State of terrestrial ecosystems: # 1
In this section both the quantity(current land use) and quality (current land condition) of natural and man-made terrestrial systems are discussed. Current biodiversity levels are also discussed.
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| Figure 2.4 National Land Cover of South Africa |
A map showing the land cover of South Africa is given in Figure 2.4
About 25% of South Africa's land surface area has been transformed by various intensive uses since the colonization of the country (Macdonald 1989). Land use is normally divided into cultivated areas, grazing areas, forests, conservation, settlements and "other". Changes in each of these categories are described below.
Cultivated areas: By the late 1980's, it was estimated that roughly 12-13% of South Africa's land cover was transformed by cultivation (Macdonald 1989). Intensive agriculture is unequally distributed among biomes and vegetation types, however, and some vegetation types have been almost completely transformed. For example, almost 96% of southwest- and west-coast Renosterveld in the western Cape have been transformed, mainly by agriculture (Hoffman 1997). Intensive cultivation has transformed large areas of coastal lowland vegetation in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Here, sugar cane plantings increased ten-fold, from 2 to 10 million hectares in the last 80 years (Hoffman 1997). Cultivated areas are generally perceived as having declined over the last 10 years, however (Hoffman et al, 1999), for reasons including increases in settlements, grass conversion schemes, and higher input costs to agriculture. The highest percentage of cultivated areas is in the Western Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga and the North West Province (30-36%).
Grazing areas occupy between 19% and 96% of the provinces, with the lowest in Gauteng and the highest in the Northern Cape. It appears that there has been a decline in grazing lands over the past ten years in all provinces except the Free State. Rapid urbanisation is the main reason for this loss in Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Northern Province.
Forests comprise 4% of the Eastern Cape, 5% of the Western Cape and 8% each of KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. Forest cover (natural and plantation) was perceived to be increasing (Hoffman et al. 1999), probably due to increases in commercial forest plantations. Commercial forests presently cover over 1.5 million hectares (mainly Eucalyptus spp., Pinus spp., and Acacia spp.).
Formal conservation areas were also perceived to be increasing (Hoffman et al. 1999), through the acquisition of new areas or the expansion of existing conservation areas by the South African National Parks. At present the most conservation activity is in Mpumalanga (7% of the Province), KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape have 3% of their respective areas conserved, the Northern Province has 2%, and the other provinces have only 1% conserved each. The target set at the UN Conference for Environment and Development in Rio in 1992 is 10% of each vegetation type conserved for pristine or near pristine use. South Africa lags significantly behind this, as only 6% of the whole country is formally conserved, and several vegetation types are under-represented or not represented at all. Private reserves, of which there are approximately 160 nationwide, add to this in total, but figures per vegetation type were not available.
Settlements: Urbanisation is by far the greatest in Gauteng (50% of the total area). The Eastern Cape, North West Province, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Northern Province have between 10% and 14% covered by settlements, and other provinces have less. Urbanization was estimated to have transformed roughly 2.5% of South Africa's land cover in the late 1980's, but the ecological impacts of urbanisation are out of proportion to its low spatial extent (Macdonald 1989). The reasons for increasing urbanization include:
- General rapid population increase;
- Movement of rural and immigrant families to towns, in search of employment opportunities;
- Scrapping of influx control laws making people more mobile.
Programmes such as the granting of housing subsidies for South African citizens, and electrification programmes have also encouraged the expansion of formal settlements in urban areas.
| Figure 2.5 The images below show the rapid urbanisation characteristic of the Winterveld region, (60 km northwest of Pretoria) between 1989 and 1995. Dates of photos are 16th December 1989 and 24 July 1995. |
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More information about the above example is available here.
Mining activity has increased slightly in Mpumalanga and North West, and only slightly in Gauteng, where it accounts for some 8% of the area.
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There is also information about Terrestrial Ecosystems in the following reports:
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Metropolitan reports:
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Copyright © 1999 Department of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism. All Rights Reserved.
Site maintained by the Directorate Environmental Information and Reporting
Last update: October 1999
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