African Wildlife and Environment Issue 66

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& ENVIRONMENT WILDLIFE African ISSUE 66 (2017)

Shifting estuaries at ‘Plett’

There is a mamba in my house!

THE MAGAZINE OF THE WILDLIFE AND ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA

CONTENTS

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Editorial

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WESSA contacts

Letters to the editor

Good reads

Conservation 8

Evolution of wetlands as key elements of nature-based solutions in the water sector 11 Geo-spatial information for conservation 14 The rhino horn trade: time to get smart 18 A decade of ‘lassing 21 Angola: is this the end of the game? 25 Indigenous forest rehabilitation in the Karkloof 28 Green jobs for blue rivers Destinations 32 Floods, the Keurbooms Estuary and Lookout Beach Fauna, Flora & Wildlife 38 There is a mamba in my house! 41 Elephants, rhinos and other big creatures 44 Gardening for wildlife: water 48 Green Coast Award 52 Why are there some many species of Brachystegia ? Environmental Education 54 Treasure Beach Friends & Clubs 56 Friends of Serene Valley Birding 58 The majestic Cape Vulture

Page 14 Rhino horn trade

Page 42 Gardening for wildlife

Page 46 Green Coast Award

Page 58 Cape vulture

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1 | African Wildlife & Environment | 66 (2017)

GENERAL

EDITORIAL

Dr John Ledger

Welcome to issue 66 of African Wildlife & Environment which contains a feast of good reading. We also have a bumper crop of letters from readers, indicating that very strong views are held about some of the more controversial viewpoints that were aired in issue 65. As usual we bring you a variety of articles and features that will provide much interesting reading, with some good news stories and superb photographs. From the letters, it is clear that the divide between those who would like to see a legal trade in rhino horn and those that do not, remains deep and intractable. In the interests of providing our readers with both sides of the picture, we publish a pro-trade article by Michael Eustace. Never mind where you stand, the ongoing loss of life, both animal and human, is appalling. InMichael’s words, “all the killing is absurd.” Something else is absurd too – the shocking levels of corruption that stretch deep into every facet of life in our ‘captured country’. A simple Google search will remind you that very public and accessible allegations about our highest state security official having close contact with a known rhino horn dealer, have never been disproven, or even investigated (see www.aljazeera.com/ investigations/the-poachers-pipeline/ ). The public largely believes that the main poachers in the Kruger National Park and KZN are the ragged and desperate boys from Mozambique. Not the smartly dressed guys in the bustling towns on the western border of the Kruger Park, with the nice cars and lots of money, known to everyone, but protected by those right at the top and operating a culture of terminal intimidation. Just the silly ramblings of a war-weary Editor? – Probably just that…move along now… Dr Eckart Schumann’s fascinating account of the ever-changing, massive, and yet natural remodelling of the estuaries on our ‘high energy’ coastline will remind you of the power of nature. Moving 500,000 cubic meters of sand is all in a day’s work for Mother Nature! Bryan Havemann entertains us again in this issue with more game ranger stories, this time about those ‘big and hairies’ of the African bush. One has to love Bryan’s writing style: The bull ran round and joined the breeding herd and they trumpeted and growled their displeasure, deciding on how they would be turning us into human pizzas or flattening us into human pancakes.

And then we have the adventures of Nick Evans, who enjoys nothing more than rescuing Black Mambas which find themselves in people’s houses around Durban. This man just loves these big and scary snakes, and I would certainly want him by my side if ever a mamba showed up at my place! Not likely in Joburg, I guess, but all you folks down Durban way should have Nick’s phone number at hand (speed-dialling recommended!). Dr Anthony Turton’s regular column on various aspects of water management is always an eye opener. We have features on bird-atlassing, Geographic Information Systems, water in the garden, and even a rather sad story about Angola, where wildlife conservation and the once unrivalled protected areas and biodiversity of that magnificent country have been all but lost through lack of interest, corruption and inappropriate government policies. Dr Brian Huntley has just published his book on the subject which makes for tough reading. It is remarkable that two neighbouring countries in our region have had such vastly different post-colonial conservation histories, with Angola taking the Low Road, and Namibia taking the High Road. Please enjoy your magazine, and thank you for your much appreciated support of WESSA.

