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with agricultural activities. This example is fairly common within the eThekwini context as sugarcane has become one of the most important agricultural activities within the municipal area and has resulted in the extensive loss of grasslands. Other forms of transformation include degradation, which is a decrease in the health and functioning of a natural system over time as a result of surrounding human pressures. Lastly, fragmentation is the splitting up of large vegetation types into smaller ones from human developments such as roads and housing. This separation limits the movement of biodiversity
within the vegetation type and slowly degrades its health. All these types of shifts from natural vegetation into transformed land result in irreversible change with loss of habitat, species, genetic variability and connectivity all being removed. This ultimately impacts and reduces the effectiveness and range of environmental goods and services that these areas could provide to both humans and other natural systems. Many of these services, such as supply of water and food, have a direct impact on people’s lives and as these habitats are degraded, these services diminish.
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