EWT Drylands Conservation team participates in 2024 Fynbos Forum
By Dr Samantha Mynhardt and Insauf De Vries
Renier Basson speaking about insects and fynbos conservation
Members of the EWT’s Drylands Conservation Programme (DCP) participated in this year’s Fynbos Forum in Stellenbosch earlier this month, sharing information about efforts to conserve golden moles and insects, and the partnership with communities to promote tourism in areas rich with Fynbos.
The forum, first held in 2020, is an affiliation of natural scientists, researchers, planners, managers, landowners and stakeholders that meet annually to discuss the collaborative production of knowledge that underpins regional conservation efforts in the Fynbos biome in South Africa. As a transdisciplinary regional learning network, the forum supports discussions on management issues and research results, and formulates priorities for future research and conservation management actions required to ensure the conservation and sustainability of Fynbos ecosystems.
Notable keynote speakers included Dr. Jasper Slingsby from the University of Cape Town, who spoke about BioSCape – The Biodiversity Survey of the Cape, and Rupert Barnard and Michelle de Bruyn from non-profit, Wild Restoration. They spoke about the collaborative action network for invasive clearing groups in the Greater Cape Floristic Region and the power of partnerships in conservation.
From the EWT’s DCP team, Dr Samantha Mynhardt presented a talk on golden moles entitled “Conserving the Golden Moles of the South African West Coast”. Golden moles are subterranean mammals that are endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, many with restricted ranges due to poor dispersal ability. These moles are highly vulnerable to population fragmentation and isolation and continue to face ongoing threats, such as habitat transformation, mining, and agriculture. Of the 21 species, ten are listed as either Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. A total of 6 occur in the Drylands of South Africa, some of which overlap with the Fynbos biome. Dr Mynhardt spoke about how the EWT has been working towards the conservation of the De Winton’s- (Cryptochloris wintoni) and Van Zyl’s- (Cryptochloris zyli) Golden Moles, by developing methods to track them down in the wild, better understand their distribution, and protect their habitat. Including how, after trialing various detection methods such as thermal imaging drones, scent detection dogs and environmental DNA (eDNA), we were able to rediscover the De Winton’s golden mole in 2023 – a species that had been lost to science for over 80 years. We are using eDNA to map golden mole species distributions; an approach that has the potential to revolutionise the field of conservation science.
Alrie van Wyk presenting about the Papkuilsfontein initiatives
Dr Samantha Mynhardt speaks about the conservation of golden moles on South Africa’s West Coast
Team member Renier Basson presented a talk on the endemic and Endangered insects of the Fynbos highlighting unique species that are adapted to the Fynbos biome, and species that are of conservation concern. The aim of his talk was to inform the audience about the elusive biology of endemic insects , the ecological role they play, their threat status, and why they are threatened. There are approximately 9,000 Fynbos species and roughly 70% of those are endemic. Discussing threatened taxonomic groups such as Restio Grasshoppers (Betiscoides spp.), butterflies in the genera Chrysoritis, Thestor, Orachrysops and Trida, and Cape Stag Beetles (Colophon spp.), he mentioned that the biology of many of these threatened groups remain unknown, which makes decision-making in terms of conservation very challenging.
Alrie van Wyk, one of the DCP stewardship landowners, spoke about the EWT’s Via Ferrata initiative at Papkuilsfontein Guest Farm in a talk entitled “Experiencing Fynbos on the Edge”. The Via Ferrata roughly translates to iron trail – in reference to an iron cable installed along the cliffs of the Oorlogskloof Gorge at the farm. Situated on the Bokkeveld Plateau, near Nieuwoudtville, the farm contains unique Fynbos and Succulent biomes, which are both biodiversity hotspots, as well as the Nama Karoo Biome. The convergence of the various biomes results in exceptionally high biodiversity. Nieuwoudtville is known as the bulb capital of the world and is thus a popular tourist destination during the flower season. But, this season is short and, in some years, less financially beneficial due to poor flower displays. To make tourism an inclusive and sustainable future economic contributor in support of sustainable land management, partners are working together to reimagine this approach. As such the EWT-DCP team introduced the van Wyks to adventure tourism as a means to provide a much-needed opportunity to develop a sustainable income stream based on an immersive and uniquely tailored experience. This includes a Via Ferrata – a safe, guided rock-climbing experience within the Papkuilsfontein protected environment that showcases the unique Fynbos biodiversity found on the edges of the Oorlogskloof Gorge. Alrie’s presentation highlighted how this project became a pathway to community upliftment, contributed to resilience of the landscape, and allowed for financial returns to flow back into the conservation of the biodiversity on the farm. Her talk won the prize for the Best Presentation. We are extremely proud of her!
Overall, the Fynbos Forum presented a great opportunity for our team to connect with one another, and to network with the broader Western Cape conservation community. We walked away with renewed enthusiasm to contribute to future research and conservation management actions required to ensure the conservation and sustainability of Fynbos ecosystems.
The EWT projects and attendance of the event were made possible by Table Mountain Fund and Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund.