The coast is not considered a realm, per se, but rather a cross-realm zone within which we have compiled the results from the National Biodiversity Assessment 2018 for the coastal portions of the terrestrial and marine realms and including all estuaries. Inland aquatic features are not included at this time. Ecosystem Threat Status and Protection level was calculated as part of the National Biodiversity Assessment process for 2018. These two metrics indicate the current status and protection level of South Africa’s ecosystems as determined by the National Biodiversity Assessment 2018 Process. The data forms the foundation for many land use decision processes including conservation planning. The cross-realm integration has allowed us to distil and highlight key messages and findings for the coast specifically, which were previously lost when each component of the coast was split among the realms and reported on separately.

Harris, L.R., Bessinger, M., Dayaram, A., Holness, S., Kirkman, S., Livingstone, T.-C., Lombard, A.T., Lück-Vogel, M., Pfaff, M., Sink, K.J., Skowno, A.L., Van Niekerk, L., 2019. Advancing land-sea integration for ecologically meaningful coastal conservation and management. Biological Conservation 237, 81-89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.020

This version will be updated with subsequent iterations periodically as new data is produced.

This dataset may not be reproduced by any means, nor redistributed via web site or ftp site, without prior permission. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of data, users are advised to use the dataset and conclusions drawn from its use with caution. Users noting errors and omissions are requested to notify Linda Harris (harris.linda.r@gmail.com) to improve data accuracy. These data are not for resale or replicating. This digital version is in the public domain requiring only the conventional acknowledgement of source in publications and reports. harris.linda.r@gmail.com This dataset may not be reproduced by any means, nor redistributed via web site or ftp site, without prior permission. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of data, users are advised to use the dataset and conclusions drawn from its use with caution. Users noting errors and omissions are requested to notify Linda Harris (harris.linda.r@gmail.com) to improve data accuracy. These data are not for resale or replicating. This digital version is in the public domain requiring only the conventional acknowledgement of source in publications and reports.

APPROPRIATE USE OF THIS DATASET: The NBA 2018 coast Threat Assessment and Protection Level layer has been created for national purposes and the boundaries of some ecosystem types are mapped at a coarse scale. Therefore, the map may act as a guide to the marine ecosystems in a region but is not appropriate for any work requiring fine scale investigations. Much of the map still requires field verification.

PROJCS["AEA_RSA_WGS84",GEOGCS["GCS_WGS_1984",DATUM["D_WGS_1984",SPHEROID["WGS_1984",6378137.0,298.257223563]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0.0],UNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]],PROJECTION["Albers"],PARAMETER["False_Easting",0.0],PARAMETER["False_Northing",0.0],PARAMETER["Central_Meridian",25.0],PARAMETER["Standard_Parallel_1",-24.0],PARAMETER["Standard_Parallel_2",-33.0],PARAMETER["Latitude_Of_Origin",0.0],UNIT["Meter",1.0]]

In the National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment 2004 (Driver et al. 2004) and National Biodiversity Assessment 2011 (Driver et al. 2012), the terrestrial, freshwater/inland aquatic, estuarine and marine realms were assessed independently. Although this is appropriate given their substantial differences, a key issue has always been that the land-sea interface was overlooked as a coherent ecological entity.

In the National Biodiversity Assessment 2018 (Skowno et al. 2019), we sought to address the limitations described above. Substantial efforts have been made to align the realms at the land-sea interface in order to better represent coastal ecosystem types, and to better assess headline indicators for ecosystem types that have cross-realm linkages and dependencies.

SANS 1878

FGDC-STD-001-1998