Impacts of urbanization in a biodiversity hotspot: Conservation challenges in Metropolitan Cape Town

The City of Cape Town (City) covers 2460 km2 in the southwestern corner of the Cape Floristic Region biodiversity hotspot. Established in 1654, by 1700 there were no animals larger than 50 kg within 200 km of the City. However, apart from an appreciation that timber and firewood were becoming scarce, it was only in the 1930s that the first farm near Cape Point was set aside for conservation. Table Mountain was declared a National Monument in 1958, while it was largely covered by pine and gum plantations. Conservation of the montane areas thereafter expanded, whereas the lowlands were largely ignored, except for a few bird sanctuaries. Only in 1982 was the plight of the lowlands highlighted. Although ad hoc conservation planning was undertaken subsequently, 1997 saw the first priority categorization and conservation plan. The current situation is perilous: a huge effort will be required to meet basic conservation targets for the lowland vegetation types and threatened species. Local and international partners and funders will be key to achieving this. In eight of the City's 19 national vegetation types the minimum conservation targets are not achievable. Of the 3250 plant species estimated to occur in the City, 13 are extinct and 319 are threatened according to the IUCN Red List: this is 18% of the threatened Red List species in South Africa. Now for the first time, implementation is being attempted holistically across the metropole with discussion between internal City and external stakeholders to implement the conservation plan. However, the interim plans towards achieving this — that 60% of the unproclaimed target is secured by 2014, requires that over 40 km2 be conserved per annum. This leaves 340 km2 that should be secured by 2020 when projections from City spatial growth indicate that the last critical remnants will be urbanized.