the richtersveld cultural and botanical landscape - SAHRA

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Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape World Heritage Site Nomination 19 future supplement the Richtersveld World Heritage Site. These areas, described below, form part of the evolving Greater !Gariep Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) 3 which serves to link the numerous cultural and natural conservation and preservation sites in the transboundary region. Please refer to the Greater !Gariep Transfrontier Map (Map 4) and the Richtersveld Protected Areas Map (Map 5) located in Appendix A for locations of these areas. The Richtersveld National Park comprises unique landscapes, geological formations and rare and often endemic succulent plants, also forming a very important part of the Succulent Karoo Biome and ‘Biodiversity Hotspot’ as denoted by Conservation International. The park was assessed in the Richtersveld World Heritage Site Feasibility Study carried out and published in 2004. Despite the botanical and cultural attributes which the park offers, the park was excluded from the nomination on the premise that mining is currently being carried out in the northwestern part of the park. These mining activities, however, pose no threat to the Conservancy. Firstly, there are no diamond deposits in the Conservancy and massive geological formations form a natural buffer between the RNP and the Conservancy area, and there are more barriers inside the RNP itself well before the Conservancy border. Diamond mining activities within the park are carried out in and restricted to an area over 50 kilometres away from the Conservancy, and restricted to the banks and ancient oxbows of the Orange River that over millions of years carried the diamonds to the sea where the bulk are deposited in ancient marine gravel beds. Additionally, the new Protected Areas Act prevents the expansion of mining activities deeper into the national park. When the current mining, which is downscaling at present, is ceased and acceptable rehabilitation measures have been implemented, then the national park may be considered and thoroughly assessed as a potential supplement to the World Heritage Site. 3 More information on the process of developing this TFCA described in Suich, H. et al., 2004. Reflections on Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) using the emerging Greater !Gariep TFCA along the Namibian and South African border as an example. Cape Town: Document submitted to Environment and Development in 2005.
Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape World Heritage Site Nomination 20 In Namibia, there are three areas which were identified in the feasibility study as potential components of a serial transfrontier World Heritage Site. These include Ai- Ais Hot Springs Game Park (the Namibian portion of the Ai-Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park), the //Gamaseb Communal Conservancy and the Sperrgebiet Restricted Area. Ai-Ais itself is comprised of the Ai-Ais Hot Springs, the Huns Mountains and the Fish River Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world and currently on Namibia’s tentative list of World Heritage Sites. The //Gamaseb Communal Conservancy is a Namibian stronghold for Nama culture, language and tradition and retains very close cultural links with the Richtersveld Community Conservancy. The Sperrgebiet Restricted Area is comprised of a coastal diamond mining concession and a near pristine and very large expanse of Succulent Karoo. The Sperrgebiet has recently been declared a national park by the Namibian government, but this has not come into effect operationally. Similar to the Richtersveld National Park, the Sperrgebiet can be assessed when mining ceases and rehabilitation has been acceptably carried out with assurances that no future mining activities will take place. 2.a.iv. Overview of Climate and Geology of the Richtersveld Community Conservancy The unique biodiversity which justifies the nomination of the Richtersveld Community Conservancy as a World Heritage Site under criteria ix and x, is a result of unusual climatic and geomorphic characteristics which occur in few other places in the world. The region is arid with rainfall as low as 55mm per year in places along the Orange River and the Conservancy is furthermore located in an area where the summer and winter rainfall zones overlap. The climate and resultant biota are largely determined by the Atlantic Ocean approximately 100 kilometres to the west. There, the cold Benguela Current reaches the dry coastal desert and results in dense cloud banks which reach as far inland as the Conservancy and creates damp conditions supplying flora with necessary moisture. In the winter rainfall areas, rain is unusually reliable, as opposed to other deserts, and this gives rise to conditions which can support such a diversity of life.
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the richtersveld cultural and botanical landscape - SAHRA

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