an introduction to south africa’s emerging national...
TRANSCRIPT
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An introduction to South Africa’s emerging
national ecosystem classification system
10th Biodiversity Planning Forum
9 May 2013
Golden Gate National Park
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Overview
• What is ecosystem classification?
• Progress to date
• Applications for policy, monitoring and management
• Different approaches to ecosystem classification
• Purpose of classifying ecosystems
• Key requirements for NECS
• Way forward
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What is ecosystem classification?
• Grouping habitats or natural features into
categories with similar characteristics, properties,
or functions
• The ecosystem equivalent of identifying and
classifying species
• A way of simplifying the complexity of biodiversity
• Ecosystems of the same type are expected to
share broadly similar ecological characteristics and
functioning
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Progress to date
• Long history in terrestrial environment
vegetation mapping, going back to 1930s
• More recent progress in aquatic
environments, especially in last 10 years
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Vegetation map of
South Africa 2006
~440 vegetation
types
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Marine ecosystem types
• From 34 biozones in NSBA 2004…
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16 offshore pelagic
habitat types (water
column)
2011: 136 coastal, inshore & offshore habitat types
58 coastal & inshore habitat types
62 offshore benthic (seabed) habitat types
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223 river ecosystem
types (NFEPA & NBA 2011)
– 31 Level 1 Ecoregions
– 2 flow regime categories
– 4 longitudinal zones
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Wetlands (~300 000) 792 types (National Wetland Inventory, NFEPA)
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46 estuary ecosystem types (not easy to show on a national map)
New (NBA 2011): 1st ever map of estuarine functional zone for all 291 estuaries
!( Estuaries
Rivers
Coastline
Amatole District Municipality
Floodplain
Open water
Now: actual mapping of open water
area and floodplain Previously: dots along the coastline
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National ecosystem classification system
Vegetation
types
River
ecosystem
types
Wetland
ecosystem
types
Estuary
ecosystem
types
Coastal &
inshore habitat
types
Offshore
benthic habitat
types
Offshore
pelagic
habitat types
terrestrial freshwater estuarine marine & coastal
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So what? … Many applications
• National ecosystem types = powerful unit of
reference
• Direct links to policy, management,
monitoring and decision-making
Some examples…
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Examples of applications
• Assessing threat status of ecosystems basis for
listing threatened ecosystems links to EIA regs
and land-use planning
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Critically endangeredEndangered
Least threatened
Vulnerable
Critically endangered
Endangered
Least threatened
Vulnerable
Terrestrial Rivers
Wetlands
Marine &
coastal
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NB: Further development of the
national ecosystem classification system
is an essential prerequisite in order to move
forward with listing threatened rivers, wetlands,
estuaries, coastal or marine ecosystems
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Examples of applications
• Assessing threat status of ecosystems basis for
listing threatened ecosystems links to EIA regs
and land-use planning
• Assessing protection levels of ecosystems
informs protected area expansion
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Poorly protected
Moderately protected
Well protected
Not protected
Not protected
Poorly protected
Moderately protected
Well protected
Terrestrial Rivers
Wetlands
Marine &
coastal
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Focus areas for
land-based
protected area
expansion
(NPAES 2008)
Focus areas for
marine protection
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Examples of applications
• Assessing threat status of ecosystems basis for
listing threatened ecosystems links to EIA regs
and land-use planning
• Assessing protection levels of ecosystems
informs protected area expansion
• Monitoring and reporting on status and trends in
biodiversity
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Powerful indicators
that can be simply
displayed
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Offshore
Coastal & inshore
Estuaries
Wetlands
Rivers
Terrestrial
% of ecosystem types
CR
EN
VU
LT
Ecosystem threat status
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Offshore
Coastal & inshore
Estuaries
Wetlands
Rivers
Terrestrial
% of ecosystem types
Not protected
Poorly protected
Moderately protected
Well protected
Ecosystem protection level
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Examples of applications
• Assessing threat status of ecosystems basis for