Page 46 Green Coast Award

Dr John Ledger Consulting Editor john.ledger@wol.co.za

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GENERAL

Dear Editor and WESSA Team As a proud South African living in Australia, I was delighted to receive African Wildlife & Environment #65- I don’t know what happened to my #64! Whilst I have lived in Australia for almost 19 years, not a day goes by when I don’t think back to my country of birth and its magnificent natural heritage. In fact, when I came to Australia some 19 years ago - I am married to an Australian lady - the most important items to accompany me were my natural history book collection (in excess of 1 000 books); a magnificent collection of mainly African carved walking sticks and last but not least, a crazy collection of hats that I used to wear during my bush excursions. In fact, one of these hats - obtained from my good friend, Clive Walker - is made from the bark of a baobab tree and I used to tell my Australian wife, “smell this hat - it smells of Africa!” At that stage, my wife had never been to South Africa but had a deep love and interest in African wildlife and had read extensively on the subject. In 2003, she accompanied me to South Africa for her first visit and smelling the African bush first hand for the first time, she understood why I love my sticks, my hats and my books! I am proud of WESSA and the role it has played going back to the 1880s in the battle to conserve Southern Africa’s wildlife and environment and that is why following the unfortunate demise of Environment - People and Conservation in Africa , WESSA has done its members and the broader public a big service by bringing back its famous magazine and to paraphrase a writer in this autumn edition, it is indeed good to hold this magazine in my hands again! In this issue #65, I particularly enjoyed reading my old friend- sorry, John, longstanding friend- John Ledger’s editorial and commend WESSA for retaining John as the Consulting Editor, and I have no doubt, that as always, readers will benefit from John’s insights and considerable knowledge. I also enjoyed GOOD READS as this enables me to see what’s new on the book scene. It was also good to read about the Greater Kyalami Conservancy - an area that I knew well coming from Johannesburg and it was also most gratifying to read that 119 field rangers graduated from the Southern African Wildlife College. Hopefully they will have a large impact in preserving our precious wildlife and help keep the dreaded poachers at bay. I also enjoyed Bryan Havemann’s stories about “Following Predators” and hope that he will publish these in a book sometime. May WESSA and African Wildlife & Environment go from strength to strength and may the efforts of all who love and fight for the preservation of our precious African wildlife, be crowned with success. Warm regards from Sydney, Australia R ob Schneider (Past trustee of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the Wilderness Trust, the Rhino & Elephant Foundation etc. and a proud Life member of WESSA!)

Morgan Griffiths ( African Wildlife & Environment 65) enthusiastically hails the ‘incredible precedent setting win in the North Gauteng High Court’ where the Environmental Minister was told to consider the climate change impacts of the proposed Thabametsi coal power station. The Court was persuaded by Earthlife Africa (ELA), represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), that the Minister had authorised the go-ahead for thepower stationwithout adequately considering the ‘climate change impacts’. The problem here is that nobody actually knows how to measure these ‘climate change impacts’! While most people have been brainwashed by the media and show-boaters like Al Gore that Carbon Dioxide (CO2) from burning fossil fuels is a threat to the global climate system, those who delve beneath the populist froth are aware that this a highly disputed and complicated field. CO2 is not only emitted from many and various sources, but as it is an essential fuel for plant growth, is also sequestered (taken up) by plants in huge amounts. How many of your readers might know that the Democratic Republic of Congo is the fourth highest emitter (after sequestration) of CO2 in the world, after China, the USA and India? How is that possible, when DRC has no big industries or power stations? There are in fact many different sources of CO2, with deforestation and biomass burning being among the most important. A recent review claims that only 4.7% of the CO2 emitted annually from all sources can be attributed to human activities! So neither the Minister, nor anyone in her Department, nor the environmental consultants, let alone ELA, the CER and the learned judge that handed down this decision, know how to evaluate the ‘climate impacts’ of the proposed power station. Indeed, a careful consideration of all the facts might conclude that the impacts are beneficial rather than negative. It is well-known that plant growth is enhanced by increased levels of CO2, and in Limpopo Province, as well as neighbouring Botswana and Zimbabwe, many people might possibly benefit from increased wood and agricultural crop production. WESSA’s Environmental Governance Programme Manager should be careful about aligning the Society with these opportunistic anti-coal activists who are so quick to run to the courts and waste tax-payers’ money in frivolous skirmishes about a non-existent problem.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Your opinion is highly valued and welcome. Please send your feedback, letters, comments and suggestions to editor@wessa.co.za

