A group of scientists led by eminent NMMU botanist Professor Richard Cowling warned nearly a decade ago that the uncontrolled spread of alien vegetation posed a fire threat that could devastate the Garden Route. Contained in an article in the 2009 edition of the Veld & Flora magazine, which The Herald accessed yesterday after an alert from the Endangered Wildlife Trust … [Read more...]
Critical water resources gobbled up by alien invasives
As South Africa continues to battle the drought which is further impacting on already scarce water supplies, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is implementing measures to conserve wetlands – a primary source of fresh water – and to prevent the loss of water resources to alien invasive plants. Since long before the era of the Egyptian Pharaohs, wetlands have supported the … [Read more...]
Selling your property and the Invasive Species Regulations
Invasive Alien Plants (IAPs) are widely considered as a major threat to biodiversity, human livehoods and economic development. IAPs cost South Africa tens of billions of rand annually in lost agricultural productivity and resources spent on management. On 1 August 2014, the Minister of Environmental Affairs published the Alien and Invasive Species Regulations (“the … [Read more...]
