Working together, promoting greener pastures
THE ecological infrastructure in the Southern Cape came under the spotlight when Southern Cape regional bodies and the Council for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR) met last month.
Cobus Meiring of the Southern Cape Landowners Initiative (SCLI), and the Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF) said: “Identifying invasive alien plants as the number one threat to our regional environment and natural infrastructure, and the work done by SCLI in assisting landowners and land managers in the Southern Cape to help them understand the environmental damage and downstream problems caused by invasive alien plants, directly feed into the way we manage natural infrastructure in the Southern Cape.”
Meiring attended a presentation on the Ecological Investment Framework project held at the Nelson Mandela University’s (NMU) Saasveld Campus.
In attendance at the presentation and follow-on discussion were a range of representatives, including local authorities and conservancies.
In their joint presentation to key environmental stakeholders, CSIR project leaders Dr Dave Le Maitre and Dr Greg Forsyth said what was dubbed the Ecological Investment Framework project was an investment in ecological infrastructure in protecting ecosystems for the services they provide to them, such as reliable supplies of water and productive land.
“The recent extremely destructive wildfire covering almost 100 000 hectares, as well as those during the past two years, including the Knysna and Riversdale disasters, again focused regional attention on ecological resilience, disaster and risk response, and its associated factors,” Le Maitre told delegates.
The CSIR was contracted by the provincial government in an effort to get a grip on the state of, and future management of, the natural environment of the Western Cape.
Also discussed at the meeting was current work in the region, regarding the implementation of the Western Cape Biodiversity Spatial Plan (BSP), the prioritisation process of the Ecological Infrastructure Investment Framework (EIIF) and Alien Invasive Species Strategy (AISS) for the province.