Critical Biodiversity Areas Statutory Reserves for the Eastern Cape

Processes were incorporated in the assessment by identifying their spatial dimensions and targeting these in their entirety. The spatial dimensions, or components, of processes are actually surrogates for biodiversity processes that operate at a regional scale. Processes included the following (details are described in Cowling et al. 2003): SPATIALLY FIXED - Biome interfaces; Ecological diversification of plant lineages; 500m buffer of untransformed habitat along thicket and adjacent biome (fynbos, grassland, succulent karoo and Nama-karoo); STEP vegetation typesHabitat transformation - Sand movement corridors; Inland movement of marine sands and associated soil development; Functional corridor comprising intact source and sink areas; Sand massesHabitat transformation - Riverine corridors; Migration and exchange between inland and coastal biotas; 250m buffer of untransformed habitat along riverine systems linking coastal and inland subregions; Perennial riversHabitat transformation - Coastal interface; Migration and exchange between patches of coastal thicket; 500m buffer of untransformed habitat along the coast.; CoastlineHabitat transformation SPATIALLY FLEXIBLE - Upland-lowland gradients; Ecological diversification of plant and animal lineages; migration of biota; 1km-wide strip of untransformed habitat linking the upland STEP boundary and the coast within each bio-region; Bio-regionsHabitat transformation - Macroclimatic gradients; Geographic diversification of plant and animal lineages; migration of biota; 1km strip of untransformed habitat linking major biogeographic zones; STEP vegetation typesHabitat transformation

Processes were incorporated in the assessment by identifying their spatial dimensions and targeting these in their entirety. The spatial dimensions, or components, of processes are actually surrogates for biodiversity processes that operate at a regional scale. Processes included the following (details are described in Cowling et al. 2003): SPATIALLY FIXED - Biome interfaces; Ecological diversification of plant lineages; 500m buffer of untransformed habitat along thicket and adjacent biome (fynbos, grassland, succulent karoo and Nama-karoo); STEP vegetation typesHabitat transformation - Sand movement corridors; Inland movement of marine sands and associated soil development; Functional corridor comprising intact source and sink areas; Sand massesHabitat transformation - Riverine corridors; Migration and exchange between inland and coastal biotas; 250m buffer of untransformed habitat along riverine systems linking coastal and inland subregions; Perennial riversHabitat transformation - Coastal interface; Migration and exchange between patches of coastal thicket; 500m buffer of untransformed habitat along the coast.; CoastlineHabitat transformation SPATIALLY FLEXIBLE - Upland-lowland gradients; Ecological diversification of plant and animal lineages; migration of biota; 1km-wide strip of untransformed habitat linking the upland STEP boundary and the coast within each bio-region; Bio-regionsHabitat transformation - Macroclimatic gradients; Geographic diversification of plant and animal lineages; migration of biota; 1km strip of untransformed habitat linking major biogeographic zones; STEP vegetation typesHabitat transformation

STEP Protected Areas. The STEP protected area layer aimed to map all publicly-owned land in the planning domain, as well as all privately-owned land that has conservation as one of its land uses. Not all of these areas can be referred to as protected areas, because some of them do not have conservation as the primary land use. They were, however, incorporated into the layer because they provide opportunities for conservation in the future, owing to fact that they are either state-owned, or they support a framework (e.g. a conservancy agreement among land owners) that offers the potential to negotiate more biodiversity-friendly land use in the future. The layer is thus strictly a conservation potential layer, but the report refers to it as a protected area layer.

Landcover map for the Municipalities adjacent to the Addo Elephant National Park (namely Blue Crane Route, Ndlambe, Ikwezi and Sundays River)

Identified Critical Biodiversity Areas and Ecological Support Areas in the Municipalities adjacent to the Addo Elephant National Park (namely Blue Crane Route, Ndlambe, Ikwezi and Sundays River)

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).

Identified Critical Biodiversity Areas and Ecological Support Areas

Protected areas divided according to legislation and management objectives. The STEP protected area layer aimed to map all publicly-owned land in the planning domain, as well as all privately-owned land that has conservation as one of its land uses. Not all of these areas can be referred to as protected areas, because some of them do not have conservation as the primary land use. They were, however, incorporated into the layer because they provide opportunities for conservation in the future, owing to fact that they are either state-owned, or they support a framework (e.g. a conservancy agreement among land owners) that offers the potential to negotiate more biodiversity-friendly land use in the future. The layer is thus strictly a conservation potential layer, but the report refers to it as a protected area layer.

Terrestrial Critical Biodiversity Areas for the Eastern Cape