Background
What are the threats to nature conservation in Giba?
The biggest threat to nature conservation in Giba is the displacement of natural habitat by other more degraded forms, such as feral gum plantations, polluted rivers, etc. Ideally, one should get to the root causes of these problems and prevent these from occurring. For instance, illegal commercial muthi harvesting in Giba has lead to the destruction of many canopy forest trees. This has opened up gaps in the forest thereby allowing for the increased penetration of light to the forest floor. Many alien invasive plant species out compete indigenous species in occupying these new gaps that have opened up. The root causes of this problem are two-fold:
1.) The existence of alien plants in the area – through the introduction of ornamental species, escapees from gum, wattle and pine plantations, and other uncontrolled introductions. This problem is huge and can only be solved if every landowner in Giba and surrounding suburbs (state and private) combines efforts to effectively eradicate these species.
Pine trees growing in the grassland.
Yellow Bells invading good quality grassland.
Ginger Lilly – highly invasive in Giba’s forests.
2.) Commercial muthi harvesting –traditional muthi harvesting carried out by trained nyangas utilises sustainable harvesting techniques and has little negative impact on the natural environment. The commercial form of this practice, however, has dire consequences to the environment and, if not controlled, can lead to the destruction of entire habitats. In Giba, the forest habitats are under the greatest threat from this activity.
Ring-barked forest tree
Commercial muthi harvesting bust - 2007
Other common threats in Giba include:
- Pollution and sedimentation of rivers
- Soil erosion
- Unplanned fire regimes
- Hunting
Confiscated weapon and animal remains as a result of hunting.
Given that problems such as these are likely to persist in Giba Gorge in the short and medium term, intensive management of these threats is necessary if we are to secure these natural areas in their current (and improved upon) form.
What are the consequences of not conserving?
If conservation management interventions are not undertaken in Giba and the current level of threats are allowed to continue unabated, many of us will witness (in our lifetimes), the almost complete transformation of these habitats. Due to a lack of management in recent years, the signs are already here, i.e. areas of forest highly infested with gums, camphors and ginger lilly, grasslands that have been encroached on by pioneer woody species and rivers that have been infilled with sediment from poor road maintenance practices.
Fortunately a large proportion of the GGEP is still in a natural or semi-natural state but the warnings are clear – ignore the situation and we will witness the rapid localized extinction of many plants and animal species that have existed here for hundreds of thousands of years.
While the consequences for plant and animal species are obvious, the consequences of not conserving these areas for humans are less obvious. Natural indigenous areas, such as Giba, are becoming increasingly rare in the urban centres of South Africa. As one of the few vestiges of our natural heritage in the outer west area of Durban, Giba offers landowners a unique sense of place. Advantages of living here include aesthetic appeal and spiritual well being. Imagine the consequences if the entire area was to be infested with gums! It would become just another degraded landscape! What would the impacts of this be on property values, for instance?
Pristine grasslands abut Winston Park
Gum-infested landscapes abound just downstream from Giba in the Umhlatuzana Valley
Evidence of encroaching alien gum trees under control in Giba
There are also consequences to less affluent communities downstream of Giba, such as those in Tshelimnyama that benefit from the ecosystem goods services that this area supplies. These include water filtration services, pollinators for their crops and soil formation processes – for a community that is more directly reliant on nature for its well being, these are essential services that come free of charge.
The community of Tshelimnyama, downstream of Giba.
The community of Tshelimnyama, downstream of Giba.
What can private landowners do to help achieve the GGEP goals?
Prevent activities on your residential site from degrading the surrounding natural environment. These include:
- growing invasive plants – for a list of what species are of the greatest threat to Giba and what landowners can do to control them, visit Alien Plant Gallery.
- dumping of garden material, litter etc into the adjacent grasslands, forests and river systems. The impacts are especially significant for grasslands. This is because these habitats are naturally nutrient-poor environments with most of the species here having adapted to these conditions over many millennia. A sudden influx of nutrients, e.g. from dumped lawn, to the system allows other species (such as alien plants) to colonise these areas leading to the displacement of the natural grassland.
Dumped organic matter and proliferation of alien plants just behind.
