Ecosystem Guidelines for Environmental Assessment

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SCEPS SPATIAL COMPONENTS OF ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES Charl de Villiers, Susie Brownlie and Amanda Driver SYSTEMATIC CONSERVATION PLANS 1 HAVE IDENTIFIED A NUMBER OF SPATIAL SURROGATES FOR LANDSCAPE-SCALE ECOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES. These are referred to as "spatial components of ecological processes", i.e. environmental features such as river corridors or vegetation boundaries that are critical for the long-term persistence of biodiversity and can be identified on maps. This section covers: 1. An overview of spatial components of ecological processes 2. The scale at which spatial components of ecological processes can function 3. Fixed and flexible spatial components of ecological processes 4. Mapped spatial components of ecological processes 5. The conservation of important ecological process areas 6. Environmental assessment procedures for considering spatial components of ecological processes 7. Land-use guidelines for spatial components of ecological processes 8. Background resources I Overview of spatial components of ecological processes Biodiversity conservation is guided by two interdependent objectives: representation and persistence. "Representation" means securing a representative example of biodiversity composition and structure, or biodiversity pattern. "Persistence" is about maintaining those ecological and evolutionary processes that underpin this distribution and variety, without which biodiversity cannot survive in the long term. 2 It is important to note that the conservation of ecological processes requires a significantly larger proportion of the landscape than is needed to represent biodiversity pattern. However, without conserving sufficient habitat to maintain ecological processes, biodiversity pattern will be lost in the medium to long term. For example, to ensure representation of 75% of our plant species would need some 16-36% of our landscape; to ensure persistence would require more or less double this area. It is clearly not realistic to aim to secure some 60% of our total landscape in protected areas. However, we must strive to manage natural or semi-natural areas outside formally protected areas in such a way as to allow ecological processes to persist. Fortunately, maintenance of ecological functioning is often consistent with a wide range of low impact land and resource uses. If biodiversity is to be adequately addressed in project planning and assessment, both biodiversity pattern and ecological processes must be considered by environmental assessment practitioners and COLIN PATERSON-JONES 78 : SPATIAL COMPONENTS OF ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES 1. The terms "conservation plan" and "biodiversity plan" are interchangeable, but represent a shift in emphasis from planning that identifies priorities for expanding formal reserve networks to identifying biodiversity features that require special attention in land-use planning and management. 2. The term "ecological and evolutionary processes" is shortened to "ecological processes" in these guidelines.
Undeveloped land in servitudes and road reserves can provide critically important ecological refugia in highly fragmented ecosystems. SCEPS
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ECOSYSTEM GUIDELINES FOR ENVIRONMEN
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CHARL DE VILLIERS (EDITOR) Conserva
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CONTENTS 7 : 8 : 10 : 14 : 22 : 24
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“Environmental Assessment provide
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PREFACE Charl de Villiers These gui
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INTRODUCTION Susie Brownlie Purpose
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The drafting process, which was co-
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INCLUDING BIODIVERSITY CONSIDERATIO
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UNEP's voluntary guidelines on biod
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Breede River valley: CAPE and SKEP
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STEP 4: WHEN SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS AR
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A NOTE ON FIRE All fynbos types req
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COASTAL ESTUARIES COASTAL ECOSYSTEM
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COASTAL non-linear manner over wide
Page 30 and 31: COASTAL SANDY BEACHES & DUNE SYSTEM
Page 32 and 33: COASTAL What are the “bottom line
Page 34 and 35: COASTAL INCORPORATING WEST AND SOUT
Page 36 and 37: COASTAL Strandveld is also increasi
Page 38 and 39: What are the critical things to mai
Page 40 and 41: LOWLAND FYNBOS INCORPORATING SAND F
Page 42 and 43: LOWLAND FYNBOS Veld clearance for r
Page 44 and 45: NICK HELME LOWLAND FYNBOS Leipoldtv
Page 46 and 47: MIDLAND & MOUNTAIN INCORPORATING AL
Page 48 and 49: MIDLAND & MOUNTAIN Altered fire reg
Page 50 and 51: MIDLAND & MOUNTAIN What are the cri
Page 52 and 53: MIDLAND & MOUNTAIN will move in fro
Page 54 and 55: RENOSTERVELD INCORPORATING COAST &
Page 56 and 57: RENOSTERVELD Urban expansion is a p
Page 58 and 59: RENOSTERVELD What, if any, reliable
Page 60 and 61: SUCCULENT KAROO INCORPORATING VYGIE
Page 62 and 63: SUCCULENT KAROO Quarrying for grani
Page 64 and 65: MAINLAND THICKET INCORPORATING THIC
Page 66 and 67: MAINLAND THICKET appear to recover
Page 68 and 69: MAINLAND THICKET What are the criti
Page 70 and 71: FRESHWATER FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS: W
Page 72 and 73: FRESHWATER What are the key issues,
Page 74 and 75: FRESHWATER exotic garden escapees i
Page 76 and 77: FRESHWATER INCORPORATING MINOR DRAI
Page 78 and 79: FRESHWATER Introduction to the syst
Page 82 and 83: JAN VLOK SCEPS Quartz patches can s
Page 84 and 85: SCEPS those characterised by mosaic
Page 86 and 87: TABLE 4: EXAMPLES OF SPATIAL COMPON
Page 88 and 89: SCEPS ecosystems (e.g. Granite Fynb
Page 90 and 91: REFERENCES & RESOURCES There is a w
Page 92 and 93: APPENDIX 1 SOUTH AFRICAN VEGETATION
Page 94 and 95: APPENDIX 2 RECOMMENDED TERMS OF REF
Page 96: SALDANHA CAPE TOWN VANRHYNSDORP CER
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Ecosystem Guidelines for Environmental Assessment

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