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Some people wonder how can we talk about conservation of plants and animals in a world where people are starving, disease is spreading, and people crowd together in unhygienic and inhuman conditions. Biodiversity is not about enjoying a game drive, or having an attractive picnic spot. Rather, it is about the richness and variation of life forms and genetics within a system - the old circle of life you studied at school. Everything depends on something else - however obscure, unattractive, or seemingly insignificant it may appear to be. Biodiversity is the bigger picture behind "saving the rhino/elephant/cheetah" or any other highly marketable and photogenic animal you care to mention. Ecological services also rely on biodiversity. These are literally the services nature provides which sustain life, and which are provided without financial cost. Think about: wetlands filtering water, controlling flooding and groundwater recharge; decomposition of waste; pollination of crops; seed dispersal; and many more, including landscapes that are pleasing to the eye. Biodiversity matters because without this ecological variety, the ecosystem will collapse, and the resources required to sustain life and livelihood will have vanished. Sadly, most people believe this will happen 'some time in the future". It is difficult for them to see the degradation and impoverishment of ecological system as affecting us here and now. Especially it seems difficult for those who have access to "alternative" resources through their economic status to be concerned about biodiversity when it seems so far removed. If you are wealthy enough to have services provided - like a water filter in your kitchen, and refuse removal services - you may be cushioned temporarily from the effects of a degraded ecosystem.
FACT: To meet biodiversity targets in Gauteng, 25% of the province would need to be conserved.
Luxury or necessity
Of the total 47.9million people in South Africa, 23.7% reside in Gauteng. That means 11.3 million people demanding resources - water, electricity, sewage treatment, waste disposal .. and the space to be human.
Can we see the long-term implications of paving arable land? It would seem not. Often the aesthetics and economic prosperity conceal the damage. A lush green golf course appears attractive; the herbicide runoff is concealed, the massive consumption of water is "marketed" away. Neatly trimmed exotic vegetation appears attractive yet is not the natural habitat of the grassland and "unkept" savannah. An extract from the State of the environment report for 2006:
"...trends suggest that we continue to assume that
resources such as water, energy, minerals, plant and animal products and air quality will constantly be available no matter how we live, produce and consume. We have also viewed our rivers, seas, land and air as unending sinks for increasing amounts of solid, liquid or airborne wastes – but the increasing degradation of our natural resources clearly indicates these sinks can no longer cope. This unsustainable approach is also causing increasing inequality. The spatial distribution of poverty in South Africa indicates that it is not usually the poor who are benefiting from rising resource consumption and waste. To redress the consequences of unsustainable growth requires more and more public and private funds – which could otherwise be invested in poverty eradication and job creation. A development strategy that depends on the acceleration of material economic growth will hit increasingly costly resource constraints resulting in unsustainable development. This is because increasing resource use and rising levels of unproductive waste result in a waste of money, which means less money is available for investment in economic and social development. By improving our planning tools, developing our human resources appropriately, raising awareness and applying cutting-edge technology for sustainable development, we can counteract the above trends.” Source: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (2006)
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Rhenosterspruit Nature Conservancy relies on members to give input and ensure wide representivity of views and needs.
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