Volume II - The Northern Cape Provincial Spatial Development ...

Northern Cape PSDF
Volume 2
C.3.3 PROTECTED NATURE AREAS
December 2011
The Northern Cape includes the Richtersveld Botanical and Landscape World Heritage Site
which has been inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site under the World Heritage
Convention. The World Heritage Site sits in the heart of the Succulent Karoo Biodiversity
Hotspot ‐ an ecosystem with approximately 4 850 succulent plants, 40% to 60% of which are
endemic to the area. The Province furthermore includes the Orange River Mouth Ramsar
Site which focuses on the conservation of the riverine and estuarine ecosystem of the
Orange River.
The formally protected areas in the Northern Cape currently represent an area of
approximately 14 000 km². This area represents 3.8% of the total area of the Province. This
area constitutes 2 transfrontier conservation areas established in terms of international
protocols and agreements (i.e. the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and the Richtersveld/Ai‐Ais
Transfrontier Part), 5 national parks, and 6 provincial reserves (refer to the table below and
Map C.10).
Table C.2: Northern Cape national and provincial protected areas (Source: Department of
Environmental Affairs).
NORTHERN CAPE PROTECTED AREAS AREA (KM²)
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (South Africa) 9 591
Richterveld National Park 1 610
Tankwa Karoo National Park 800
Namaqua National Park 686
Augrabies FallsNational Park 554
Mokala National Park 196
Goegap Nature Reserve 148
Doornkloof Nature Reserve 119
Nababiep Nature Reserve 109
Rolfontein Nature Reserve 81
Oorlogskloof Nature Reserve 47
Witsand Nature Reserve 32
Total Area Formally Protected 13 973
It is estimated that approximately 16.5% of South Africa’s land cover has been transformed,
and a further 10% degraded (Wynberg, 2002). Sensitive arid habitat such as the Succulent
Karoo Biome of the Northern Cape Province is particularly prone to degradation as a result
of overgrazing, alien invasive species and mining (CEPF, 2003). The aridity of the climate
precludes rapid recovery of degraded areas. When examining veld degradation in terms of
severity and rate of degradation, the Northern Cape emerged as the third most degraded
Province in South Africa, after the Limpopo Province and KwaZulu‐Natal (Hoffman and
Ashwell, 2001).
Office of the Premier &
Department of Rural Development & Land Reform
33
Dennis Moss Partnership