Cape Argus: Forest of challenges to save the Cape's natural vegetation

It is almost 10 years since the extensive public participation process was initiated that contributed to the cabinet decision in 2000 for the government to exit from unsustainable and uneconomic commercial forest plantations in the Western Cape.
The Tokai and Cecilia plantations were identified as part of the exit strategy and the subsequent decision was to entrust SANParks with the responsibility for rehabilitating the 1 000ha after the standing timber had been harvested.
SANParks (Table Mountain National Park) is in the process of compiling a management framework to guide its operations in this regard.

Strong feelings have been expressed over various intentions as outlined in the framework.
Two of the more extreme views have been a call for the plantations to remain and, secondly, that the draft plan is driven by narrow botanical concerns. In terms of the former, there was adequate opportunity to present this view at the time when an exit strategy was being considered, while the latter is largely based on not understanding the crucial role vegetation plays in ecosystem pattern and process.

The Botanical Society of South Africa is strongly of the opinion that the management framework should, in the first instance, be guided by the principles that have been developed as part of the CAPE (Cape Action for People and the Environment) programme.
SANParks and the City of Cape Town have committed themselves to this programme by being signatories to the memorandum of understanding for CAPE partners.
A considerable amount of information has been gathered over the past decade which has assisted the CAPE partners to identify priorities for the adequate conservation of the unique flora, habitats and the services they provide to society.

One of the early priority undertakings was a study of the Cape Flats open spaces in the late 1980s which identified core sites that needed to be considered for special protection if society wished to conserve the special flora on the Cape Flats. This fine-scale study, undertaken by the Botanical Society, was completed in the late 1990s and identified 38 core sites that would, if given adequate protection, conserve the majority of the unique flora on the Cape Flats.
The City of Cape Town accepted that these sites were crucial and incorporated them into their planning domain.

This was a visionary undertaking by a local authority, particularly for one which has a world record for endangered species: Kenilworth Race Course having the highest number of Red Data plant species per square metre in the world.
The fine-scale plan for identifying priority areas was one of the first in the country but had its limitations as it was exclusively based on botanical information and was concerned only with pattern.
The pattern study did, however, indicate the importance of the Cape Town Lowlands (Cape Flats) as an internationally significant plant hotspot as it supported more than 1 466 plant species in 1 874km2.

Seventy six of these species are found nowhere else and at least 131 are threatened and are on the Red Data list. There are a further 90 species on the Cape Peninsula Mountain Chain that are found nowhere else in the world.
Based on project outputs from the CAPE programme, the partners realised that a paradigm shift was necessary for priority setting if the society wished to adequately conserve the Cape floral kingdom.

This shift recognised that it was essential to consider other biodiversity components (for example, wetlands) and ecological processes (for example, corridors, fire management) when developing fine-scale plans.
The City of Cape Town took a lead role in this regard and embarked on investigations which culminated in the identification of a citywide biodiversity network. This included the identification of corridors which were deemed essential for the long-term conservation and would also provide for possible migrations of biota that may be affected by climate change and considered the ecological services that society required (for example, those supplied by wetlands).

The compilation of the network is essentially the City of Cape Town's undertaking in response to the national guidelines that have been developed in support of South Africa's obligations as a signatory to international agreements. The network supports the targets and processes which have been set at national level so as to ensure the wise use of our ecosystems and the services they deliver.
Given all the pressing socio- economic issues that need consideration, the challenge to the City and other statutory bodies to meet these targets is immense and it is not surprising that a number of sites that are included in the list have already been compromised or lost.

All of the original 38 core sites are included in the city's biodiversity network and it also includes the critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos in Tokai.
In addition, the biodiversity network identified the slopes above the Sand Fynbos as containing patches of the endangered Peninsula Granite Fynbos type and there is thus great potential to expand this by restoration on sites that become available as the exit harvesting of plantations takes place.
An ideal opportunity thus presents itself to implement some of the principles that are championed by CAPE.

The linking of the lowland site to the slopes of the mountain caters for corridor linkages and the restoration of the Granite Fynbos to one large contiguous block will facilitate fire management.
The situation in Cecilia is less complex as there is no opportunity to form an appropriate upland-lowland corridor but the exit plan should ensure that granite fynbos covers a sufficiently large area to allow for appropriate fire management, as fynbos is a fire dependent system.
SANParks has indicated that some 29% of the Tokai site (164ha) will eventually be shaded and the estimated potential shade area in Cecilia is 35% (123ha) which is situated on the lower edge of the park and comprises shaded trails from the Cecilia parking area to Constantia Nek.

Also included is the undertaking not to remove heritage trees (for example, cork oaks).
The Botanical Society believes the framework caters for all the necessary requirements (conservation, rehabilitation, restoration, ecotourism and recreation) and includes adherence to those principles related to biodiversity in terms of pattern and process. Furthermore, it is consistent with the guiding principles identified by the CAPE partners.

It would be a sad day and set a poor example if two of the leading partners (SANParks and the City of Cape Town) who have, in many respects, not only been the leaders but also the prime beneficiaries of the CAPE programme and who are the custodians of the World Heritage Site and a large part of the Cape floral kingdom are unable to implement some of the basic principles that are necessary for the wise use of the Cape environment.
Other custodian institutions, such as CapeNature and Sanbi who are also partners in CAPE, should also be supporting the appropriate use of the guiding principles.
The Tokai and Cecilia plantation exit strategy creates one of the best opportunities to demonstrate how pattern and process can be considered and is an opportunity not to be missed.