Responses to ‘Reserve boundaries under pressure’ in African Wildlife & Environment , Edition 65 (2017) This article was recently brought to our attention. The Private Rhino Owners Association (PROA) is dismayed and disappointed at Mr Griffiths’ inaccurate portrayal of the organisation; his lack of sensitivity towards private rhino owners and the pressures they currently face in keeping their rhinos safe; and his insulting remarks towards private rhino owners in general. We are also deeply concerned at WESSA’s negativity and opposition towards the rhino horn trade, given its propensity to be an ideal model of sustainable utilisation in conservation – a model that has proven highly successful for various wildlife species in South Africa. We have held WESSA in high regard as a credible and balanced conservation organisation and it would be a great pity to see it devolve into yet another animal rights organisation. Mr Griffiths states that WESSA is certain that “re opening legal trade will encourage a growth in horn consumer demand” and that this will “undoubtedly exacerbate rhino poaching above current levels”. PROA would be interested to know which studies Mr Griffiths and WESSA have based their research on in this regard or whether they are simply echoing opinions derived from anti-sustainable-use groups. Numerous independent scientific articles have been published on the economic aspects of re opening the domestic trade in rhino horn and they primarily indicate that doing so would in fact, drive horn prices down and would therefore relieve poaching pressure on rhino populations. Prior to 2009, when a domestic trade in rhino horn existed, rhino poaching figures were negligible. Citing the disastrous once-off ivory auctions as proof of a failed trade policy further illustrates Mr Griffiths’ ignorance of the situation, as the ivory auctions were isolated cases that were poorly planned and executed, with long moratoriums attached as conditions of the sales – this led to a speculative response and ensured that ivory remained artificially scarce on the market. Hence, little to no reduction in elephant poaching resulted. PROA is proposing a regular, sustainable and strictly controlled trade in rhino horn – horn that is sourced from healthy, live rhinos. Ours is a voluntary association with general members and it is a non profit organisation that promotes the conservation, protection and proliferation of all species of rhino on private land in South Africa and the rest of Africa.

Since 2009, when the domestic moratorium on horn trade was imposed by DEA, private reserves have spent more than R 2 billion on rhino protection and management. Today, they are responsible for the conservation of about 37% of the nation’s rhino, with a much lower percentage poaching loss of total rhino killed in SA. They are doing an exemplary job of keeping their rhinos safe, despite great adversity. They risk their own lives, and those of all their employees, every day to do so. They regularly display acts of immense bravery to protect their rhinos, just as employees of our national reserves do. A great number of lives, both animal and human, have been lost in this fight to save the rhinos and we believe that most rhino owners have had to experience at least one deeply traumatic rhino poaching incident on their land. Mr Griffiths, if you had to face this situation, or put your family’s lives on the line to keep one safe, we wonder if you would be singing the same tune… Finally, private reserves receive no government funding and very few of them receive public donations. For WESSA to claim that this is another case of “money first, conservation second” is not only insulting to private reserve owners, it is blatantly false and at worst, damaging to the ongoing efforts of all the people involved in keeping rhino safe at present. Sincerely, Pelham Jones (PROA Chairman) and Tanya Jacobsen (RhinoAlive) As a loyal and faithful servant to WESSA for the past 25 years, I found Morgan Griffiths’ report entitled Reserve boundaries under pressure in which he slams the Department of Environmental Affairs for opening of legal trade in rhino horn, misleading. He goes further to say “it is WESSA’S considered opinion … that this will lead to the rapid demise of these species” Really? If this truly is WESSA’S opinion, I’m afraid it will precipitate the rapid demise of WESSA rather than that of our rhinos. Griffiths’ unfounded remarks smack of animal rightism and he should be removed from the fold! Ian Withers WESSA Knysna

Ed Bokman

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GENERAL

GOOD READS

Book reviews by Dr John Ledger

Cycads Hugo, Cornia (2016). Using cones to identify the indigenous cycads of South Africa. Self published by the author, Cornia Hugo, PO Box 32197, Totiusdal 0134, South Africa. Soft cover, 17x27 cm, 112 pages, illustrated throughout with high quality photographs. ISBN 978-0- 62069 -767-5. R315 plus shipping of R80; total R395 . How to order: visit www.cycadid-sa.co.za. There are 40 species of cycad in South Africa, and a number of them are extremely rare and sought after by collectors. They are accordingly valuable and subject to illegal removal from the wild, which is a huge problem for conservation authorities in South Africa. The author is Assistant Director of General Investigation North in the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. She has assisted with investigations into the illegal trade in indigenous cycads and has represented the Department in several successful court cases. This book is a successor to Cornia’s Identification of the Indigenous cycads of South Africa . The cycads apparently take on different characteristics when growing in different habitats, but the cones are a very reliable feature for identification. The book includes a summary of the legal aspects

