World Environment Day: The Uniqueness and Importance of South African Biodiversity

Today, the world celebrates World Environment Day with the theme being to ‘Celebrate Biodiversity’ [4]. I thought it would only be suitable to highlight just how biodiverse South Africa is and how this unique form of biodiversity is threatened by climate change. Global biodiversity is threatened by global warming and climate change for a variety of reasons.

Biodiversity is the variation of organisms and their habitats. It plays an important role in the maintenance of ecosystems and is even responsible for the livelihood of humans as we rely on the environment for water, food and other resources. The inter-reliance of all organisms makes the balance of biodiversity very intricate and delicate to maintain and protect. There are some countries which rely on their biodiversity more than others and majority of these countries are in Africa as one fifth of the worlds known species of bird, mammals and plants are found here. [9]

It is well-known that climate change has led to more extreme weather patterns and extreme weather events such as prolonged droughts and floods which have been linked to longer cycles of El nina and El nino oscillations in Africa [9]. These events disrupt our biodiversity balance and often carry prolonged effects which take us years to recover.

South Africa is the third most biodiverse country in Africa, only after Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo [3], while it is the 13th most biodiverse country worldwide [2]. We are also known to rely heavily on our biodiversity to support our livelihoods as we live off the land through our crops and water but also export products. In South Africa, our reliance on the environment even extends to a level of protection against natural disasters like flooding [7], of which we have seen a spike in recent years. These disasters have had prolonged effects on a variety of biomes and affected multiple industries including the agriculture, beverage and tourism industries [5].

There are projections on the effects that climate change could have on South African biodiversity by causing shifts in biome location and general biodiversity loss [7]. South Africa has 9 different types of biomes and is the only country which contains an entire floristic kingdom, the Cape Floral Kingdom [8]. Among these biomes, the largest, most threatened and least protected is the grasslands [7].

Figure 1: Map showing distribution of climate types in South Africa [1]

Grasslands are not only important for South Africa but are also more reliable carbon sinks than trees due to the fact these areas are less vulnerable to wildfires and more drought resistant [6]. The main threat to this biome is a change in land use, which could be linked to the urbanisation of the land covered by grasslands, as well as the extended and increased tree coverage of these areas [7]. This is one of the reasons that planting trees in Africa actually is not a plausible option for mitigation of climate change (https://mg.co.za/article/2019-10-31-00-the-trouble-with-indiscriminate-tree-planting-in-africa/).

South Africa requires its citizens and decision makers to prioritise the environment in order to protect her people and we have seen weak attempts at this in the forms of laws passed by parliament, however, most of them lack implementation. South Africans have yet to see the government prioritise the land and its people and the only way this can change is through South Africans.

It is the responsibility of South Africans to hold our government accountable in the ways we believe matter, as it is also our responsibility to be environmentally literate. This World Environment Day, I would like to call on South Africans to educate themselves on just how beautiful South Africa is and how much she needs our protection.

Kwame Nkrumah defined being African by saying: “I am not an African because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me”. I believe it is time for Africans to behave as one with Africa and protect her as they would themselves.

Live green, see green

Shannon

References

1. Alexander, M. (2018). South Africa’s weather and climate. South Africa Gateway. [ONLINE] Available at: https://southafrica-info.com/land/south-africa-weather-climate/ (Accessed 16/08/2019).

2. Butler, R. (2016). The top 10 most biodiverse countries. Mongabay. [Online] Available at: https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/top-10-biodiverse-countries/#:~:text=%231%3A%20Brazil,plant%20and%20amphibian%20species%20counts. (Accessed 04/05/2020).

3. Cooper, C. (2019). South Africa joins Brazil and Indonesia as world’s most biodiverse nations. Sun Safaris. [Online] Available at: https://www.sunsafaris.com/blog/2019/10/south-africa-joins-brazil-and-indonesia-as-worlds-most-biodiverse-nations/#:~:text=In%20Africa%20are%20Madagascar%2C%20Democratic,Incredible (Accessed 04/06/2020).

4. Dandotia, S. (2020). World Environment Day 2020 Theme. Swikiriti’s Blog. [Online] Available at: https://swikblog.com/world-environment-day-2020-theme/ (Accessed 04/05/2020).

5. Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries. (2019). Business and Biodiversity in South Africa. Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries. [Online] Available at: https://www.environment.gov.za/projectsprogrammes/businessandbiodiversityinsouthafrica (Accessed 04/05/2020).

6. Kerlin, K. (2018). Grasslands More Reliable Carbon Sink Than Trees. UCDavis. [Online] Available at: https://climatechange.ucdavis.edu/news/grasslands-more-reliable-carbon-sink-than-trees/ (Accessed 05/06/2020).

7. Munzhedzi, S. (No date).Climate Change and Biodiversity, Department of Environmental Affairs Climate Change and Impacts Factsheet Series, Factsheet 7.

8. PlantZAfrica. (No date). Fynbos Biome. PlantZAfica.com. [Online] Available at: http://pza.sanbi.org/vegetation/fynbos-biome (Accessed 05/06/2020).

9. Sintayehu, D. W. (2018). Impact of climate change on biodiversity and associated key ecosystem services in Africa: a systematic review, Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 4(9): 225 – 239.