Swartland Renosterveld in Crisis
The Swartland’s renosterveld is experiencing a crisis of tremendous proportions. The region represents a burgeoning hotspot for species loss, where intensive agriculture converges with unique and sensitive locally-occurring plant species of limited distribution. At present, the “Swartland” name is synonymous with intensive wheat farming and the loss of natural renosterveld vegetation. Three hundred years of continuous agricultural development has seen much of the Swartland’s natural lowland renosterveld vegetation transformed into uninterrupted monocultures of wheat and canola. Wheat farming has often been singled out as the primary cause for renosterveld loss in the Swartland. Today, however, the causes of further population declines of the region’s endangered renosterveld species are numerous and complexly interwoven, and include urban expansion, invasive alien plants, viniculture, overgrazing, trampling, incorrect fire regimes, road construction, dam building, pesticide/herbicide runoff, mining/quarrying, golf course development etcetera.
Swartland Renosterveld’s Threatened NES
In 2006, the Swartland’s four main vegetation types were identified as Critically Endangered by Mucina and Rutherford in their seminal work titled “The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland”. The dire situation facing the Narrow Endemic Species (NES) of the Swartland Renosterveld is clearly illustrated by the fact that of 84 plants species narrowly endemic to the region, at least 64 already verge on extinction, listed as either “Endangered” or “Critically Endangered” on South Africa’s Red List. Many of these Red List assessments were conducted several years ago and the situation has subsequently worsened due to the expansion of agriculture and other human activities. To exacerbate matters, the populations of most Swartland Renosterveld endemics were recorded as “decreasing” in the latest Red List assessments. Swartland Renosterveld NPC intends taking concrete and proactive steps to resolve the burgeoning biodiversity crisis in the Swartland and to rescue the region’s threatened endemics from extinction.
Swartland Renosterveld’s Extinction Risks
Many Swartland Renosterveld narrow endemic species are hanging by a thread and have been left to their own devices, with their survival being a lottery of chance. A case in point are those renosterveld endemics which survive solely in road reserves. These may become extinct at any time when uninformed and overzealous roads department staff clear road verges of renosterveld vegetation. Mass extinctions of Swartland Renosterveld plant species can be expected in the near future if nothing is done to overturn the status quo. The situation is dire and requires urgent and targeted intervention to forestall a regional “biodiversity crash”. The extinction of plant species within the Cape Floral Region is not without precedent. Close to 40 plant species have already been “officially” lost to mankind. Many plant species in the Cape Floral Region have been missing from sight for many decades, but are not yet acknowledged as officially extinct, as there is a faint glimmer of hope that someone somewhere might once again locate them.
Swartland Renosterveld’s MIA Endemics
Examples of “missing-in-action” Swartland Renosterveld endemics are Oxalis involuta and Oxalis perineson which were last seen circa 1935. With a bit of luck, they might still be lurking undetected on a relict patch of renosterveld somewhere in the Swartland.