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1 THEME: BIODIVERSITY 1.1 Introduction The word biodiversity has a variety of meanings. At its simplest it is species richness, the number of species present in a given area. More often biodiversity is used to mean the variety of life on our planet, measurable as the variety within species, between species, and the variety of ecosystems. South Africa has a very substantial share of global biodiversity within its borders, ranking third of any country in the world. Owing to its broad range of climatic conditions, geology, soils and landscapes, the Eastern Cape’s contribution to the national ranking is important. In fact, three renowned biodiversity hotspots of global significance, the Maputaland-PondolandAlbany hotspot, the Succulent Karoo hotspot and the Cape Floral Kingdom, all partially fall within the Eastern Cape. Other noteworthy features are the scenic and diverse coastline, the expansive grasslands, the southern Drakensburg Mountains, the Karoo and the indigenous forests that attract eco-tourists to the area. Our biological heritage is important to us in many ways – providing us with ecosystem services like clean water, contributing directly to the economy through industries like fishing and tourism, supporting livelihoods by providing food, medicines and building materials and generally improving our health and well-being. The value of biological diversity has three components: 1. Many species have a direct value through the products that can be harvested, for instance, many medicines used throughout the world have active ingredients extracted from plants and animals. 2. The pollination of agricultural crops by insects is an example of the indirect value where aspects of biodiversity bring economic benefit without the need to consume the resource. 3. There is also an ethical value to the diversity of life. Although it does not always lend itself to economic valuation in monetary terms, we still appreciate the beauty of the rose flower. Through the most powerful human influence, habitat destruction and ill-conceived developments, biodiversity is under threat world-wide. The focus is frequently on the accelerated rate of disappearance of a species in the face of human influence. The fossil record tells us that individual species evolve all the time and that they last on average 1 – 10 million years. With an estimated total of 10 million species on earth, between 100 (0.001%) and 1,000 (0.01%) species would go extinct each century. Alarmingly, the current observed rate of extinction of birds and mammals is about 1% per century, which is 100 – 1,000 times greater than the ‘natural’ background rate (Begon et al., 1996). To counteract this mass extinction, conservation action is needed that is effective in maintaining the ecosystem services (e.g. fishing, grazing, clean water and air) provided by high levels of biodiversity. Biodiversity encompasses more than just species richness. We should ensure that we protect representatives of as many types of communities and ecosystems as possible. By conserving suitable habitat we are also improving the survival chances of the species and populations contained therein. Living landscapes preserve the option value of biodiversity – the potential to provide benefits in the future. To protect biodiversity effectively, we need to conserve (Driver et al., 2003): A representative sample of all biodiversity The ecological and evolutionary processes that allow this biodiversity to persist over time The systematic approach to conservation planning involves setting quantitative conservation targets, for instance the number of hectares of river corridor that need to be set aside to remain undeveloped. Quantitative conservation targets show how much we need to conserve in order to achieve the goal of living landscapes. Currently there are a number of regional and national conservation planning initiatives overlapping with the province. These include: NSBA, DWAF Forest Conservation Planning, Wild Coast Conservation Plan, Pondoland Systematic Conservation Plan, STEP, SKEP, C.A.P.E and Grasslands Programme conservation plans, and the Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Project conservation plan, (Berliner & Desmet, 2007). In order to integrate these initiatives, the Eastern Cape Biodiversity Conservation Plan was compiled in 2007 as a single, user friendly, biodiversity landuse decision support tool for the whole province. Much of the statistical information and interpretation presented in this chapter has been derived from this comprehensive resource. This chapter explores the current state of biodiversity in comparison to that reported on in the 2004 EC SOER. 1.2 Drivers and Pressures Important driving forces putting pressure on the biodiversity resources of Eastern Cape are: Population growth The demand for economic growth to provide wealth and job creation Demand for housing and associated services for historically disadvantaged people Unsustainable extraction of natural