Impact of land use on the biodiversity integrity of the moist sub-biome of the grassland biome, South Africa

O’Connor, Timothy G.; Kuyler, P

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.10.012

Cited by 65 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Although the MTA area is a poor, small-scale farming area, it harbours a high potential for biodiversity conservation, contrarily to common belief in South Africa that such communal farming areas are highly degraded because of non-sustainable farming practices and overgrazing (O'Connor & Kuyler, 2007 …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity Conservation Through Farming: A Landscape Assessment in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Torquebiau

Dosso

Nakaggwa

et al. 2012

Journal of Sustainable Agriculture

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The integration of agriculture and biodiversity has become an acknowledged solution to concurrently address the development of sustainable food production systems and the preservation of natural resources. However, there are few alternative farming systems combining agricultural commodities and ecosystem services. We examined the farm and landscape dynamics of an area in South Africa which has been isolated from mainstream agriculture during a large part of last century. We used a time series of aerial photographs as well as farm surveys and interviews to analyze how historical and present trends can explain land use features. Results show that today's landscape is the result of dramatic socioeconomic transforms which have made original transhumant livestock keepers to become sedentary farmers. Although poverty is widespread, we found a well-balanced landscape with a regularly increasing tree cover and a high biodiversity potential. Beyond farm and household size, the main landscape impact factors are herd size and management as well as soil fertility management practices, including fallowing.We show that these conditions represent a good potential towards a multifunctional landscape, provided the relationships between farmers' practices and biodiversity are better formalized and there are tangible benefits for farmers to opt for this approach.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity Conservation Through Farming: A Landscape Assessment in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Torquebiau

Dosso

Nakaggwa

et al. 2012

Journal of Sustainable Agriculture

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“…The changes in land cover, loss of habitat and the resulting fragmentation of the landscape have resulted in the loss of biodiversity and species population declines. 42 These losses will continue as more of the landscape is transformed by anthropogenic use as habitat is a finite resource, thus conservation efforts should focus on habitat preservation. As more natural habitat is lost, the opportunity costs associated with adding to the protected area estate increase.…”

Section: The Implications Of Habitat Lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic land-cover change in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Implications for biodiversity

Jewitt¹,

Goodman²,

Erasmus³

et al. 2015

S. Afr. J. Sci.

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Land-cover change and habitat loss are widely recognised as the major drivers of biodiversity loss in the world. Land-cover maps derived from satellite imagery provide useful tools for monitoring land-use and land-cover change. KwaZulu-Natal, a populous yet biodiversity-rich province in South Africa, is one of the first provinces to produce a set of three directly comparable land-cover maps (2005, 2008 and 2011). These maps were used to investigate systematic land-cover changes occurring in the province with a focus on biodiversity conservation. The Intensity Analysis framework was used for the analysis as this quantitative hierarchical method addresses shortcomings of other established land-cover change analyses. In only 6 years (2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011), a massive 7.6% of the natural habitat of the province was lost to anthropogenic transformation of the landscape. The major drivers of habitat loss were agriculture, timber plantations, the built environment, dams and mines. Categorical swapping formed a significant part of landscape change, including a return from anthropogenic categories to secondary vegetation, which we suggest should be tracked in analyses. Longer-term rates of habitat loss were determined using additional land-cover maps (1994, 2000). An average of 1.2% of the natural landscape has been transformed per annum since 1994. Apart from the direct loss of natural habitat, the anthropogenically transformed land covers all pose additional negative impacts for biodiversity remaining in these or surrounding areas. A target of no more than 50% of habitat loss should be adopted to adequately conserve biodiversity in the province. Our analysis provides the first provincial assessment of the rate of loss of natural habitat and may be used to fulfil incomplete criteria used in the identification of Threatened Terrestrial Ecosystems, and to report on the Convention on Biological Diversity targets on rates of natural habitat loss.

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“…Several small national parks, nature reserves and numerous private game reserves and conservancies cover sections of the eastern Nuweveldberge (Western Karoo) and Cape Midlands Escarpment, but this southern Escarpment is currently vulnerable to uranium and shale-gas mining proposals. The eastern section of the Escarpment has the largest number of protected areas than any other section, but human pressure on the Escarpment here is much higher, and conservation concerns compete with mining, agriculture, large-scale commercial forestry, invasive alien vegetation, dams and dense rural settlements (Shroyer and Blignaut 2003;Wessels et al 2003;Neke and Du Plessis 2004;O'Connor and Kuyler 2009). South Africa's montane grasslands are critically endangered (Olson and Dinerstein 1998), are poorly protected (Neke and Du Plessis 2004), and the endemic fauna and flora is at huge risk from land transformation e.g.…”

Section: South Africa Lesotho and Swazilandmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Great Escarpment of southern Africa: a new frontier for biodiversity exploration

2011

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The biodiversity of the 5,000 km-long Great Escarpment of southern Africa is currently poorly known, despite hosting half of the subcontinent's centres of plant endemism and to have a rich endemic vertebrate fauna, particularly in the north-west and east. A country-based overview of endemism, data deficiencies and conservation challenges is provided, with Angola being the country in most need of Escarpment research and conservation. Given that the Escarpment provides most of the subcontinent's fresh water, protection and restoration of Escarpment habitat providing such ecological services is urgently required. Key research needs are exhaustive biodiversity surveys, systematic studies to test refugia and migration hypotheses, and the effects of modern climate change. Such research results can then be consolidated into effective conservation planning and coordinated international efforts to protect the rich biodiversity of the Escarpment and the ecological services it provides.

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Impact of land use on the biodiversity integrity of the moist sub-biome of the grassland biome, South Africa

Cited by 65 publications

References 25 publications

Biodiversity Conservation Through Farming: A Landscape Assessment in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Biodiversity Conservation Through Farming: A Landscape Assessment in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Systematic land-cover change in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Implications for biodiversity

The Great Escarpment of southern Africa: a new frontier for biodiversity exploration

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