Birding in Kenya Ngarachu, Catherine (2017). 50 Top Birding Sites in Kenya. Struik Nature, an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cape

Birding in Namibia Sinclair, Ian & Joris Komen (2017). Pocket Guide: Birds of Namibia. StruikNature, an imprintofPenguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town. Soft cover, 11x18 cm, 144 pp, illustrated in colour throughout with photographs and maps. ISBN 978-1-7758-4522-5. R160 Namibia is a vast, mostly arid country with huge areas devoid of people. In the East there is a finger of land that is completely different,

Town. Soft cover, 14x10 cm, 168 pp, illustrated in colour throughout with photographs and maps. ISBN 978-1-775 8-4248-4. R180 The first detailed guide to Kenya’s best birding areas, this handy

pertaining to cycads in South Africa. The National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act, Act 10 of 2004 (NEMBA) declared all South African cycads as threatened and protected species. A number of activities related to cycads are restricted, and anyone wishing to conduct any of these activities must be in possession of a permit to do so. This is a very useful publication for anyone interested in these remarkable plants.

little book will assist local and visiting birders to find key bird species in 50 different sites. For each of the sites there is a detailed map, a list of the key species to be found there, a description of the habitat, ‘getting there’, visitor information (including advice on security and accommodation, if applicable), and then ’the birding’, followed by ‘other wildlife’. This is an innovative formula which works very well. The book also follows a logical sequence of travelling, starting in Nairobi, which is where many visitors would begin their birding trip. From ‘Around Nairobi’ we go to ‘The central highlands’, then ‘Northern Kenya’, ‘Southbound via Thika’, ‘Into the Rift Valley’, ‘West of the Rift valley’, ‘On and near the coast’ and finally ‘Inland via Tsavo’. This is an invaluable book for anyone visiting Kenya. It is very well produced with excellent photographs.

Autobiography Steyn, Peter (2017). Kingdom of daylight: Memories of a Birdwatcher. Self-published by the author. Distributed by Struik Nature, an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town. Soft cover, 18x23 cm, 256 pp, illustrated by B/W and colour photographs throughout as well as maps.

writer and photographer. The book takes the reader on his amazing travels and adventures in Zimbabwe, from the ‘Timeless Amatobo’ with its incredible rock formation, Black Eagles and the grave of Cecil John Rhodes, to Hwange, Victoria Falls, the middle Zambezi and the eastern districts. Following his return to Cape Town, Peter was involved as a bird guide for Wilderness Safaris, and also undertook a number of trips on cruise ships as a lecturer and bird expert. He takes us birding in the USA, shares his impressions of Costa Rica, we continue to the Galapagos, Peru and Patagonia, then head to the Seychelles with its Fairy Terns and Tropic Birds. Hardly stopping for breath, we are off to Madagascar, the ‘Island of Marvels’, then to Australia a couple of times, New Zealand, then Ethiopia, and to St Helena and Ascension Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Phew! The book is lavishly illustrated with Peter’s outstanding photographs. There are also excellent maps showing all the places he has visited. There is a list of his publications from 1951 to 2015, which includes nine books, of which Eagle Days , Hwange Birds , Birds of Prey of Southern Africa , A Delight of Owls , Birds of Southern Africa , Nesting Birds and Antarctic Impressions are all classics of professional writing and photography. He has published numerous scientific papers, mostly in Ostrich , the journal of the South African Ornithological Society. He has also produced numerous popular science articles for many different publications, and the name Peter Steyn is synonymous with excellent writing and outstanding photography. But Peter is also a friendly and sociable person, a great raconteur, and the many friends and colleagues that we meet in his autobiography are an indication of his popularity and personality. Thank you for sharing this wonderful journey with us. An outstanding book, a must-have for anyone interested in nature, and an ideal gift for the coming festive season!

with the Zambezi River and vast floodplains of Caprivi being a habitat totally unlike the west. This explains Namibia’s rich avian biodiversity of some 690 species, of which 110 are endemic or near-endemic. This handy pocket guide deals with 357 species, focussing on those that are the most conspicuous and commonly seen. Each species is illustrated by a very good photograph, and the description includes identification aids, some details of habits and habitat; a distribution maps accompanies each species entry. This little book is highly recommended for the visitor to Namibia who is not a rabid ‘twitcher’, but someone interested in the country and its natural history, and who would like to know the names of the most commonly seen birds of this wonderful land.