resources as a result of poverty or greed Poor land use practices promoting soil erosion and infestation by invasive alien plants Altered veld fire regimes and runaway fires Poor waste and pollution management Afforestation Emerging biofuels industry Climate change Lack of understanding (ignorance of the importance of conserving biodiversity). With an estimated annual population growth rate of 1% for the period 2001 – 2005 (Lehola, 2006) more and more South Africans are born every day whose basic human needs for food, freshwater and fuel are making unprecedented demands on our global and local ecosystems. Beyond the necessities of survival, there is increasing demand of society for more material goods and services. South Africans already consume more resources per capita than people in any other African nation. As previously disadvantaged people strive to increase material wealth and the comforts and conveniences they have been denied before the new political dispensation, the strain on natural resources and biodiversity will only increase. Ignorance of the importance of conserving biodiversity through lack of understanding should not be underestimated as a contributing factor. Subjects dealing with the conservation of our biological heritage are only recent arrivals in the school curriculum and the demand for environmental education by appropriately qualified teachers exceeds the supply by far, especially in out-of-town places. 1.3 State The 2004 SOER of the Eastern Cape reported on the State of the Biodiversity Environment through the following indicators: 1.3.1 Habitat transformation Extinct, threatened and endemic species per taxonomic group Distribution and abundance of selected alien species Extent of conserved areas in the province. Habitat transformation Habitat transformation was presented in the 2004 as per percentage of a municipal area using the National Land Cover Data Set dated 1996. The National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment (NSBA, Driver et al., 2005) expanded on this data set and used maps of land classes, such as vegetation types or habitat types (e.g. Southern Mistbelt Forest), to represent biodiversity features (pattern and process), habitat transformation, protected areas and future land use pressure, across the nation. Ecosystem status therefore represents a better indicator of biodiversity as it incorporates habitat transformation, irreversibility, threatened species status, etc. and is therefore used as an indicator in this section. The NSBA should be seen as a conservative assessment because the data it uses from the 2004 South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) vegetation map for South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (Mucina and Rutherford, 2006) took a number of years to collect. It is likely that further loss of natural habitat has taken place since then, but these are the best available data. By using land classes incorporating expert knowledge about biological characteristics as surrogates of biodiversity (Lombard et al., 2003), the NSBA was able to overcome the problem of species-based inventories being hampered by incomplete data (Driver et al., 2003). They also avoided the collection bias (museum collection species distribution records tend to be concentrated along roads and other easily accessible places) and problems with extrapolating from one species group to another. In the absence of comprehensive data sets of the occurrence and status of species of conservation concern in the Eastern Cape, the NSBA approach of using land classes as stand-ins for biodiversity is adopted. If required at some stage, this makes for an easy comparison between the national performance of biodiversity protection and that of the Eastern Cape. The classification of how intact and well-functioning they are is based on four categories (Table 1): Table 1: Definition of ecosystem status categories of land classes Remaining natural habitat % Category 80 - 100 Least threatened 60 - 80 Vulnerable 20 - 60 Endangered 0 - 20 Critically endangered Definition Still largely intact Reasonably intact, but nearing the threshold beyond which they will start to lose ecosystem functioning Have lost significant amounts of their original natural habitat, impairing their functioning Have so little of the original habitat left that not only their functioning has been severely impaired, but species are being lost The ecosystem status measures the amount of habitat lost in ecosystems (measured as land classes) relative to the conservation targets for those ecosystems. In the Eastern Cape, 5% of land classes are Endangered or Critically Endangered, with a further 14% Vulnerable to lose ecosystem functioning (Figure 1). Conservation Status of Land Classes <1% 0% 5% 14% 81% Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable Least Threatened Figure 1: Percent breakdown of the ecosystem status of Eastern Cape land classes The spatial representation in Figure 2 shows, that the western parts of the Eastern Cape are still