listing threatened ecosystems links to EIA regs
and land-use planning
• Assessing protection levels of ecosystems
informs protected area expansion
• Monitoring and reporting on status and trends in
biodiversity
• Key spatial input for systematic biodiversity plans
informs land-use planning and environmental
assessment, expansion of protected areas
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Biodiversity priority areas in South Africa
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Many applications
• Ecosystem units that link to ecological
infrastructure and/or ecosystem services – actual
and potential
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Initial map of ecological infrastructure for
the uMngeni catchment in KZN,
developed by Stephen Holness
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Many applications
• Ecosystem units that link to ecological
infrastructure and/or ecosystem services – actual
and potential
• Basis for national ecosystem accounting
• Analysis of climate change distribution shifts
• Foundation for implementing biodiversity offsets
• Strategic informant for survey efforts and a range of
research
• Probably more…
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Types of classification systems:
top-down vs bottom-up
• Top-down: environmental variables (e.g. climate,
topography and geology) are used as initial
characteristics to group ecosystems
– Biotic data can be used to verify or provide secondary
stratifications of the environmental classifications
• Bottom-up: site-specific data (e.g. species or
chemistry) are used for initial grouping of ecosystems
through numerical procedures such multivariate
clustering or ordination
• Freshwater ecoregion map is top-down; no verification
• Veg map is a combination of top-down and bottom-up
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Types of classification systems:
structural vs functional
• Structural: Based on physical attributes that usually
develop as responses to the underlying variables
driving the functioning of the ecosystem
– KZN wetland classification is a structural approach according
to characteristic flora
• Functional: Based on the drivers of functioning such
as hydrology and landscape position
– Ecoregions and the national wetland classification system
are functional approaches based on the two main drivers of
freshwater ecosystems – hydrology and landscape position
(geomorphology)
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Types of classification systems:
single-level vs hierarchical
• Single-level: ecosystems are simply divided into a
series of many ecosystem types
• Hierarchical: consists of a number of levels, with
each successive level requiring more detailed
information
• Advantages of a hierarchical approach:
– Each level can suit a range of different purposes therefore
allows for multiple objectives
– Provides more flexibility for scientists and natural resource
managers
– Hierarchical systems potentially marry top-down and bottom-
up approaches (e.g. the national wetland classification
system)
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Purpose of classifying ecosystems
3 main possible objectives of classifying
ecosystems:
• To provide a coarse-filter surrogate that
represents biodiversity pattern,
• To provide ecosystem management units,
• To provide ecosystem units that link to
ecological infrastructure and/or ecosystem
services
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Key requirements for a national
ecosystem classification system
• Set of guiding principles, ideally agreed on across
all environments
• Set of national ecosystem types – relatively stable
over time, agreed and endorsed by the relevant
community of scientists and practitioners
• Data and information on national ecosystem types
available to the public, including
– Spatial data and maps
– Unique code and name for each ecosystem type
– Description of each ecosystem type
– List of species associated with each ecosystem type
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Key requirements for a national
ecosystem classification system
• Systems for dealing with updates and refinements
as knowledge improves (e.g. veg map committee)
• Publication that summarises and presents
information on national ecosystem types, along the
lines of Mucina & Rutherford 2006 (veg book)
• Explicit, clear research programme – priorities for
improving and refining the classification, map and
related data – strategic guidance for orgs and
individuals whose work could contribute to building
this science foundation
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Proposed way forward
• Establish a National Ecosystem Classification Committee,
convened by SANBI
• Establish ecosystem classification committees for
freshwater, estuarine, and marine and coastal
environments, along the lines of the Vegetation Map
Committee
• Development of a five-year workplan for ecosystem
classification in each environment, with a view to feeding
into the next NBA and supporting listing of threatened
ecosystems
NB: Needs further discussion with partners, including DEA,
DWA, DAFF, provincial conservation authorities, CSIR,
SAEON, SANParks, WRC, SAIAB, universities