Help aid restoration of a Critically Endangered habitat

On the south-western tip of Africa is an incredibly species-rich type of vegetation called Cape Flats Sand Fynbos. This Critically Endangered vegetation type is in crisis and needs urgent attention.

Over 87% of this habitat has already been transformed and the remainder is restricted to tiny remnants that are few and far between. Read more about Cape Flats Sand Fynbos (if you want to understand how Critically Endangered it is) here:

https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/EnvironmentalResourceManagement/publications/Documents/Biodiv_fact_sheet_06_CapeFlatsSandFyn_2011-03.pdf

and please take action and sign the petition of support here: https://www.change.org/p/help-restore-our-critically-endangered-sand-fynbos-at-tokai (over 2,500 signatures to date).

More about the issues:

An invaluable remnant of Cape Flats Sand Fynbos on SANParks-managed land at (Tokai, Cape Town, South Africa) is being restored after conservationists from SANParks and the South African National Biodiversity Institute discovered that the seed banks of this vegetation type were recovering after harvesting of a pine plantation almost a decade ago.

Around 20 hectares (about 50 acres) of (non-indigenous) pine plantation remains - and must be harvested - the purpose for which the pines were planted. They are a crop of timber and are simply being harvested sooner than expected because of a severe wildfire in the area. The pines are invasive, are not indigenous to South Africa, and are only allowed in plantations and wood lots with a permit.

A group of some local residents prefer (for arguably selfish reasons - that they justify in various ways) the monospecific (monoculture) and extremely sterile pine woodland above the exceptionally rich biodiversity of Cape Flats Sand Fynbos. Sterile because the pines suppress growth of natural fynbos species, which are sun-loving and are not adapted to shade.

These residents are trying to prevent the harvesting of the plantation. Harvesting must happen - since the pines are harvestable. The group is also trying to prevent the restoral of this global heritage that is Cape Flats Sand Fynbos.

They (this group of residents) state categorically that they prefer a wooded parkland (which is absolutely not appropriate for this Critically Endangered habitat) above a natural ecosystem that will contribute immensely to long-term conservation - not only for South Africa but also for global conservation in terms of South Africa's commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Many other local residents (and conservation-minded people around the world) are wholeheartedly in favour of restoring the Cape Flats Sand Fynbos and are lobbying hard to allow the Conservation Authorities (and their partners in conservation) to proceed with their desired vision of Tokai Park as a conservation area proudly supporting an invaluable tract of the Critically Endangered vegetation type within a National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Yes, you read that correctly! This tract of land is part of a South African National Park - the Table Mountain National Park - and falls within an existing World Heritage Site (WHS; see the details here: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1007), the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas WHS. Its restoration from plantation to Cape Flats Sand Fynbos will contribute significantly to the conservation of the vegetation type and the area will be protected in perpetuity.

Please sign the petition of support on Change.Org which asks that the SANParks be allowed to fulfill their conservation and biodiversity protection mandate and protect biodiversity through appropriate conservation measures (working in association with the South African National Biodiversity Institute and experts from Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens).

The invasive pines do not contribute to biodiversity conservation. A wooded parkland - thoroughly inappropriate for the habitat - will also not contribute to conservation since trees are not naturally part of this exceptionally special, low-growing and sun-loving vegetation type. Trees will negatively affect ecosystem functioning and are thoroughly undesirable as part of this specific conservation area.

Please take action and sign the petition of support for SANParks here:

https://www.change.org/p/help-restore-our-critically-endangered-sand-fynbos-at-tokai

This is not a local issue - it is a global issue. The time to act is now! Thank you for your time, interest and effort. Please share this information in your networks too.

About the photo:
The attached photo is of a Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa caffra) visiting an exquisite, long-flowering heath named the Whorl Heath (Erica verticillata). The Whorl Heath is one of the Cape Flats Sand Fynbos (CFSF) endemics. Endemic in this instance means restricted to the CFSF vegetation type in the wild.

The Whorl Heath is one of several Cape Flats Sand Fynbos endemics that have been 'lost' in the wild because of the fragmentation and decimation of Cape Flats Sand Fynbos. This species, which is now considered to be  'Extinct in the Wild' (see the IUCN fact sheet on the species here: http://jr.iucnredlist.org/sotdfiles/erica-verticillata.pdf) only persists because horticultural specimens were found in a few parks and botanical gardens in places as far afield as Pretoria (South Africa), Kew Botanical Gardens, Belvedere Palace in Vienna, Tresco Abbey Garden on the Isles of Scilly and a nursery (Monrovia Nursery) in California. Read more about Erica verticillata at these links:

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantefg/ericaverticillata2.htm
http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantefg/ericaverticillata.htm

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