The Western Cape Biodiversity Spatial Plan (WCBSP) is the product of a systematic biodiversity planning assessment that delineates, on a map (via a Geographic Information System (GIS)), Critical Biodiversity Areas (CBAs) and Ecological Support Areas (ESAs) which require safeguarding to ensure the continued existence and functioning of species and ecosystems, including the delivery of ecosystem services, across terrestrial and freshwater realms. These spatial priorities are used to inform sustainable development in the Western Cape Province. This product replaces all previous systematic biodiversity planning products and sector plans with updated layers and features.

Special Habitats layer for the Cape Agulhas, De Hoop Management Area, Overstrand, Drakenstein Municipality, Swartland, Swellendam and Theewaterskloof Municipalities.

Baviaanskloof Mega-Reserve Protected Areas. This layer shows the protected areas within the Baviaanskloof Mega-Reserve planning domain and surrounding areas. It includes National Parks, Provincial and Municipal nature reserves, publicly owned land which has been declared as reserves and privately owned land which is managed for conservation (i.e. conservancies).

Map of the vegetation types of South Africa (including Prince Edward and Marion Islands), Lesotho and Swaziland (Mucina & Rutherford 2006). There are 444 zonal and azonal vegetation types mapped at a working scale of 1:250 000 and sometimes better. The map is the result of a collaborative project involving about 60 individual contributors from a number of organizations. Includes some mapping from Fine Scale Planning in Western Cape Province including: Fixed forest at Eastern Cape/KwaZulu-Natal border that had been inadvertently deleted. Saldanha Peninsula, Bokkeveld and Sandveld Fine Scale Planning domains as done by Helme & Koopman (2007) and Helme (2007a,b). Breede River Valley by Helme (2007) Little Karoo by Vlok, Cowling, Wolf, (2005). Hantam/Tanqua/Roggeveld by van der Merwe et al (2008a,b). Recommended projections of decimal degrees data: South Africa: Use in view with Map units decimal degrees, Distance units kilometers, or projected view with map units meters, projection Albers, WGS84, Central meridian 24, Reference latitude 0, Standard parallel 1 -30, Standard parallel 2 -20, no false Easting or Northing. Prince Edward Islands: Data are in UTM projection, WGS84, Central Meridian 37 E. Use in view with Map units meters, Distance units kilometers. - The updates are within an area (domain) and there is no systematic matching across the domain line to ensure that mapping on the other side of the domain line benefits from the efforts within the domain line. - The scale within a domain does not match the scale of mapping outside the domain line resulting in uneven levels of detail. - The descriptions of vegetation types have not been systematically updated to reflect the new spatial extent of vegetation described, nor the conservation status, and so forth. - Descriptions are available for new vegetation types. - The National Biodiversity Assessment has been done with the 2006 version of the map for these reasons listed above. - Gazetted threatened ecosystem list is based on vegm2006 so that they do not reflect the updated mapping. It is important for those involved in using the list of threatened ecosystems at the policy end to know when a new version of the veg map becomes available - there are likely to be queries about how this relates to the veg types in the gazetted list and how e.g. EIA practitioners should deal with veg map changes that impact on listed veg types. References Mucina, L. & Rutherford, M.C. (eds) 2006. The vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Strelitzia 19.South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. 800 pp. Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C. & Powrie, L.W. (eds) 2005. Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, 1:1 000 000 scale sheet maps. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. ISBN 1-919976-22-1 MUCINA, L., RUTHERFORD, M.C. & POWRIE, L.W. (eds) 2007. Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, edn 2, 1:1 000 000 scale sheet maps. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. ISBN 978-1-919976-42-6. Helme, N. A. 2007. Botanical report: Fine scale vegetation mapping of the Bokkeveld Escarpment. Report for CapeNature, as part of the C.A.P.E. programme. Helme, N. A. 2007. Botanical report: Fine scale vegetation mapping in the Sandveld. Report for CapeNature, as part of the C.A.P.E. programme. Helme, N. A. and R. Koopman. 2007. Botanical report: Fine scale vegetation mapping in the Saldanha Peninsula. Report for CapeNature, as part of the C.A.P.E. programme. Helme, N. A. 2007. Botanical report: Fine scale vegetation mapping in the Upper Breede River Valley. Report for CapeNature, as part of the C.A.P.E. programme. Vlok, J.H.J., Cowling, R.M. & Wolf, T., 2005. A vegetation map for the Little Karoo. Unpublished maps and report for a SKEP project supported by CEPF grant no 1064410304.

Using the latest provincial vegetation map, accumulated transformation maps of the province and the biodiversity conservation targets for vegetation types, the conservation status for all the vegetation types were calculated. The degree of protection for each VT was calculated using formal protected areas and proclaimed stewardship nature reserves. KZN has four major biomes consisting of Grasslands, Savannas, Forests and the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt. Of the 101 VT’s and subtypes, 19 are Critically Endangered, 16 Endangered and 16 Vulnerable. Twenty six are adequately protected and meet their biodiversity conservation target, whilst 11 have 0% protection and a further 14 have less than 1% formal protection. This information is vital to guide conservation planning and protected area expansion in the province.

Protected areas for the George, Knysna & Bitou Municipalities

Protected areas for the Mossel Bay Municipality

Gouritz Initiative - Processes - North-South Gouritz Corridor

The Western Cape Biodiversity Spatial Plan (WCBSP) is the product of a systematic biodiversity planning assessment that delineates, on a map (via a Geographic Information System (GIS)), Critical Biodiversity Areas (CBAs) and Ecological Support Areas (ESAs) which require safeguarding to ensure the continued existence and functioning of species and ecosystems, including the delivery of ecosystem services, across terrestrial and freshwater realms. These spatial priorities are used to inform sustainable development in the Western Cape Province. This product replaces all previous systematic biodiversity planning products and sector plans with updated layers and features.

Protected areas for the Saldanha Municipality