largely intact, whereas the eastern areas, particularly the former Transkei area and those along the southern area, are under greater threat to lose their ecological integrity. Only 170 ha of Critically Endangered land classes were revealed in the GIS analysis which represented less than 1% of the Eastern Cape. These were all Mangrove Forests found along some of the estuaries north of the Kei River. Endangered areas occur in the vicinity of Port Elizabeth and along the central Transkei areas. The entire Wild Coast area is classified as Vulnerable, which is cause for concern. Figure 2: Ecosystem status of the land classes occurring in the Eastern Cape 1.3.2 Extent of formally conserved areas Baseline information on formally conserved areas falling into Eastern Cape was extracted from the South African National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment (Rouget et al., 2004). The data was released by SANBI in 2005 and is current as of 2004. Results are presented in Table 2. Their percent contribution to the total Eastern Cape area (16,898,531 ha) is also shown Table 2. Extent of formally conserved areas of type 1 and 2* in Eastern Cape. Protection type Type 1 Type 2 Total in types 1 and 2 Description National Parks, Nature Reserves, Provincial Nature Reserves, Local Authority Nature Reserves and DWAF Forest Nature Reserves Catchment Areas, Wildlife Management Area, Private Nature Reserves, National Heritage Sites, SANDF property, Bird Sanctuary, Botanical Garden, State Land, Mountain Catchment Area, DWAF Forest Area Area [ha]/ % of Eastern Cape 558,848 ha 3.2% 112,036 ha 0.6% 667,981 ha 3.95% Source Area [ha]/ % of Eastern Cape Source SANBI 638,622 ha 3.78% ECBCP SANBI 71,291 ha 0.42% ECBCP 709,913 ha 4.2% *Type 3 protected areas include game farms and other conservation areas. Due to the low level of protection that they are afforded and frequent changes in their status they are not considered further here. Currently, nearly 6% of land in South Africa is under protection in Type 1 and Type 2 protected areas (Rouget et al., 2004). With a total area of 4.2% under formal type 1 and 2 protection, the Eastern Cape is still below the national average but it is encouraging to know that plans are in place to expand the protected area network. The total area under Type 3 protection amounts to 234,910 ha (ECBCP) which is an additional 1.3% of the Eastern Cape under informal conservation. Substantial plans are in progress to expand the protected area network. For example, proposals are to expand the Addo Elephant National Park to 360 000ha and the Tsitsikamma National Park is to be incorporated into the Garden Route Mega Park. The current coverage of national parks has increased by 28% (Table 3). Table 3: Planned protected area expansion for national parks within the Eastern Cape National Parks Addo Elephant National Park Mountain Zebra National Park 1.3.3 2004 (SOER, 2004) 127556 Current status 140 000 7259 Tsitsikamma National Park 6205 24 596 (SANBI)/ 28 412 (www.sanparks.org) 12 954 Camdeboo National Park TOTAL Not listed 19 405 141020 196955 Comment Plans to expand to 360 000ha Mega Reserve Plans to incorporate into Garden Route National Park Ecosystem protection It is informative to compare the level of ecosystem functioning (Figure 3) with the protection level enjoyed by each of the land classes in the Eastern Cape. This tells how well the protected area network in the province is performing in terms of representing terrestrial biodiversity. The analysis presented graphically in Figure 1 is based on a lenient definition of what constitutes protected areas. There are many types of protected areas and they do not confer equal amounts of protection to the vegetation type/land class in which they are located. National Parks, Provincial Nature Reserves, Local Authority Nature Reserves and DWAF Forest Nature Reserves present the highest level of formal protection. At the other end of the scale are game farms, private game reserves and conservancies that are informal by nature (un-gazetted) and do not provide secure long-term protection of biodiversity. Still, for the valuable contributions that they make – albeit at a variable quality – they have been included in the suite of protected areas. All of the Well Protected and Moderately Protect land classes occur in the southwestern corner of the province. Inland areas north and east of Queenstown have no protection as well as the east-west belt from Bedford, Somerset East to Jansenville (Figure 3). Overall, the hardly (48.1%), poorly (34.8%) and not protected (9.8%) areas make up 92.7% of the Eastern Cape, with the balance being made up by the moderately and well protected areas. Table 4 shows that there is a mismatch between the conservation status groups of ecosystems/land classes and the level of protection that they enjoy. The Eastern Cape’s Critically Endangered Mangrove Forest land class is not protected but 11 of the Least Threatened land classes receive full protection. A plausible explanation for this mismatch