Page 22 - State of Biodiversity 2018/19

Development within the EMA, over the past 50 years in particular, has been unrelenting, and vast tracts of indigenous grassland and forest/thicket vegetation types have disappeared under a mixture of urban and industrial development. While some transformation has progressed, certain vegetation types like the Eastern Scarp Forest has expanded and this expansion
Table 4: Historical and current areas for EM vegetation types
can be attributed to lack of fire events, habitat fragmentation and increased carbon dioxide, which supports woody plant and other vegetation types such as Coastal forest and grassland mosaic has been transformed to an extent that conservation targets cannot be met (Table 4).
Historical
Area (ha)
Area Remaining (ha)
Target
Target (ha)
Percent Remaining (%)
Shortfall (ha)
Coastal forest and grassland mosaic
20 690
1 720
0.72
14 833
8
-13 113
Dune forest
2 039
590
0.69
1 411
29
-821
Eastern scarp forest_above 450
1 692
3 096
0.62
1 042
183
2 053
Eastern scarp forest below 450
3 872
9 295
0.62
2 386
240
6 909
Eastern valley bushveld
76 340
40 377
0.25
19 085
53
21 292
Grassland other geology above 450
6 569
1 556
0.25
1 642
24
-86
Grassland other geology below 450
48 020
1 176
0.25
12 005
2
-10 829
KZNSS above 450
35 730
7 043
0.25
8 933
20
-1 889
KZNSS below 450
37 220
3 163
0.25
9 305
8
-6 142
Mangroves
492
82
1
492
17
-411
Sub-tropical dune thicket
199
199
1
193
100
6
Sub-tropical seashore vegetation
17
17
1
16
100
1
Swamp forest
55
55
1
55
100
0
Wetland
16 860
11 673
0.24
4 046
69
7 627
STATE OF BIODIVERSITY REPORT 2018/2019
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