Intensification and Sustainability in South African Rooibos: exploring the conditions for market-led sustainable development in a biodiversity hot spot

Abstract

The Fynbos biome in the Cape region in South Africa is currently the only production location of Rooibos tea in the world. In addition, biodiversity in the Fynbos biome is very large and unique for the world. This makes Rooibos tea a unique product, the availability of which strongly depends on the dynamics in a bounded territory. Rooibos is sometimes harvested from the wild, but up to 99% of all Rooibos is cultivated. 95% of all Rooibos is produced on large farms or plantations. Such farms, which also exist for potatoes and grapes in the Fynbos biome have a large impact on the ecosystem, especially because large areas have been cleared in the past for their establishment. For instance, ‘an average of 2.7 hectares of virgin land has been cleared for farming every day in the past 15 years’, in the Northern Sandveld