Subsistence farming and conservation constrains in coastal peat swamp forests of the Kosi Bay Lake system, Maputaland, South Africa

• Autores: Piet-Louis Grundling, Jan Sliva, George Bredenkamp, Christoph Moning, Retief Grobler
• Localización: Géocarrefour: Revue de géographie de Lyon, ISSN 0035-113X, Vol. 79, Nº. 4, 2004 (Ejemplar dedicado a: La conservation des tourbières = The conservation of peat-lands), págs. 317-324
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Maputaland is a region of exceptionally rich biodiversity located in the north-eastern corner of Kwazulu-Natal and forms the southern most tip of the Mozambique coastal plain. It can be considered as the most southern end of the tropics in Africa and consequently many tropical species reach their southern most distribution boundary here. Maputaland is the largest peat containing region in South Africa with 60 % of the country's peat present therein. Coastal peat swamps forests are more abundant in Maputaland than anywhere else in South Africa, but remain poorly studied as far as their vegetation composition, structure, functioning, and the nature and impact of exploitation on them are concerned.

    In this ongoing study an initial vegetation and environmental dataset of May 2003 was used to assess the impact of subsistence farming, predominately with madumbes (Colocasia esculenta) and bananas (Musa xparadisiaca), on coastal peat swamp forests. A TWINSPAN numerical classification resulted in the identification of 10 vegetation groups, exhibiting a gradient from pristine to highly disturbed peat swamp forests. The pristine peat swamp forest group is separated on the degree of wetness, ranging from wet to dry peat swamp forests, while the highly disturbed group is divided according to the presence or absence of active gardening. A Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA ordination) determined anthropogenic practices involving tree felling and peat draining as the main factors responsible for peat swamp forest habitat modification. The change in swamp forest structure and peat hydrology critically threatens the continued existence and ecological functioning of these systems. This impacts negatively on habitat and biodiversity loss and will eventually deprive the rural community of a sustainable gardening environment, bring about a change in the lake system's nutrient balance, and even reduce available sources of clean and fresh water.

    The situation poses an urgent conservation challenge for the conservation agency and local community whose livelihood is intricately interwoven and pivoted around their peat swamp forest environments. Before progress can however be made trust needs to be established between the different stakeholders, looking beyond solutions of complete exclusion, but rather to mutual cooperation, involving practices such as wise use gardening management.