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Critical Biodiversity Areas are the portfolio of sites that are required to meet the region's biodiversity targets, and need to be maintained in the appropriate condition for their category. A map of CBAs for Limpopo was produced to guide development planning and inform decision makers with regard to biodiversity pattern and process.

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This section provides a technical description of the conservation features

and systematic planning process that underlies the revision of the Limpopo Conservation Plan. It is not designed to be a description of the conservation features; an explanation of their importance; or an explanation of systematic spatial biodiversity planning.

Bioregional plan requirements of a systematic conservation plan According to the "Guideline regarding the Determination of Bioregions and the Preparation and Publication of Bioregional Plans" (DEAT 2009) a bioregional plan needs to be a spatial plan showing terrestrial and aquatic features in the landscape that are critical for conserving biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem functioning. A bioregional plan must be based on a systematic biodiversity plan, which is a rigorous, data-driven approach for assessing the location, status and importance of a range of biodiversity features. In addition to the general requirement for a systematic conservation plan, the guidelines specify a range of key characteristics that a conservation plan would need to have before it can be considered to be systematic, and further, details a range of specific issues that need to be addressed in the systematic conservation plan.

This section of the document is aimed at clearly establishing that the underlying process undertaken for the Limpopo Conservation Plan v2 was both systematic in general, and was undertaken in a way which satisfies the requirements outlined in the "Guideline regarding the Determination of Bioregions and the Preparation and Publication of Bioregional Plans" (DEAT 2009).

Is the Limpopo Conservation Plan v2 a systematic conservation plan and does it

meet the guideline requirements?

The "Guideline regarding the Determination of Bioregions and the Preparation and Publication of Bioregional Plans" (DEAT 2009) identifies the key characteristics of a systematic conservation plan as being representation, persistence, quantitative targets, and efficiency and conflict avoidance. The approach taken in the Limpopo Conservation Plan v2 is evaluated below in terms these key characteristics:

- The principle of representation - the plan needs to identify the areas needed to

conserve a representative sample of all biodiversity patterns. Limpopo

Conservation Plan v2 utilizes a revised and updated version of the vegetation

types described in Mucina and Rutherford 2006. Data of the distribution of wetland and river systems was included. In addition to the broad habitats

described above, detailed data on the distribution and habitat requirements of a

range of threatened species were included. These species went through a robust

filtering process to ensure that only appropriate species were included, and that

the data quality was sufficient. Quantitative targets were set for all biodiversity

features to assess the degree to which the identified CBA network sufficiently

included all targets for biodiversity features was evaluated and reported on.

- The principle of persistence - the plan needs to identify the areas required to

support ecological and evolutionary processes that allow biodiversity to persist in

the long term. Limpopo Conservation Plan v2 focuses on three key areas to

ensure that biodiversity persists into the future.

o Climate change: The plan identifies a comprehensive terrestrial and

riverine corridors to ensure linkages are retained between key biodiversity

features; areas supporting climate change resilience (e.g. refuge habitats

and areas with diverse bioclimatic variables) were identified and included

as features in the plan; and other features such as ridges which include

important environmental gradients and linkages were included in the plan.

o Hydrological processes: Key wetland and river systems are include in the

plan. In addition, targets were set for identified priority freshwater

catchments and dolomite systems.

o Species requirements: Area requirements for each of the threatened

species include in the plan were identified and incorporated into the plan.

- Biodiversity targets - quantitative targets are set for both biodiversity pattern

and process features indicating how much of each feature is required to ensure

representation and persistence. Targets were set for all features included within

the plan. Targets ranged from 19% to 31% of original area for particular

vegetation types (with most targets being in the range 19-24%), up to 100% of

known habitat for key threatened species. The target setting process is aligned

with the processes used in other South African systematic plans.

- Efficiency and conflict avoidance - the configuration of priority areas must be

spatially efficient and where possible to avoid conflict with other land uses.

Limpopo Conservation Plan v2 utilizes a cost surface approach in MARXAN (Ball

et al., 2009) for selecting sites which were most important for meeting biodiversity targets for a range of features (this ensures spatial efficiency by

selecting sites which meet targets for a range of features first, and then selecting

the sites which are required for specific features only), while at the same time

avoiding areas with high levels of conflict with other land uses. Conflict with other

land uses was avoided both by being as efficient as possible in selecting sites,

where possible avoiding sites with existing incompatible land uses, aligning with

areas with compatible land uses and existing conservation initiatives (e.g.

biospheres and transfrontier conservation areas), and as far as possible avoiding

areas in close proximity to non-natural areas, roads and areas with mining rights

or known mineral deposits.

Therefore, it is clear that Limpopo Conservation Plan v2 meets all the requirements for being a systematic conservation plan. In addition to these general requirements, the guideline also specifies that a systematic conservation plan must be undertaken at an appropriate scale for informing land-use planning and decision-making, include both terrestrial and aquatic features, identify a portfolio of critical biodiversity areas required to meet targets, use up to date spatial data, use appropriate methods and technology, and be accompanied by a technical report. The Limpopo Conservation Plan v2 meets all of these requirements, viz.:

- Scale: This conservation plan is designed to be used at a scale of approximately 1:50 000, which is appropriate for informing land-use planning and decisionmaking. Although it can be used at a finer scale, this requires specialist

interpretation of the specific features identified in the systematic biodiversity plan.

As with all conservation plans, site visits by biodiversity specialists are necessary

for confirming the accuracy of data, and identifying the specific location and

condition of the biodiversity features when decisions are made at a site level.

- Terrestrial and aquatic features: Both terrestrial and aquatic features are included. Although there is less detail on aquatic habitat types than is included

for terrestrial habitats, variation within aquatic types is addressed by the inclusion

of a range of river and wetland associated species. Priorities for both rivers and

wetlands from the NFEPA project (Nel et al., 2011) were included.

- Identify a portfolio of critical biodiversity areas required to meet targets:

The set of Critical Biodiversity Areas described in the following section meet the

biodiversity targets for all features. Ecological corridors and other areas important for ensuring long term persistence were included in the network of Critical Biodiversity Areas and Ecological Support Areas.

- Use up to date spatial data: Limpopo Conservation Plan v2 makes use of the

most up-to-date, accurate, fine-scale GIS data available. In particular, the landcover data was significantly improved and updated.

- Use appropriate, scientifically sound, up-to-date methodology and techniques, including software and analyses: Limpopo Conservation Plan v2 uses standard and accepted systematic conservation planning methodology and techniques aligned with those used in other systematic conservation planning initiatives.

Available documentation: Limpopo Conservation Plan version 2: Technical Report FINAL.pdf

SANS 1878

FGDC-STD-001-1998