ISBN 978-0- 62074 -256-6. R300 This is Peter Steyn’s life story, the journey of a man obsessed by birds from an early age while growing up in Cape Town. Like many others of that time, he collected birds’ eggs as a hobby and this gave way to bird photography. His first successful photo was a black and white print of a Cape Sugarbird in its nest at Kirstenbosch. While still at school, his photograph of a White-fronted Plover at its nest was published on the front cover of Bokmakierie , the popular magazine of the South African Ornithological Society. This did more than anything else to encourage him to pursue this art form. Peter then went to the University of Cape Town where he did a degree in English and history. He also acquired a motor car and was able to visit the Cape Vulture colony at Potberg in 1955 and take some great photos of the big birds. With a teaching diploma in his hands, Peter accepted a positon at Falcon College in then Rhodesia, and moved there with his young bride Jenny – they would spend 17 years in that country before returning to Cape Town. This book is a remarkable account of an energetic and enthusiastic man who has lived life to the full, and grasped every opportunity to travel with both hands. In 1970 Peter decided to leave Falcon College and embark on a freelance career as an ornithologist,

Succulents Smith, Gideon F, Neil R Crouch & Estrela Figueiredo (2017). Field Guide to Succulents in Southern Africa. Struik Nature, an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town. Soft cover, 15x21 cm, 464 pp, illustrated in colour throughout with photographs, and distribution maps. ISBN 978-1- 77584 -367-2. R350 This is an expanded and updated edition of its predecessor published eight years earlier, in 2009. It is a magnificent piece of work that will provide enormous pleasure to anyone interested in natural history and the astonishing diversity of plants in our region. Indeed, southern Africa is the natural home of the richest and most diverse succulent flora in the world. This book deals with more than 700 species, focussing on the more interesting and commonly encountered succulents. So what is a ‘succulent’? The authors regard succulents as ‘plants that accumulate and store water in their tissues to survive droughts in the active growing phase .’ Many plants store water in their tubers and corms and survive drought in the dormant, resting phase. Such are

not regarded as being true succulents. The authors recognise the loss of habitat to development as a serious threat to the succulents of the region. A number of alien species have been introduced to southern Africa, and these are highlighted in the book with an ‘A’ next to their names. The succulents are arranged by family, and the photographs are excellent, with at least two and sometimes up to seven images allocated to each species. Highly recommended.

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CONSERVATION

Engineered wetlands Our knowledge of the benefits that wetlands bring to society is best illustrated by the East Calcutta Wetland system. This vast and ecologically complex system is significant, because it maps out our future based on human ingenuity of the past. The name was given by Dr DhrubajyotiGhosh in his capacity as Special Advisor to the IUCN. These water bodies provide natural sewage treatment capacity for the city of Calcutta in West Bengal. Today it is host to the largest sewage fed aquaculture project in the world. Of such significance are the ecosystem services provided to humankind that this wetland was designated a Ramsar site in 2002, even though it is largely man-made. The South African equivalent is also a semi-man made system, centred on the Blesbokspruit. This is a small natural wetland that has grown massively over a century, because it receives the water abstracted from underground workings in the Eastern Basin of the Witwatersrand Goldfields. This has also been designated a Ramsar site, but it has not been studied as much as the East Calcutta Wetland. More importantly, the process of natural selection has seen the emergence of a range of bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, protozoa and protists as a result of mutation in the presence of man-made chemicals flowing through engineered wetland systems such as in East Calcutta. Pioneering research has been done by Indian scientists in mapping the presence of new strains of microbe with both ecological and commercial significance. These discoveries include a sub-set of Actinobacteria capable of metabolizing a range of industrial compounds, including nitrophenol, nitroaromatic compounds, pesticides and herbicides. A sub-set of Proteobacteria are believed to be central to our growing understanding of bioremediation of heavy metal or oil contaminated soil. If we had to apply the same level of diligence to the Blesbokspruit, we would probably find a sub set of mutated microflorae or archaea capable of metabolizing sulphur rich acidic mine water and the range of metals dissolved therein. Conversely, if we studied the Wonderfonteinspruit wetlands, not designated a Ramsar site, but draining an area with a known plume of uranium contamination, then we would probably find extremophiles capable of metabolizing this specific metal (and all daughter by products of uranium decay). These ideas are of great significance to South Africa, particularly where heavy metal contamination plumes are moving through aquatic ecosystems as a result of 120 years of largely self-regulated mining in the absence of effective democratic oversight. They are even more significant in a new world where climate change seems to be exacerbating natural drought cycles.

