The Paardeberg is a beautiful, 4000ha mountain just a 40 minute drive from Cape Town, It is home to some 35+ endangered species, 8 critical. It supports a significant local agricultural and tourism economy, which depends heavily on its biodiversity and ecosystem services. This project will focus on alien vegetation management and the creation of firebreaks, to ensure the preservation of these services and some 2000+ livelihoods that are threatened by increasing wildfires due to climate change.
The Indigenous "Fynbos" vegetation of the Cape holds one sixth of the world's plant species. Its biodiversity and ecosystem services support agriculture and tourism livelihoods for up to a fifth of the South African population. However, this veld-type requires a fire once every 8-30 years for renewal, seed germination and ground cover control. Too frequent wildfires, associated with climate change, or fires that burn too hot, due to alien invasive vegetation, threaten this plant kingdom...
By regular clearing of alien vegetation, we reduce the risk of excessively hot wildfires and support the emergence of natural species that "out-compete" further alien invasion. Carefully planned strategic firebreaks will allow for systematic prescribed burning of alternating "blocks" of veld. These ensure that a seed bank is always present in natural vegetation of varying ages, and provide refuge for animals. They also facilitate back-burning and access routes for easier control of a wildfire,
Preservation of the Paardeberg's biodiversity and natural resources will ensure the ecosystem services that support agriculture in the greater area, This enhances food security through the uninterrupted supply of wheat and canola to significant industries in the nearby towns of Paarl, Wellington and Malmesbury, supporting the 5000+ jobs dependent on it. As climate change takes its grip, there are more than 10 000 livelihoods in the tourism sector to be preserved for over a million inhabitants.
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