At the Biodiversity Economy and Investment Indaba in Johannesburg this week, Environment Minister Barbara Creecy and President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted the benefits of their ambitious National Biodiversity Economy Strategy, which has drawn criticism.

'When one goes to rural areas, you just often get so sad to look at rural areas that you can see are just dormitories where people live, with hardly much economic activity that happens.

"And yet lying hidden, like Rembrandts lying in the attic, are the endowments our people should now utilise - the land, the plants, and everything else that is in our rural communities," President Cyril Ramaphosa told the Biodiversity Economy and Investment Indaba at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre in Boksburg on Tuesday.

"Those need to be brought to life. That is the residual capital that we have that needs to be utilised."

The indaba, hosted by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), brought together government officials, traditional leaders and healers, academia, business, communities and conservation management authorities to discuss the biodiversity sector's contribution to the alleviation of poverty, unemployment and inequality, and to pitch biodiversity business concepts to potential investors.

"Over 100 proposals will be pitched to investors," DFFE Minister Barbara Creecy said at the opening of the three-day indaba on Monday.

"I am hoping that many of these projects will be picked up and come to fruition. I can assure you...