This global problem is more acute in Southern Africa, where we are blessed with a generally arid climate. Aridity means that more water is lost to a combination of evaporation and transpiration (technically known as evapotranspiration - abbreviated as ET) than falls as natural precipitation. In South Africa, this is starkly evident in the Vaal Dam situation where more water is lost from storage to ET, than flows in under natural hydrological conditions for eleven months of the year. Wetlands in context Wetlands play a crucial role in the biophysical processes of any natural aquatic ecosystem. The problem is that as population growth outstrips the capacity of natural aquatic ecosystems to function, then pressure on natural wetlands rises. The human species is now confronting a stark choice: either adapt or face the dire consequences of human-induced water scarcity. The United Nations does its best to play a leadership role in shaping policy of its member states. One of the ways this is done is via the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) that tables reports at regular intervals. The most recent was a report entitled ‘Wastewater – the Untapped Resource’, which identified the future as increasingly being focussed on recovery and recycling of potable water from waste streams. In South Africa, we could potentially recover five billion litres daily from this approach. This is an extremely important policy direction for any water constrained country to consider. It lies central to our future national wellbeing, because the South African economy is now fundamentally water constrained. This has dire consequences for job creation, and is central to any notion of social cohesion, political stability and investor confidence. The next iteration of the WWAP is currently in an advanced stage of preparation before being made public. One key element of this report is the concept of ‘nature-based solutions’ (NBS). Stated simplistically, this notion underpins the stark choice that humans have as a species: either engineer solutions in partnership with Nature, or face the consequences of engineering solutions that compete with Nature. Wetlands fall into this category, with two broad dimensions that will increasingly become mainstream in terms of both policy and practice. The first dimension is centred on the need to protect existing wetlands and rehabilitate those that have been adversely affected by human activities. The second dimension is likely to emerge as an entirely novel model of economic development, because it is centred on the notion of engineered wetlands.

Evolution of wetlands as key elements of nature-based SOLUTIONS IN THE WATER SECTOR

It is a simple fact that the world is running out of freshwater. This is driven by population growth and exacerbated by climate change, irrespective of whether it is human-induced or not. The stark irony is that at planetary level we are water abundant, but 97.5% of the total volume of water is saline. Of the remaining 2.5% that is fresh, a paltry 0.3% is found in lakes and rivers. These are simple facts that our species cannot ignore if we wish to continue living in stable economies with reasonably predictable levels of social cohesion and modern creature comforts.

Prof Anthony Turton

A World of Salt Total Global Saltwater and Freshwater Estimates

0.3% 30.8%

Lakes and river storage Groundwater, including soil moisture, swamp water and permafrost Glaciers and permanent snow cover

Freshwater 2.5% 35 000 000 km 3

68.9%

Saltwater 97..5% 1 365 000 000 km 3

Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO, Paris), 1999.

Source: Igor A. Shiklomanov, State Hydrological Institute (SHI, St. Petersburg) and United Nations Educational,

Planet Earth has an abundance of water, but 97.5% of that is saline and thus unsuitable for human consumption. (Source: UNESCO).

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CONSERVATION

Engineered wetlands are therefore extremely important. However, any wetland is habitat to a complex set of natural processes. One of the problems with any engineered wetland is predicting how such a systemwill perform. Typically, hydraulic flows through a wetlandwill eventually create a series of preferential pathways as sludge and sediment close out portions with lower velocity flows. Thismeans that themajority of the plants in the system are unable to perform to the desired level when used as an engineered NBS,

conditions, as the basic building block of more complex solutions. Aquatic plants are held in place with a mesh bag enabling the roots to grow into each cell. These roots provide the habitat for microbes that can be specifically selected for a predetermined outcome. Like a printer cartridge that can be replaced when depleted, each cell can be emptied if the roots have trapped hazardous substances that are unable to be metabolized and thus require specialized disposal.

Conservation and environmental management is increasingly dependent on quality Geo-spatial information. While the initial use of maps had political and economic resource exploitation objectives, conservation also requires accurate maps. Geo-spatial information (as in GIS systems) is today an indispensable tool for conservation and management of the environment. One can hardly deliberate on any environmental issue without the relevant information presented, more often than not, as maps. Geo-spatial information for conservation – AN INDISPENSABLE TOOL

Renier Balt & Dirk Pretorius

Prototype Vertical Up flow Modular Engineered Wetland System (VUF MEWS) showing an earlier evolution of the cell placement and root growth. This is a 32-cell unit with a low stacking density. Subsequent evolutions have greatly simplified the design and reduced the cost with higher stacking densities that reduce the total footprint.

