1 STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR EXPANSION OF ELECTRICITY GRID INFRASTRUCTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA 1 STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE EXPANSION OF 2 ELECTRICITY GRID INFRASTRUCTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA 3 4 Draft v3 Specialist Assessment Report for Stakeholder Review 5 6 INDIAN OCEAN COASTAL BELT BIOME 7 Contributing Authors Simon Bundy1, Alex Whitehead1 8 9 1 SDP Ecological and Environmental Services 10 11 12 INDIAN OCEAN COASTAL BELT BIOME SPECIALIST REPORT Page 1 STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR EXPANSION OF ELECTRICITY GRID INFRASTRUCTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA 1 2 3 4 5 6 TABLES 4 7 FIGURES 5 8 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS 6 9 10 1 SUMMARY 7 11 2 INTRODUCTION 7 12 3 SCOPE OF THIS STRATEGIC ISSUE 8 13 4 APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY 10 14 4.1 STUDY METHODOLOGY 10 15 4.2 DATA SOURCES 10 16 4.3 ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS 11 17 4.3.1 Spatial data 11 18 4.3.2 Intrazonal vegetation 12 19 4.3.3 The IOCB and neighbouring Biomes 12 20 4.3.4 Fauna data 12 21 4.3.5 Information deficiencies 12 22 4.4 RELEVANT REGULATORY INSTRUMENTS 12 23 5 IMPACT CHARACTERISATION 14 24 5.1 HABITAT LOSS 14 25 5.2 ALIEN INVASIVE PLANTS 14 26 5.3 FAUNAL DISTURBANCE 14 27 6 CORRIDOR DESCRIPTION 16 28 6.1 VEGETATION AND SPATIAL DEFINITION 16 29 6.2 VEGETATION TYPES OF THE IOCB 23 30 6.2.1 CB 1 – Maputaland Coastal Belt 23 31 6.2.2 CB 2 – Maputaland Wooded Grassland 24 32 6.2.3 CB 3 – KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Belt 24 33 6.2.4 CB 4 – Pondoland-Ugu Sandstone Coastal Sourveld 25 34 6.2.5 CB 5 – Transkei Coastal Belt 25 35 6.2.6 Azonal, zonal and intra zonal vegetation types 27 36 6.2.7 FOa 1 Lowveld Riverine Forest 28 37 6.2.8 FOz 5 Scarp forest 28 38 6.2.9 FOz 8 Sand forest 30 39 6.2.10 FOz 7 Northern Coastal Forest 30 40 6.2.11 AZd 4 Subtropical Seashore Vegetation 31 41 6.2.12 AZs 3 Subtropical Dune Thicket 31 42 6.3 THREATENED PLANT SPECIES 32 43 6.4 FAUNA 34 44 6.5 TRANSFORMATION WITHIN THE IOCB 36 INDIAN OCEAN COASTAL BELT BIOME SPECIALIST REPORT Page 2 STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR EXPANSION OF ELECTRICITY GRID INFRASTRUCTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA 1 7 FEATURE SENSITIVITY MAPPING 38 2 7.1 IDENTIFICATION OF FEATURE SENSITIVITY CRITERIA 38 3 7.1.1 Protected areas 38 4 7.1.2 Protected area expansion focus areas 39 5 7.1.3 Critical Biodiversity Areas 39 6 7.1.4 Private Nature reserves and game farms 39 7 7.1.5 Stewardship areas 39 8 7.1.6 Forest Reserve 39 9 7.1.7 Ramsar Sites 39 10 7.1.8 World Heritage Sites 40 11 7.1.9 Vegetation 40 12 7.1.10 Landcover 40 13 7.1.11 Ecoregions 40 14 7.1.12 National Forests 40 15 7.1.13 Buffer zones 41 16 7.2 FEATURE MAPS 44 17 8 FOUR- TIER SENSITIVITY MAPPING 44 18 8.1 DEFAULT SENSITIVITY MAP 44 19 8.2 LAND USE (PRIORITY) MAP 45 20 9 KEY POTENTIAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION 48 21 10 BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES AND MONITORING REQUIREMENTS 51 22 10.1 PLANNING PHASE 51 23 10.2 CONSTRUCTION PHASE 52 24 10.3 OPERATIONS PHASE 52 25 10.4 REHABILITATION AND POST CLOSURE 52 26 10.5 MONITORING REQUIREMENTS 53 27 10.5.1 Pre-Construction 53 28 10.5.2 Construction phase 53 29 10.5.3 Rehabilitation 53 30 10.5.4 Post-construction and operations 54 31 11 REFERENCES 55 32 33 Appendix 1: Description of GIS Data 56 34 INDIAN OCEAN COASTAL BELT BIOME SPECIALIST REPORT Page 3 STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR EXPANSION OF ELECTRICITY GRID INFRASTRUCTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA 1 TABLES 2 Table 1: A summary of data reviewed and applicable to the IOCB. 10 3 Table 2: Relevant legislation and regulatory instruments applicable to the IOCB. 13 4 Table 3: The five defining vegetation groups of the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt (Mucina & Rutherford, 2006). 