An Assessment of a Community-Based, Forest Restoration Programme in Durban (eThekwini), South Africa

Abstract

Abstract:The restoration of degraded forests to enhance biodiversity, ecosystem services, as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation is now a major priority in cities around the world. This study evaluated the success of the Buffelsdraai Landfill Site Community Reforestation Project in Durban, South Africa, by assessing ecological attributes. Measures of plant richness, diversity, vegetation structure, invasive alien plants (IAPs) and ecological processes were contrasted across a chronosequence of habitats under restoration (0-year-old, 3-year-old and 5-year-old) and compared with a reference forest habitat (remnant natural forest). Native tree species recruitment and vegetation structure increased with restoration age. Ecological processes, represented by the composition of pollination and seed dispersal traits in all of the habitats under restoration, were similar to the reference habitat. However, low tree density and an increase in IAP cover with an increase in restoration age were identified as threats to reforestation success. We recommend enrichment planting and an effective IAP management strategy to promote more rapid habitat restoration while reducing site maintenance costs. Enrichment planting should not only focus on increasing tree species density and richness, but also on the inclusion of species with missing pollination and seed dispersal categories.

Biological Invasions and Ecological Restoration in South Africa

“…The Robust Offsetting restoration planning tool (RobOff) was applied to a large community reforestation project at a landfill site in Durban, to examine different restoration goals for the buffer zone (former sugar cane fields supporting invasive alien plants, with patches of native forest and grassland; Mugwedi et al 2017). These goals included carbon storage, biodiversity and employment across a mosaic of habitats with varying levels of degradation and a limited budget (Mugwedi et al 2018).…”

“…RobOff indicated "biodiversity action" as the most beneficial in maximising the three goals, and that investing in biodiversity action would be preferable to the status quo (Mugwedi et al 2018). Challenges included an increase in invasive alien plants, and alien control was included as a necessary restoration intervention (Mugwedi et al 2017). Results from tools such as RobOff can help to inform stakeholder planning workshops of potential costs and benefits of different restoration interventions.…”

Harnessing Opportunities Provided by the Invasive Chromolaena odorata to Keep It under Control

“…In areas where there is no utilisation, C. odorata clearing should be integrated with chemical control (e.g., fluroxypyr and triclopyr/picloram herbicides), followed by biomass burning to reduce species densities [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. However, in habitats where there are indigenous tree species (e.g., woodlands, riparian zones, and forests), controlled burning is recommended as C. odorata biomass can create high and intense flames that can end up killing trees [36].…”

The Role of Woodlots in Forest Regeneration outside Protected Areas: Lessons from Tanzania

“…Native Tree Planting: Native tree planting projects often prove more costly and less effective than predicted [48,49], so they should be undertaken only after an assessment of the tree cover history and careful consideration of the financial and management capacity for protecting planted trees. Given that the local conservation organization planted 17,500 native trees [41], the low encounter rate is discouraging.…”