New trends and technologies Today many satellite-based datasets are freely available; Google Maps is the best known example and pervasively used. But there are many more that are not that obvious to those outside the industry. Programs backed by large investments from space faring nations make datasets readily available, and often for free. One notable example is the Sentinel Satellite, part of the European Earth Observation Programme , with a budget of €4.3 Billion. Sentinel images are freely available. (apps.sentinel-hub.com/ sentinel-playground/). This provides opportunities for improved conservation management, which up to nowwas only the domain of well-funded specialists in government and large corporations. This article contains examples which demonstrate the diversity of use, and what can be achieved with low cost and available datasets, and affordable GIS platforms. Monitoring of Invasive Species - Water Hyacinth Infestation (WHI) The Hartbeespoort Dam (near Pretoria) is a well known landmark and weekend destination for many outdoor enthusiasts. Unfortunately it is also known for its poor water quality caused by many factors upstream in the tributary rivers. The ‘Metsi-a-Me’ Water Affairs project showed success with the management of remediation of the Hartbeespoort Dam, such as keeping the proliferation of Water Hyacinth at bay. However, in March 2016 Water Affairs terminated the project and the Water Hyacinth Infestation on the dam surface took hold. Growthduring the summermonths of 2016/17 caused coverage of more than 30% of the dam by April 2017 (see fig 1), as the Water Hyacinth population is known to double every 12 days in favourable circumstances. This has serious implications for many people around the dam; it affects recreation and fishing activities, and therefore negatively impacts tourism.

The biodiversity in and around the dam is also negatively impacted, clearly shown by a reduction of about 60% in bird numbers confirmed by the bi annual CWAC count by Birdlife Harties. (CWAC = Coordinated Waterbird Count). The local community in Hartbeespoort responded by setting up a steering committee to direct action plans to improve the situation and to encourage Water Affairs to take up their responsibility again. It is important to monitor the area covered by Hyacinth regularly, in order to measure the size of the problem and also to determine the effect of the mitigation actions. This is done by using Landsat and Sentinel Satellite imagery, and completing analysis available in GIS systems such as Global Mapper™. Between March 2017 and the end of June 2017, a total of 19 cloud-free Sentinel satellite images were available to analyse and monitor. The objective is to reduce the coverage of Hyacinth to 10% after the winter months. At the same time the community will be working towards the re establishment of the Metsi-a-Me project, and for Water Affairs to take up its remediation responsibility.

Conclusion South Africa is once again at the cutting edge of new thinking as the UN is about to mainstream the notion of nature-based solutions in the water sector. The impact of the El Nino drought event has created a window of opportunity for the consideration at policy level of wetland rehabilitation. The emergence of commercially based engineered wetlands simply broadens the scope of such solutions, enabling a greater choice by architects designing green buildings of the future, and users of smaller package sewage plant under increased regulatory pressure to reduce phosphate and nitrate levels in effluent streams being returned to rivers.

simply because preferential pathways bypass the majority of the rhizosphere. This is the working end of such a system, being the clearly defined region of soil horizon fed by nutrients from root secretions and habitat to the microorganisms that metabolize the elements we are trying to eliminate or sequester. The main challenge from an engineering perspective is to bring as much of the rhizosphere into contactwith thewaterweneed to treat usingNBS. This has been done in a recently patented system known as a Vertical Up-flow Modular Engineered Wetland System (VUF-MEWS). This design does away with all substrate, thereby eliminating the major problem of clogging. More importantly, the design optimizes the flow of water being treated through all cells within the module. This means that all wetland plants used in the system will have a reasonably similar flow of nutrients and hazardous elements that need to be sequestered in order to render the effluent safe for re-use. The up-flow dynamic is designed to create a parachute-like formation of habitat for microorganisms. This optimizes the rhizosphere and therefore reduces the footprint of the engineered wetland to manageable dimensions. The modular design means that complex systems can be created from a single fundamental building block, a plastic container with 9 X 6 cells in it. This gives a total of 54 active cells, each with a known set of hydrological

Fig 1: Water hyacinth infestation of the Hartbeespoort Dam 21 June 2017

Anthony Turton Professor: Centre for Environmental Management, Univeristy of the Free State

