The Utilization of Selected Threatened or Protected Plant Species; A Case of Limpopo Province, South Africa

In Limpopo Province, harvesting plants for herbal use by traditional health practitioners and ordinary people is an everyday practice. The study investigated the utilization of the following Threatened or Protected Plant-listed species (TOPS): Alepidea amatymbica Eckl. & Zeyh., Brackenridgea zanguebarica Oliv., Dioscorea sylvatica Eckl., Drimia sanguinea (Schinz) Jessop, Siphonochilus aethiopicus (Schweinf.) B.L.Burtt and Warburgia salutaris (G.Bertol.) Chiov. in Limpopo Province, South Africa. A total of 333 participants were interviewed in this study, across the five districts of the Limpopo Province. Results indicate that traditional health practitioners (THPs) and community members (CMs) use these species exclusively for medicinal purposes. Remedies were often prepared using the underground parts of the plants, which were purchased chiefly from muthi shops–shops trading in both indigenous and exotic plant and animal material used for witchcraft and/or healing. Just over 58.4% of respondents indicated that they purchase material from muthi shops due to their scarcity in local communal lands. In contrast, nearly 40% of participants disclosed that they harvest material from open access land. Only 1.6% of participants sourced these plants from their home gardens. The preference for underground parts and species rarely cultivated in home gardens will lead to extinction of wild populations unless users switch to alternative parts for sustainability

The Utilization of Selected Threatened or Protected Plant Species; A Case of Limpopo Province, South Africa

In Limpopo Province, harvesting plants for herbal use by traditional health practitioners and ordinary people is an everyday practice. The study investigated the utilization of the following Threatened or Protected Plant-listed species (TOPS): Alepidea amatymbica Eckl. & Zeyh., Brackenridgea zanguebarica Oliv., Dioscorea sylvatica Eckl., Drimia sanguinea (Schinz) Jessop, Siphonochilus aethiopicus (Schweinf.) B.L.Burtt and Warburgia salutaris (G.Bertol.) Chiov. in Limpopo Province, South Africa. A total of 333 participants were interviewed in this study, across the five districts of the Limpopo Province. Results indicate that traditional health practitioners (THPs) and community members (CMs) use these species exclusively for medicinal purposes. Remedies were often prepared using the underground parts of the plants, which were purchased chiefly from muthi shops–shops trading in both indigenous and exotic plant and animal material used for witchcraft and/or healing. Just over 58.4% of respondents indicated that they purchase material from muthi shops due to their scarcity in local communal lands. In contrast, nearly 40% of participants disclosed that they harvest material from open access land. Only 1.6% of participants sourced these plants from their home gardens. The preference for underground parts and species rarely cultivated in home gardens will lead to extinction of wild populations unless users switch to alternative parts for sustainability

Management strategies to curb rhino poaching: Alternative options using a cost–benefit approach

The combination of increasing demand and high black market prices for rhino horn in Asian markets has fueled an escalation in rhino poaching since 2007, particularly in South Africa. This situation has in turn resulted in greatly increased rhino protection costs, loss in confidence by the private sector in rhinos, loss of revenue to conservation authorities and reduced rhino population growth rates. Within current CITES processes, management responses to threats posed by poaching to rhino persistence fall within a mixture of reactive responses of increased protection and law enforcement and some pro-active responses such as demand reduction tactics, along with a parallel call for opening a legal trade in horn. These rhino management strategies carry different risks and benefits in meeting several conservation objectives. An expert-based risk–benefit analysis of five different rhino management strategies was undertaken to assess their potential for delivering upon agreed rhino conservation objectives. The outcomes indicated that benefits may exceed risks for those strategies that in some or other format legally provided horn for meeting demand. Expert risk–benefit approaches are suggested to offer a rational, inclusive and consensus generating means of addressing complex issues such as rhino poaching and augmenting the information used within the CITES decision-making processes

The Gauteng Conservation Plan: Planning for biodiversity in a rapidly urbanising province

Background: Gauteng, the smallest of South Africa’s nine provinces, is rich in biodiversity; yet it is also the most densely populated province and thus faces significant development pressures. Objective: A project was therefore initiated in 2001 to identify areas of biodiversity importance in the province, using the systematic spatial biodiversity planning approach that has been adopted in South Africa. This article reports on the final version of the provincial conservation plan as completed in 2011. Method: Vegetation types and quaternary catchments constituted the coarse filter biodiversity features, while rare and threatened taxa constituted the fine filter features. Ecological processes were captured by a range of landscape features, while planning for climate change primarily involved the design of a corridor network. Planning was undertaken within the ArcView linked C-plan decision support system, where a cost surface preferentially directed the selection of available sites towards low-cost areas. Results: Forty-four per cent of the province is required to achieve targets. Only 8% of features are close to having their targets met or are adequately conserved in the current protected area network of 23 protected areas covering 2.4% of the province, while 73% of features are absent or poorly represented. Conclusion: The existing protected area network is inadequate for the conservation of biodiversity in Gauteng. The Gauteng Conservation Plan identifies a set of areas that are required to achieve conservation targets. It is important that identified areas currently not in the protected area network are protected either formally or through legislated land use management processes