Port St Johns Infrastructure Project, Port St John Second Beach, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa ECOLOGICAL AND DUNE IMPACT ASSESSMENT DRAFT Prepared for: Prepared by: Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) EOH Coastal & Environmental Services Oceans and Coasts Environment House 67 African Street 473 Steve Biko PO Box 934 Arcadia Grahamstown Pretoria 6140 South Africa South Africa 0083 May 2017 REVISIONS TRACKING TABLE This report should be cited as follows: EOH Coastal & Environmental Services, May 2017: Port St Johns Infrastructure Project, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, Botanical and Dune Assessment. EOH CES, Cape-town. CES Report Revision and Tracking Schedule Document Title Botanical and Dune Assessment Client Name & Address Document Reference DEDEAT Ref: EC154/ORT/LN2/M/16-19 NEAS: ECP/EIA/0000310/2017 Status Draft Issue Date May 2017 Lead Author (s) Dr Ted Avis and Ms Ayanda EOH Coastal & Zide Environmental Services Reviewer EOH Coastal & Dr Ted Avis Environmental Services Study Leader or Registered Environmental Assessment EOH Coastal & Mr Ted Avis Practitioner Environmental Services Approval Report Distribution Circulated to No. of hard No. copies electronic copies Department of Economic Development, Environmental 1 1 Affairs and Tourism ( Eastern Cape) COPYRIGHT INFORMATION This document contains intellectual property and propriety information that is protected by copyright in favour of Coastal & Environmental Services and the specialist EOH Coastal& Environmental Services consultants. The document may therefore not 67 African Street be reproduced, used or distributed to any PO Box 943 third party without the prior written consent of Grahamstown EOH Coastal & Environmental Services. This 6140 document is prepared exclusively for [email protected] submission to the Department of Energy www.cesnet.co.za (DoE), and is subject to all confidentiality, Also in Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, East copyright and trade secrets, rules intellectual London Johannesburg and Maputo property law and practices of South Africa. Ecological Report TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 7 1.1 PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND LOCALITY .......................................................................................................... 7 1.2 PROJECT OBJECTIVES: ................................................................................................................................... 7 1.3 OBJECTIVES AND TERMS OF REFERENCE .................................................................................................... 10 1.3.1 Ecological Impact Assessment ............................................................................................................ 10 1.3.2 Dune Impact Assessment (incorporating flora and fauna) ............................................................... 10 1.4 APPROACH .................................................................................................................................................... 10 1.5 LIMITATIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS ................................................................................................................... 11 2. RELEVANT LEGISLATION ........................................................................................................................ 12 2.1 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ACT (NO. 107 OF 1998) ......................................................... 12 2.2 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: BIODIVERSITY ACT (NO. 10 OF 2004) .................................. 12 2.3 NATIONAL WATER ACT (NO.36 OF 1998) .................................................................................................... 13 2.4 NATIONAL FOREST ACT (NO.84 OF 1998) ................................................................................................... 14 2.5 SPECIES OF CONSERVATION CONCERN (SCC) ........................................................................................... 15 2.5.1 National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (No. 10 of 2004) ...................................... 15 2.5.2 Endangered and Protected Flora in the 1974 Provincial Nature Conservation Ordinance (PNCO): ................................................................................................................................................................ 15 2.5.3 1976 List of Protected Trees (Government Gazette No. 9542 Schedule A) in the 1998 National Forest Act (NFA): ................................................................................................................................................ 15 2.5.4 South African Red Data List ................................................................................................................. 16 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE BIOPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT ...................................................................... 18 3.1 GEOLOGY AND LANDFORM ........................................................................................................................... 18 3.1.1 Topography ............................................................................................................................................. 18 3.1.2 Geology ................................................................................................................................................... 18 3.2 CLIMATE ........................................................................................................................................................ 19 3.3 CURRENT LAND USE ..................................................................................................................................... 19 4. VEGETATION TYPES AND FLORISTICS ................................................................................................ 20 4.1 REGIONAL CONTEXT ..................................................................................................................................... 20 4.1.1 SANBI Vegetation Map ......................................................................................................................... 20 4.2 CONSERVATION PLANNING TOOLS ............................................................................................................... 22 4.2.1 The Eastern Cape Biodiversity Conservation Plan (ECBCP, 2007) ............................................... 22 4.2.2 National Freshwater Ecosystem Priority Areas ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.3 PROTECTED AREAS ...................................................................................................................................... 23 4.3.1 Protected Areas Expansion strategy ................................................................................................... 23 4.3.2 National List of Ecosystems that are threatened and in need of Protection (NEMBA, Act 10 of 2004). 24 4.4 SITE SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF VEGETATION/LAND COVER ........................................................................ 26 4.5 VEGETATION TYPES FOUND ON SITE ............................................................................................................ 28 4.5.1 Dune Vegetation and Rocky Coastal Areas ....................................................................................... 28 4.5.2 Coastal Dune Thicket Vegetation ........................................................................................................ 28 4.5.3 Riparian Vegetation ............................................................................................................................... 30 4.5.4 Coastal forest .......................................................................................................................................... 30 4.6 SPECIES OF CONSERVATION CONCERN ....................................................................................................... 31 4.7 ALIEN SPECIES .............................................................................................................................................. 32 5. FAUNAL SPECIES AND HABITATS ........................................................................................................ 34 5.1 AMPHIBIANS .................................................................................................................................................. 34 5.2 REPTILES ....................................................................................................................................................... 34 5.3 BIRDS ............................................................................................................................................................ 34 5.4 MAMMALS ...................................................................................................................................................... 36 6. COASTAL DUNE AND BEACH SYSTEM ................................................................................................ 38 6.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 38 6.2 BEACH MORPHODYNAMICS ........................................................................................................................... 38 EOH Coastal & Environmental Services iii PSJ Beach Infrastructure Project Botanical and Dune Report