‘Ke nako, feel it, it is here!’The Grasslands Programme team congratulates Bafana Bafana for their victory over France.
First forestry-owned stewardship site proclaimed a nature reserve in KZNGilboa Estate, one of the properties owned by Mondi Shanduka Newsprint, was recently proclaimed as a nature reserve by the MEC Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development, Ms. Lydia Johnson. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and the Grasslands Programme of SANBI is working with forestry companies to develop biodiversity stewardship agreements for unplanted land on forestry estates. Mondi Shanduka newsprint is one of the forestry companies working with the biodiversity stewardship initiative. They own 60,000 hectares of land in KZN and have previously committed land for environmental management. The move to secure unplanted areas of Gilboa Estates shows their willingness to embrace the biodiversity stewardship initiative. Gilboa Nature reserve is 725 hectares of the overall forestry estate and was proclaimed under the National Environment Management: Protected Areas Act (No 57 of 2003) on the 14 January 2010. This is the first forestry property to be proclaimed as a private nature reserve within KZN using the Biodiversity Stewardship mechanism. This provides a good example to other forestry companies in the country. Gilboa contains the headwaters of three of KZN’s important river systems, namely the Umvoti River, the Myamvubu River which flows into the Mooi River, and the Mholweni River which flows into the Umngeni River. Associated with these river systems are extensive functional peat wetlands, which provide significant wetland functions and services such as water purification and flood attenuation.
In addition to the Estate’s conservation significance and water production, it is also rich in biodiversity and has 283 hectares of “critically endangered” midlands misbelt grasslands and contributes a further 0,22% to the provincial target for this vegetation type. It harbours most threatened species of the KZN midlands such as wattled crane. Its linkage to the existing Karkloof Nature Reserve makes it a valuable addition to the conservation assets of KZN. A total of 37 sites comprising 45 000 hectares of biodiversity rich grasslands on land owned by forestry companies will be proclaimed as protected areas. The significance of this action is that collectively these sites will extend the area of the grasslands biome under formal conservation by almost 5%. If these areas are not conserved it could mean the eventual transformation of some of these areas and the sad loss of critical habitat. Commercial plantation forestry covers about 1.1% of South Africa’s land area. ‘Biodiversity, development and poverty alleviation’A partnership between Asgisa Eastern Cape, Forestry South Africa and the Grasslands Programme of SANBI could benefit small and emerging timber growers in the Eastern Cape. R1 386 000 has been set aside for 2010 and 2011 to support and capacitate community and emerging timber growers with technical, managerial and administrative skills. Sixty percent (60%) of the funds raised for this project come from Asgisa Eastern Cape and the remaining 40% from the Grasslands Programme of SANBI through Forestry South Africa.
Last year, the Grasslands Programme and the forestry sector developed a decision support tool to ensure that areas of high biodiversity are excluded from future forestry development. In the annual review of its biodiversity projects, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) identified the Grasslands Programme as an example of best practice in biodiversity mainstreaming, highlighting in particular the partnership with the forestry sector and the impact of the decision support tools that have been developed through this partnership. Says Nik Sekhran, the UNDP’s principal technical advisor on ecosystems, “For the GEF, this is the first time that the implementation of a biodiversity project is being driven by an industry association and we are excited by the early successes of the Grasslands Programme’s partnership with Forestry South Africa”. One of the outcomes of the partnership is a biodiversity screening tool that provides the information to ensure that biodiversity is protected while facilitating development and poverty alleviation. Says Stephen Keet, forestry specialist for Asgisa Eastern Cape, “This tool has enabled us at a provincial level, to screen, in combination with other criteria like water catchment capacity and agricultural priorities, at a scale never done before, areas that could be targeted for forestry development after excluding areas with high biodiversity value. The technology that formed the basis of the biodiversity screening tool has also been used to refine the biophysical suitability of such areas for economically sustainable forestry development.” The project has appointed a forestry field manager, Nardus du Preez to work closely with the communities, the forestry companies and the DAFF forestry staff to empower them to harmonize the economic, social and environmental objectives of their forestry operations. The project starts by working with 5 community forestry operations in the Eastern Cape, first by improving the existing forestry operations and then looking for opportunities for ecologically compatible expansion by using the biodiversity screening tool. Biodiversity Stewardship in Gauteng Eighty three percent (83%) of Gauteng falls within Highveld Grassland – one of the richest grasslands in the world. In fact, scientists claim that Gauteng contains more plant species per unit area when compared to other provinces (3303 plant species). It also contains the highest proportion of critically engendered ecosystems (6% of the province) while 23.2% of the province contains critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable ecosystems. However Gauteng’s Spatial Development Framework (SDF) projects a future population of 14, 6 million people by 2015, positioning the province as one of the world’s top fifteen mass populated cities. The Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) claims less than 4% of the province and approximately 1% of urbanised areas is formally protected, leaving about 73% of biodiversity features inadequately protected. Historically, ways of conserving biodiversity on privately owned land has been through private nature reserves, natural heritage sites and conservancies. Last year, GDARD agreed to pilot the biodiversity stewardship initiative in Gauteng. This is an excellent opportunity to assist landowners to formally commit to conserve significant biodiversity on their land, and to increase the land in the province under biodiversity management. Biodiversity stewardship sites must be declared by the Provincial MEC and incorporate a public participation process. Management plans are required for the various levels of stewardship and sites will have to be audited annually. Benefits will be negotiated to match the commitment made by the landowner. A pilot project will be launched at a few sites in Gauteng this year. For more information on this initiative, please contact Budu Manaka, the Grasslands Programme Coordinator on 011 355 1552, budu.manaka@gauteng.gov.za Recent EventsGauteng Gateway Summit
The Grasslands Programme of SANBI took the opportunity presented by the Summit to spread the message about the need to conserve South Africa’s biodiversity, especially grasslands. The Urban Component of the Programme – a partnership between SANBI and GDARD – aims to secure sites identified for their biodiversity richness in Gauteng. GDARD’s Chief Director of the Sustainable Use of Environment (SUE), Pirate Ncube was provided an opportunity to speak at the Summit. Green Economy Summit
The event’s first day was graced by President Zuma, Minister of Water and Environment, Buyelwa Sonjica, Minister of Economic Development Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davis, Minister of Public Works Geoffrey Doidge and Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor. Deputy Ministers, DGs and CEOs were also at the event. The Grasslands Programme seized the opportunity that the Summit provided to showcase opportunities that the grasslands biome provides in contributing towards a green economy in South Africa.
Upcoming Events for Q3 of 2010
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