is that the Eastern Cape’s network of protected areas was not established to conserve a representative sample of its biodiversity. Rather, the nature reserves etc. were mostly created in scenic places where the economic potential of the landscapes was low and where land was cheap (Driver et al., 2003). The expansion plan of protected areas as is described in Section 9.3.2 above is in response to ensure that our protected areas are representative of the biodiversity within the Eastern Cape. Table 4: Evaluation matrix of ecosystem status by protection status for the 88 land classes occurring in Eastern Cape Least Critically Threatened Vulnerable Endangered Endangered N/A TOTAL 11 - - - 1 12 7 - - - 1 8 13 5 3 - - 21 27 5 3 - - 35 Not protected 8 2 1 1 - 12 N/A - - - - - - 66 12 7 1 2 88 Well protected Moderately protected Hardly protected Poorly protected TOTAL Figure 3: Protection level of land classes in Eastern Cape 1.4 Threatened Species Per Taxonomic Group In 2004, the province was found to contain 4 endemic freshwater fish species, 8 threatened marine fish species, 6 threatened frog species (4 of these are endemic), and 19 threatened reptile species (18 of these are endemic), (SOER 2004). 1.4.1 Threatened mammals Table 5: Threatened Species Status of Mammals occurring within the Eastern Cape Name Scientific Name Black rhinoceros Oribi Wild dog Black-footed cat Cape mountain zebra Leopard Brown hyaena Blue duiker Honey badger Aardvark Pangolin Aardwolf Serval African wild cat Small-spotted cat Diceros bicornis Ourebia ourebi Lycaon pictus Felis nigripes Equus zebra Panthera pardus Hyaena brunnea Philantomba monticola Mellivora capensis Orycteropus afer Manis temminckii Proteles cristatus Felis serval Felis lybica Felis nigripes nigripes 2004 SOER (Smithers, 1986) Vulnerable Vulnerable Endangered Rare Vulnerable Rare Rare Rare Vulnerable Vulnerable Vulnerable Rare Rare Vulnerable Rare Current IUCN Redlist (www.iucnredlist.org) Critically endangered Endangered Endangered Vulnerable Vulnerable Near threatened Near threatened Least concern Least concern Least concern Least concern Least concern Not listed Not listed Not listed The 2004 SOER listed fifteen mammal species as Threatened. Only one species was categorized as Endangered (Wild Dog), (See Table 5). A search on the IUCN Red List revealed that only twelve species are listed as Threatened. Of concern is that the Black Rhinoceros has jumped two categories and is now listed as Critically Endangered. Other noticeable changes are the Oribi, which has moved into the Endangered category and the Black-footed Cat which is now classified as Vulnerable from Rare. In summary, there are now three mammal species that fall into the Endangered and Critically Endangered categories whereas previously there was only one species that fall into this category. 1.4.2 Threatened bird species Sixty-three bird species were listed as threatened as falling within the Eastern Cape. The 2004 SOER lists 62 species and omits the Grey Crowned Crane. This represents approximately 10% of all birds occurring within the Eastern Cape. Of these 63 threatened species, 2 are Critically Endangered, 5 Endangered and 14 Vulnerable, (Barnes, 2000). A search on the global red list (IUCN Red List) revealed that of the above species, none are Critically Endangered or Endangered, only 12 are Vulnerable, 15 are Near Threatened and 33 are Near Threatened. Locally, the SANBI Database lists the Wattled Crane, Knysna Warbler and the Cape Parrot as Critically Endangered, (http://www.speciesstatus.sanbi.org). Furthermore the Blue Crane, Grey Crowned Crane, Bearded Vulture and the Cape Vulture are listed as Endangered (http://www.speciesstatus.sanbi.org). The Egyptian Vulture is listed in SANBI as occurring in the Eastern Cape, but is regarded as a vagrant with less than 50 sittings since 1945 (http://www.speciesstatus.sanbi.org). Noticeable changes are the Blue Crane and Cape Vulture which are now Endangered from Vulnerable, the Cape Parrot which is now Critically Endangered from Endangered and the Knysna Warbler which has moved up two categories from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered. Table 6: Threatened bird species occurring in the Eastern Cape as categorised by Barnes, 2000 and the IUCN Red List Common Name Scientific Name 2004 Status (Barnes, 2000) Bearded Vulture Bittern Black Harrier Black Oystercatcher Black Stork Blackbellied Korhaan Blackbrowed Albatross Blackwinged Plover Blue Crane Blue Korhaan Broadtailed Warbler Bush Blackcap Cape Cormorant Cape Gannet Cape Parrot Cape Vulture Caspian Tern Gypaetus barbatus Botaurus stellaris Circus maurus Haematopus moquini Ciconia nigra Eupodotis melanogaster Diomedea melanophris Vanellus melanopterus Anthropoides paradisea Eupodotis caerulescens Schoenicola brevirostris Lioptilus nigricapillus Phalacrocorax capensis Morus capensis Poicephalus robustus Gyps coprotheres Hydroprogne caspia Endangered Critical Near-threatened Near-threatened Near-threatened Near-threatened Near-threatened Near-threatened