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Are We Destroying Our Insurance Policy? The Effects of Alien Invasion and Subsequent Restoration

A Case Study of the Kromme River System, South Africa

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Landscape Ecology for Sustainable Environment and Culture

Abstract

Securing sufficient and reliable water supply is a priority for many countries worldwide, but their efforts are hindered by widespread landscape degradation and uncertainty around future climate change. We used historical aerial photographs and mapping techniques to investigate how a South African landscape has changed over the past century. The Kromme River Catchment, a valuable water-providing catchment for the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan hub, has become heavily degraded. The floodplain wetlands, which historically occupied the entire valley floor, have been almost completely replaced by agriculture or invaded by the alien tree Acacia mearnsii. Some efforts have been made to restore the wetlands and control the invasive plants, but our results show that at the current rate of clearing it would take 30 years before A. mearnsii would be brought under control. We recommend that investment should be made, as a type of insurance for natural capital, in restoring resilience in important water-providing catchments to hedge against future climatic uncertainties.

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Acknowledgments

Thank-you to the following people for invaluable support and guidance: Katie Gull, Mr Japie Buckle, Mr Pierre Joubert, Prof James Blignaut, Mr Mike Powell, GIS Consultancy Garth Stephenson. Thank-you to my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. All my work is dedicated to You. Thank-you to the following organizations for funding and support: ASSET Research, the Water Research Commission of South Africa, the Fynbos Forum Innovation Scholarship (Table Mountain Fund and WWF), the HB Thom Fund, Dudley D’Ewes Scholarship (Cape Tercentenary Foundation), the Ernst and Ethel Eriksen Trust.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Alanna J. Rebelo & Karen J. Esler

  2. Natural Resources and the Environment, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Stellenbosch, South Africa

    David le Maitre

  3. Centre for Invasion Biology (C.I.B), Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Karen J. Esler

  4. Department of Botany, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

    Richard M. Cowling

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  1. Alanna J. Rebelo
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  2. David le Maitre
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  3. Karen J. Esler
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  4. Richard M. Cowling
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Correspondence to Alanna J. Rebelo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Res. Center for Eco-Environmental Sci., Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, People's Republic

    Bojie Fu

  2. University of Nevada, Desert Research Institute University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

    K. Bruce Jones

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Rebelo, A.J., le Maitre, D., Esler, K.J., Cowling, R.M. (2013). Are We Destroying Our Insurance Policy? The Effects of Alien Invasion and Subsequent Restoration . In: Fu, B., Jones, K. (eds) Landscape Ecology for Sustainable Environment and Culture. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6530-6_16

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