SA’s most threatened ecosystems are being mapped to safeguard them

Few South Africans will have heard of the critically endangered Mossel Bay Shale Renosterveld fynbos and Egoli Granite grassland.

They are among the 120 of the 456 terrestrial ecosystems with a range of water and land species that have been assessed in South Africa and categorised as threatened. Together, they make up about 10% of the country’s remaining natural habitat. Fifty-five are critically endangered, 51 are endangered and 14 are vulnerable. 

Last month, Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy published the Revised National List of Ecosystems that are Threatened and in Need of Protection in the Government Gazette.

These ecosystem types are in all provinces, but are concentrated in the fynbos biome of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal’s Indian Ocean coastal belt, the Albany Thicket biome of the Eastern Cape, the Highveld grasslands and Savanna biome, said the department.

The remaining natural extent of threatened terrestrial ecosystems has increased from 8% of the country to 10%, given ongoing habitat loss and threats from invasive species over the past 20 years, it said.