Mpumalanga Biodiversity Conservation Plan Handbook - bgis-sanbi

MPUMALANGA BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION PLAN HANDBOOK
Box 6.1 continued
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Land-Use Type 12. Linear Engineering Structures
Includes: all hardened roads, railways, canals and pipelines. It does not necessarily include power and telephone
lines, although these can have a measurable impact on particular species, e.g. power lines on birds.
Land-Use Type 13. Water Projects and Transfers
Includes: all substantial impoundments, dams and weirs, pipelines, canals and bulk water transfer schemes, including
those associated with power generation.
Land-Use Type 14. Underground Mining
Includes: all underground mineral extraction and the surrounding ‘footprint’ of related development, which may
include small areas for residential and industrial uses. It includes all waste dumps, settlement ponds and
disposal sites both above and below ground.
Land-Use Type 15. Surface Mining, Dumping and Dredging
Includes: all strip and opencast mining excavations or quarrying, plus the visual, physical and chemical impacts of
these activities, particularly on ground water reserves; all mine waste and refuse dumps, urban waste sites
and landfill sites for whatever purposes. (Dredging is primarily confined to coastal systems.)
BOX 6.2: BIODIVERSITY IMPACT OF LAND-USE TYPES
(This box relates to Table 6.2)
Table 6.2 provides a summary of the permissibility of Land-Use Types within each biodiversity conservation category. Each
Land-Use Type includes a variety of potential impacts on biodiversity depending, among other things, on factors like the scale of
habitat loss or the style of management. Land-use activities may be grouped and characterised in order to understand why they
impact on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
Land-Use Types 1 – 4 are those most beneficial, listed in order of least-to-most impact. The categories below are based loosely
on the land-use impact assessment for grasslands of O’Connor and Kuyler (2005). Modifications accommodate the land-use
management differences between grasslands and savannas.
Land-Use Type 1. The most biodiversity-compatible land use is Conservation Management (CM). Specifically aimed at
maintaining and enhancing biodiversity in Protected Areas, the principles of CM are described briefly at the
beginning of these guidelines. Its focus is within PAs and has little to offer in protecting the large-scale ecological
processes that allow species and ecosystems to persist. As a form of land use it extends to include production
where, for instance, game animals are hunted or captured. CM occurs on private land when legally binding,
written formalities are in place, to ensure such management extends beyond the scope of current ownership (see
Box 1.2 on Conservation Stewardship).
Land-Use Types 2 and 3 are the next-best land uses for biodiversity, either Game Farming or Extensive Livestock
Production. These are similar in their impact in that they both use extensive areas of natural rangeland.
Differences in effect between the two are small and strongly influenced by quality of management, i.e. a well
managed cattle ranch may have less negative impact than a badly managed game farm, whereas with good
management the reverse would be expected. Any intensification or overdevelopment (e.g. for tourism) of these
areas will increase the negative impacts.
Land-Use Type 4. Rural Recreation, is the third-best land use for biodiversity. This category includes: various types of
multi-owner game reserves and ‘eco-estates’; share-block and sectional title developments in natural areas
provided the density of development is low (