Abstract:
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.
