Service Contract No 2007 / 147-446 Strategic ... - Swaziland

Figure 16:Map of Swaziland showing the four ecosystems developed and adoptedby the NBSAPSource: National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP)The area covered by each of these ecosystems varies greatly with aquatic and forestecosystems accounting for just 6% of Swaziland’s total area. The savanna ecosystem hasthe greatest area under protection (5%), while just 2% of each of the other three ecosystemsis currently protected.Plants and animals are not uniformly distributed across the four ecosystems. The distributionof vertebrates in relation to these ecosystems has been studied (Monadjem et al. 2003) andcan be used as an example. The savanna ecosystem supports the highest number ofspecies, followed by montane grassland, aquatic ecosystem and lastly forest (Table 11).Furthermore, species composition varies greatly between ecosystems. The “afromontane”fauna corresponds with aquatic ecosystems in high-lying montane grasslands, while the“East African lowland” fauna corresponds with aquatic ecosystems in low-lying savannas.Similarly, there appear to be two broad mammalian faunas (Monadjem, 1998); onecorresponds with montane grasslands, while the other with low-lying savannas. Though notquantified, a similar pattern seems to be evident in the avifauna. It is interesting to note thatthe greatest number of endemic and near-endemic vertebrates occur in the montanegrassland ecosystem (Table 11). Interestingly, trees show a different pattern to that ofvertebrates, with forests having the highest diversity (this is discussed further, below).RDMU (Strategic Environmental Assessment of the National Adaptation Strategy) - Page 66