Vulnerable Near-threatened Near-threatened Near-threatened Near-threatened Vulnerable Endangered Vulnerable Near-threatened Current Status IUCN Redlist (www.iucnredlist. org) Least Concern Least Concern Vulnerable Near threatened Least Concern Least Concern Least Concern Least Concern Vulnerable Near-threatened Least Concern Near threatened Near threatened Vulnerable Least Concern Vulnerable Least Concern SANBI Species Status (www.speciesstatus. sanbi.org) Endangered Endangered Critically Endangered Endangered Common Name Chestnutbanded Plover Corncrake Crowned Crane Crowned Eagle Scientific Name Charadrius pallidus Crex crex Balearica regulorum Stephanoaetus coronatus Damara Tern Sterna balaenarum Delegorgue's Pigeon Columba delegorguei Finfoot Podica senegalensis Grass Owl Tyto capensis Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus Grey Petrel Procellaria cinerea Ground Hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri Halfcollared Kingfisher Alcedo semitorquata African Penguin Spheniscus demersus Knysna Warbler Bradypterus sylvaticus Knysna Woodpecker Campethera notata Kori Bustard Ardeotis kori Lanner Falcon Falco biarmicus Lesser Flamingo Phoenicopterus minor Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni Ludwig's Bustard Neotis ludwigii Mangrove Kingfisher Halcyon senegaloides Marabou Leptoptilos crumeniferus Marsh Harrier Circus ranivorus Martial Eagle Polemaetus bellicosus Melodious Lark Mirafra cheniana Orange Thrush Turdus gurneyi Painted Snipe Rostratula benghalensis Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus Peregrine Falco peregrinus RoseateTern Sterna dougallii Rudd's Lark Mirafra ruddi Secretary bird Sagittarius serpentarius Shy Albatross Diomedea cauta Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus Stanley's Bustard Neotis denhami Striped Flufftail Sarothrura affinis Tawny Eagle Aquila rapax Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans Wattled Crane Burgeranus carunculatus White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus Whitebacked Night Gorsachias leuconotus Heron Whitebellied Korhaan Eupodotis cafra Whitechinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis Whitecrowned Plover Vanellus albiceps Yellowbilled Stork Mycteria ibis Yellowbreasted Pipit Anthus chloris 2004 Status (Barnes, 2000) Near-threatened Current Status IUCN Redlist (www.iucnredlist. org) Near threatened Near threatened Vulnerable Least Concern Endangered Vulnerable Vulnerable Vulnerable Near-threatened Near-threatened Vulnerable Near-threatened Vulnerable Vulnerable Near-threatened Vulnerable Near-threatened Near-threatened Vulnerable Vulnerable Vulnerable Near-threatened Vulnerable Vulnerable Near-threatened Near-threatened Near-threatened Near-threatened Near-threatened Endangered Critical Near-threatened Vulnerable Near-threatened Vulnerable Vulnerable Vulnerable Vulnerable Endangered Near-threatened Vulnerable Near threatened Least Concern Least Concern Least Concern Least Concern Near threatened Least concern Least Vulnerable Vulnerable Near Threatened Least Concern Least Concern Near threatened Vulnerable Least Concern Least Concern Least Concern Least Concern Near threatened Near threatened Not Listed Least Concern Near threatened Least Concern Least Concern Not Listed Least Concern Near threatened Least Concern Near threatened Least Concern Least Concern Vulnerable Vulnerable Least Concern Least Concern Vulnerable Near-threatened Near-threatened Near-threatened Vulnerable Not Listed Vulnerable Least Concern Least Concern Vulnerable Near-threatened Vulnerable SANBI Species Status (www.speciesstatus. sanbi.org) Endangered Vulnerable Critically Endangered Vulnerable Vulnerable Vulnerable Vulnerable Critically Endangered 2 5 31 24 Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable Near Threatened Figure 4: Threatened Bird Species Status indicating number of bird species within each category (Barnes, 2000) 1.4.3 Threatened plant species The 2004 SOER provides a thorough overview of the 316 threatened plant species as occurring within the Eastern Cape. The overall threatened status of these plants has been revised by SANBI. Table 7: Status of Threatened Plants Occurring within the Eastern Cape Category Extinct Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable Intermediate/ Near threatened Insufficiently Known/ Data Deficient Rare Total No. of Species (2004 SOER) 1 0 16 54 No. of Species Revised SANBI Category 1 10 33 67 44 33 70 32 132 316 66 315 Noticeable changes are the increase in the number of species falling within the Critically Endangered (0 to 10), Endangered (16 to 33) and Vulnerable (54 to 67) Categories. There were no more recorded extinctions in terms of the comparison presented in Table 7. 