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CONSERVATION

Bush encroachment management The use of multi-spectral remote sensing data in the mapping of woody vegetation canopy cover has been used in many countries with great success. Vegetation indices (such as the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index – NDVI) became a standardised tool in the processing and extraction of vegetation information from digital imagery that covered the near infrared spectrum. The increased demand for alternative bio energy sources turned the attention to the mapping of bush encroachment, thereby introducing a new challenge of bio-mass estimations. Tree canopy cover, with added information on tree height for specific species, provides the opportunity to estimate volume and biomass from remote sensing data sources. Point clouds extracted from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and Digital Surface Model (DSM) data are some of the latest tools from which tree height can be calculated. Calibration for specific tree species per habitat is however crucial in these calculations. Fig 2 shows woody cover maps derived from SPOT Satellite imagery. Cloud based project management systems are also a recent development, aiding environmental project managers to capture project information (including location, reports, and photographs) in an on-line system which can be linked to a stand-alone GIS systems. Such a system (Bushmon – www.bushmon. co.za) was developed for the North West University to capture projects on bush encroachment. The system included a Google Maps interface and plays an important role in project management which includes monitoring and evaluation (see Fig 3). Drones: New technology with high accuracy - calculating tree heights The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or ‘drones’ has been accepted as an integral part of environmental mapping projects. These cost-effective remote-sensing platforms can be used with great success to capture ortho-photos and Digital Surface Model (DSM) data at a very high resolution for small to medium sized projects.

Conclusion Geospatial Information applications have been at the forefront of technology for decades. However, satellite imagery and GIS systems required specialist knowledge and were costly to access and use. All this is changing. The wave of new and integrative technologies accessible by many with an interest in conservation is a prime example of disruptive innovation that leads to big changes. Conservation and improved management of the environmentwill gain fromthedisruptive technologies of today. Drones, integrated smartphone devices, pervasive broadband communication and improved

Fig 4: Profile analysis of processed drone data – tree height calculations

Fig 3: The Bushmon project management system developed for the North West University.

Apps on citizen scientists’ smartphones are increasingly important, and make input of data easier. More importantly, data quality can be improved with the availability of GPS and point data with high geometric accuracy, and the options for analysis and data mining also increase significantly. An example of observations in the Wakkerstroom area making use of the BirdLasser App is shown in Fig. 6. The database of bird distribution is valuable in many different ways: • Opportunities for scientific research with the geospatial dataset abound. Many scientific

Drones were recently used to evaluate the use of point cloud data to calculate woody vegetation cover and height in the D’Nyala Nature Reserve near Lephalale in the Limpopo Province. Global Mapper™ provided the perfect tool to process the point cloud and to calculate the height above ground for various tree species (see Fig 4). The use of drones is however a specialised operation and all legal requirements should be adhered to. Crowd-sourcing projects: Mapping the distribution of bird species (www.sabap2.org.za) The Second Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2) is the most important bird conservation project in the region. Many other conservation initiatives depend on the results of the bird atlas: • One cannot determine the conservation status of a bird species unless you know its range and how this is changing; • ‘Red-listing’ of species depends on the results of this project; • The selection of sites and habitats that are critical to bird conservation can be defined; and • There are many more examples underlining the value of this project. SABAP2 is the follow-up project to the Southern African Bird Atlas Project, which is now referred to as SABAP1 and that took place from 1987-1991. This second bird atlas project started a decade ago, and is planned to run indefinitely. The Animal Demography Unit (ADU) at the University of Cape Town, BirdLife South Africa and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) participate in and support this project. More than two thousand volunteers, known as citizen scientists, do the fieldwork. The original atlas area was South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya have now been included. Today the SABAP2 database contains more than 189 000 checklists. Fig 5 indicates the present coverage of more than 78% of the initial SABAP2 atlas area, which is an awesome achievement.

Fig 6: Point data provide valuable datasets in sensitive areas of conservation interest

GIS functionality are but a few such examples. The best news is that the costs of accessing and using these tools have lowered dramatically, and this trend is set to continue. If these tools are fully leveraged, conservation and environmental management will benefit, and so will future generations.

Fig. 5: SABAP2 coverage map - June 2017

publications have already seen the light, and increasingly citizen scientists play an important role. ( see http://bo.adu.org.za/ for Biodiversity Observations, an initiative of the ADU) • Data analysed for bird species distribution can provide an early warning of the effects of climate change. It is a valuable input to the ongoing climate change discourse. • Public awareness and participation in conservation projects is increased. Information can be shared – bird-lists are created based on actual observations; an example is Birds of the Magaliesberg . This in turn has a positive impact on tourism and an interest in outdoor activities.

Mr Dirk Pretorius Professional GIS Practitioner dirk@smc-synergy.co.za Mr Renier Balt SMC Sunergy renier@smc-synergy.co.za

Fig 2: Woody cover maps using SPOT 6 data for the Cookhouse and Somerset East Areas

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