Chairperson, ladies and gentlemen and all protocol observed. I thank the organisers for the opportunity to open this international conference today as the Western Cape MEC for Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. We as inhabitants of the Western Cape are indeed in the fortunate position that we live in one of the world's six floral kingdoms. However, the biodiversity in the province is also disproportionately threatened, which is cause for international concern.
This places our Conservation Agency, CapeNature, in a unique position among world conservation agencies. It obviously also comes with a huge responsibility to ensure the judicious management of this internationally unique resource. The importance of catchment areas and rivers in the Western Cape is paramount because the province is primarily a winter rainfall area with few natural lakes. Water supplies for various sectors are generally sourced from rivers and stored in dams, although there are a growing number of users of groundwater sources.
Healthy natural ecosystems provide life support systems to the people of the region, such as a steady supply of fresh, potable water, clean air, flood retention services, and many more. One of the important aspects of biodiversity and environmental conservation is the fact that people live and work in the natural landscape and many make a direct living out of it, all of us are very specifically dependent on it. While it remains difficult to put a direct value to the natural environment and to quantify the benefits of the life support systems provided by a healthy environment, there can be no doubt that the destruction and degradation of natural habitats in the Western Cape will have a significant negative impact on the lives of all its inhabitants.
One of the most significant impacts is the invasion of natural, healthy ecosystems by invasive alien species, especially in our fragile catchment areas which are the engine rooms for water production in the Western Cape. The introduction of large woody alien invasive plant species to the landscape of the Western Cape has had a severe impact on the water resources, so much so that water run-off in catchments infested by invasive alien plants can be reduced by 30 percent to 80 percent.
Invasive alien plants cause major economic impacts through the non-productive use of water. Invasive alien plants are responsible for reducing stream-flow from catchment areas, and for reducing groundwater supplies. This reduction impacts on the economy in two ways:
- It reduces the ability of existing water supply schemes to deliver sufficient water to meet demands, especially in dry periods. It is thus necessary to build additional (or bigger) supply schemes, at considerable expense, to meet demands. Because invasive alien plants spread, their impact grows rapidly if they are not controlled. A combination of rising demand and diminishing water supply means that new or bigger schemes have to be built sooner, another negative economic impact.
- It reduces the total quantity of water available for human use. Because water is a limiting resource for economic development, removing water for consumption, means that the scope for development is reduced. Woody alien plant species also contribute significantly to the distortion of natural fuel loads and is directly responsible for extremely intense fires in the fire prone fynbos vegetation of the Western Cape. This also impacts negatively on the water retention potential and structure of the fragile fynbos soils which exacerbates the negative impact of invasive plant species on water production. Some of our more sensitive endemic plant species, and there are many, are also not adapted to the fire regimes crafted by the high intensity fires.
Recently, it has also been shown convincingly that the threat of global climate change will be significantly felt in the Western Cape, especially the western parts of the region. With a predicted lower and more a seasonal rainfall and higher temperatures, more extreme climatic events such as heavier downpours and more frequent flooding, the Western Cape appears to be fairly vulnerable to a changing climate. South Africa has the highest rainfall variability coefficient in the world (113 percent) and scientific evidence indicated that we will be significantly impacted upon by these realities.
Chairperson, with a concomitant increase in fire frequency and a predicted increase in the rate of invasion by alien species, it would appear that, specifically the Western Cape catchment areas may be under mounting pressure. It is indeed catchments which are on the receiving end of landscape pressures, and in adopting a management approach of “catchment to coast” or “source to sea”, the Western Cape government's challenge through its Conservation Agency, is to respond effectively to this threat. The Western Cape is fortunate that our conservation agency is already in a position where most of its protected areas either comprise large proportions of freshwater catchments, or protect important elements of catchments.
Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasions (EMAPI) conferences have become the premier international forum for scientific research in the field of plant invasions and their management. On behalf of the Western Cape government, I would like to thank the organisers for bringing EMAPI to our province. This event offers the opportunity for us to learn and share experiences with the over 200 delegates from all corners of the world.
Very importantly, we have strong delegations from various South African conservation agencies and from the Working for Water programme. Now in its 14th year, Working for Water employs more than 30 000 people across South Africa, and has cleared about two million hectares of land of invasive alien plants. It is, in many respects, model conservation and restoration programme that fulfils both social and environments aims.
This conference is hosted by the Centre of Excellence (CIB) for Invasion Biology, right here at the University of Stellenbosch. The Western Cape is proud to host the headquarters of CIB at Stellenbosch University. In its first five years of existence, the CIB has established itself as one of the world’s top centres for research on all aspects related to invasive species.
Bearing what I’ve said in mind, I wish you well in your deliberations. May this be a useful and enjoyable conference. If you have any free time, also explore something of the natural beauty of the Western Cape. But most importantly, please help us tackle the problems of plant invasions.
I thank you.