1.4.4 Other threatened species (a) Fish Freshwater Fish An overview of the Freshwater Fish of Southern Africa (Skelton, 2001) revealed red data fish species that may be found within the freshwater streams and rivers of the Eastern Cape (Table 8). According to Skelton (2001), the Eastern Cape Rocky (Sandelia bainsii) is Endangered. However it is likely that the species will move up to the Critically Endangered category (Cambray pers. comm.). Alien invasive fish species such as Tilapia, Trout and Bass species remain a significant threat to local indigenous species and are prevalent in most freshwater streams and rivers. Table 8: Freshwater fish species of conservation concern found within Eastern Cape (adapted from Skelton, 2001) Common name Species Red Data Status Eastern Cape Redfin Pseudobarbus afer Near Threatened Eastern Cape Rocky Sandelia bainsii Endangered Marine Fish Kindly refer to Section 8.3.3 in the Coast and Estuaries Theme Chapter. 1.5 Impacts The driving forces listed earlier in this chapter that are placing pressure on the biodiversity resources of the Eastern Cape often act in combination (change in land use frequently goes together with changed fire regimes in fynbos) and so the resulting impacts are impossible to apportion neatly. This is, of course, a reflection of the multitudes of inter-dependencies of patterns and processes in the natural world. A selection of the most important impacts of the loss of biodiversity must suffice here. Habitat fragmentation and habitat loss is an important cause of the decline in biodiversity resources. The more specific the food and habitat needs of a species are, the greater its vulnerability to agricultural activity, roads, cities and associated sources of pollution. At the bitter end, the only surviving species will be human commensals (rats, cockroaches etc.) whose habitat requirements correspond to the degraded state associated with human activity. For all species that became extinct in the process the potential to provide benefits in the future - the option value of biodiversity – is lost forever. Sprawled development is a leading cause of habitat loss and thus biodiversity loss. Sprawl also exacerbates air and water pollution, both of which degrade environments and further reduce biodiversity. New construction often increases erosion of land cleared for development. This in turn increases stream siltation. As the land area for natural ecosystems shrinks, there is less natural capacity to filter pollutants and detoxify waters and less capacity to cycle nutrients and compost organic wastes. Thus, as sprawl increases, species and ecosystem services decrease. Ecosystem degradation and subsequent loss of ecosystem services tends to harm poor rural people more than affluent city dwellers. Poor people have limited assets and are more dependent on common property resources (e.g. fire wood), while the wealthy are buffered against loss of ecosystem services by being able to purchase basic necessities and scarce commodities. Grasslands and Fynbos, important vegetation types in the Eastern Cape, require fires to stimulate seed germination, but the fire frequency is important. Plants that are killed by fire and that depend on re-seeding to survive as species have not enough time to mature and to set seeds if fires occur too often. Conversely, if natural fynbos is prevented from burning because the fire would bring an unacceptably high risk to houses nearby, the fire-dependent plant components it contains will eventually die from senescence. Weakened immune systems and failure to reproduce are common effects of toxic pollution in a wide array of species. Under the attack from pollution an ecosystem's ability to function breaks down. This is how wetlands become cesspits. Pollution from silt and excess nutrients chokes the life out of aquatic ecosystems, while in-stream dams prevent anadromous fish species from reproducing upstream before returning to the sea. Global warming represents a profound and emerging threat to biodiversity around the world. As temperatures rise, habitats for many plants and animals will change, depriving them of the homes and niches to which they have adapted. For example, increasing temperatures and sharply decreasing rainfall are expected to move the winter-rainfall dominated Succulent Karoo biome southwards by about 2050, and diminish its size, putting severe selective pressures on plant species in this biome. The Fynbos biome is similarly expected to shift southwards, with the result that parts of it are ‘pushed’ off the southern end of the continent (Simmons et al., 2004). Small-scale range shifts with profound consequences may also occur. The altitudinal limits of vegetation are broadly determined by the prevailing climate, particularly in relation to thermal characteristics, and altitudinal shifts in these will affect the distribution of animals dependent on these habitats. 1.6 Responses 1.6.1 Mainstreaming biodiversity in land use planning and decision-making Increasing numbers of people placing greater demands on the natural environment are compromising ecological integrity at an unprecedented rate. Mainstreaming biodiversity considerations into socio-economic agendas holds most promise to turn the situation around. It is necessary to: Integrate the protection and management of biodiversity resources with all human development by means of regional and national conservation initiatives Build capacity in the areas of conservation assessment, taxonomy, green technology and knowledge transfer Increase capacity in environmental law enforcement, management and education 1.6.2 Strengthen existing biodiversity conservation programmes to identify ecosystems, species and genetic resources that are at imminent risk of extinction Implement strong countermeasures to slow down the speed with which the loss of biodiversity occurs Improving interactions with biodiversity conservation programmes The National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, no. 10 of 2004, provides for the management and conservation of South Africa’s biodiversity within the framework of the National Environmental Management Act, no. 107 of 1998. Since the promulgation of the Act and the establishment of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) existing biodiversity conservation programmes (e.g. STEP) have been strengthened considerably and a host of new initiatives aimed at the protection of species and ecosystems have emerged in their wake. The Subtropical Thicket Ecosystem Planning initiative (STEP) is considered as a localised biodiversity action plan that is aimed at safe guarding subtropical thicket and the associated ecosystem processes that occur within it. The STEP domain extends from Riversdale in the west to the former Transkei (Mbashe River) in the east, and as far inland as subtropical thicket vegetation extends. The domain covers an area of 105 454km2 (Pierce, 2003). The Eastern Cape Biodiversity Conservation Plan (ECBCP) is the latest biodiversity planning product developed for the Eastern Cape Province and its primary function is to mainstream biodiversity considerations into the municipal planning process, in particular the Spatial Development Frameworks (SDFs), in protecting biodiversity and promoting appropriate development. The plan covers the entire Eastern Cape province. Overall Goals of the Eastern Cape Biodiversity Conservation Plan are: Facilitate sustainable development in the Eastern Cape, by ensuring that the province's ecosystems continue to deliver vital services for human well-being Providing information that strengthens land-use planning and streamlines environmental decision-making Enhance effective conservation and management of biodiversity Guiding the expansion of the provincial protected area network SANBI has established a Bioregional Programmes Co-ordination Unit based in East London (hosted by the Eastern Cape Parks Board), to co-ordinate the implementation strategies and action plans for the bioregional programmes within the Eastern Cape. The Unit has a broad range of functions relating to the development, implementation, co-ordination and mainstreaming biodiversity programmes in the Eastern Cape. 1.6.3 Strengthening institutional capacity and cooperation Environmental institutional capacity must be strengthened at the local authority level. As a minimum, local authorities should have at least one person dedicated to environmental management and biodiversity conservation, coastal management, waste management and regulatory services. Inter-departmental cooperation in environmental matters must be improved. For instance, the Department of Land Affairs is undertaking area based planning to ensure effective implementation of the land reform process. This process needs to be aligned with existing conservation plans. 1.6.4 Linking biodiversity protection and economic upliftment Biodiversity protection provides an opportunity for less formal, nature-based community initiatives to act as economic engines and job creators. A few examples are introduced below. Some of these initiatives are good examples of collaborative programmes that involve a range of national agencies and include municipalities at a local level. 1.7 Expanded public works programme, eco-tourism, bee farming, wild-flower harvesting linked to IDP projects LandCare Programme Working for Water Working for Wetlands Working for the Coast Linkages and inter-dependencies Of the many inter-dependencies with key themes discussed in this report, the following linkages stand out: There is an obvious link to land degradation as it is a driver of biodiversity loss Climate change and global warming: The predicted increase in ambient temperatures as well as increased variability in rainfall pattern influences biodiversity patterns and processes Urbanisation: Increasing pressure on local authorities to approve applications for proposed developments in urban areas is resulting in greater pressure on undeveloped land in the district. 1.8 Identified gaps In the absence of comprehensive data sets of the occurrence and status of species of conservation concern in the Eastern Cape, the NSBA approach of using land classes as “stand-ins” for biodiversity was adopted. It would have been informative to track the population dynamics of ecosystem keystone species obtained from actual field data.