harvested and approximately 16 - 20 leaves should be left on individual plants. This is consistent with recommendations by Shackleton and Gambiza (2007), suggesting that young non-reproductive plants (<0.5m) and taller plants (>2.5 m) that are difficult to harvest by hand should be excluded from harvest.

In the Western Cape where the bulk of the tapping occurs on privately-owned land, landowners strictly control the access to, and harvesting of plants on their properties. Many tappers in the province also implement self-imposed restrictions on their harvests in that they will only harvest leaves that are of sufficient length and thickness because yields of bitters decrease dramatically in smaller, developing leaves. Other factors that limit overuse include limited road infrastructure for transporting harvested material, inaccessible and steep areas, as well as the distance to processing facilities (the approximate economic radius for collecting leaves is 30 km). Aloe ferox can generally not be harvested in the dry season as sap yields are much lower (Adams, 2014).

The industry is also required to comply with the South African National Standards (SANS) 368 standard for A. ferox, developed by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), that outlines when and how the plants can and should be harvested based on historical harvesting methods used by previous generations of tappers.

The CITES listing for A. ferox is having a positive effect at a global level by providing a high measure of confidence to CITES member States that the resource is being well managed. Through the CITES listing, South Africa is actively monitoring the commercial trade of A. ferox.