17 5 Table 4: Comparative meteorological data from urban centres located in the south, centrally and north of the IOCB 19 6 Table 5: Summary of the veld types encountered within or proximal to the IOCB including azonal and intrazonal 7 vegetation units as well as key zonal units that may be encountered within the expanded Eastern EGI 8 Corridor (Mucina and Rutherford 2006) 20 9 Table 6: Azonal and intrazonal vegetation found within the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt (Mucina and Rutherford 10 2006). 27 11 Table 7: Recorded plant species of conservation importance associated with the Ongoye Forest complex and 12 Reserve. 33 13 Table 8: Recorded amphibian species associated with the portion of the IOCB that falls within the extended 14 Eastern EGI corridor. 34 15 Table 9: Recorded reptile species associated with the IOCB within the extended Eastern EGI corridor. 35 16 Table 10: Summary of the nature and characteristics of the expanded Eastern EGI corridor. 38 17 Table 11: A summary of the relevant features assessed within the extended Eastern EGI corridor. 41 18 Table 12: Sensitivity ratings of the relevant environmental features of the IOCB in the expanded Eastern EGI 19 corridor. 43 20 Table 13: A description of key impacts likely to be associated with the establishment of the power lines within the 21 Extended Eastern EGI corridor. 49 22 23 INDIAN OCEAN COASTAL BELT BIOME SPECIALIST REPORT Page 4 STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR EXPANSION OF ELECTRICITY GRID INFRASTRUCTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA 1 FIGURES 2 Figure 1: The extent of the IOCB as defined within the proposed expanded Eastern EGI corridor. 9 3 Figure 2: A) An example of vegetation clearance - a 132 kV line passing through a section of swamp forest near 4 Port Durnford south of Richards Bay (Photo: SDP); and B) An aerial image of the same corridor pictured 5 in (a), indicating extent of the cleared vegetation (Google Earth). 15 6 Figure 3: An overview of the vegetation types, including azonal vegetation of the IOCB affected by the expanded 7 Eastern EGI corridor (SANBI 2012). 22 8 Figure 4: Example of Maputaland Coastal Belt vegetation near Mbazwana (Photo: SDP). 23 9 Figure 5: Example of Maputaland Wooded Grassland near Kwandalane (Photo: SDP). 24 10 Figure 6: Typical KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Belt located near Mtunzini (Photo: SDP). 25 11 Figure 7: Pondoland-Ugu Sandstone Coastal Sourveld near Margate (Photo: SDP). 26 12 Figure 8: Transkei Coastal Belt located near Port St Johns (Photo: SDP). 26 13 Figure 9: Image of Lowveld Riverine Forest on Phongolo River. (Photo: SDP) 28 14 Figure 10: Image showing Scarp Forest near Ongoye Forest between Mtunzini and Eshowe. (Photo: SDP) 29 15 Figure 11: Image of Sand Forest, located near Ndumo. (Photo: SDP) 30 16 Figure 12: Northern Coastal Forest within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. (Photo: SDP) 31 17 Figure 13: Image of Subtropical Dune Thicket located near Sodwana Bay (Photo: SDP). 32 18 Figure 14: The distribution of recorded threatened plant species within the IOCB portion of the Expanded Eastern 19 EGI Corridor. 33 20 Figure 15: Distribution of recorded reptiles, amphibians and butterflies within the IOCB and expanded Eastern EGI 21 corridor. 36 22 Figure 16: An example of the extent to which transformation has occurred within the IOCB. This particular area is 23 between Tinley Manor and Blythedale north of Durban. The only natural vegetation that remains 24 occurs along the coastline with pockets of Northern Coastal Forest and Swamp Forest extending 25 inland.(Photo: SDP) 37 26 Figure 17: Features within the section of the IOCB affected by the expanded Eastern EGI corridor. 44 27 Figure 18: Sensitivity mapping for the portion of the IOCB affected by the expanded Eastern EGI corridor. Note 28 that high and very high sensitivity areas are rated highest – compare it to Figure 19. 46 29 Figure 19: Sensitivity mapping for the portion of the IOCB affected by the expanded Eastern EGI corridor where 30 the land use data – transformed areas have masked out/ filtered out. This is a more realistic 31 representation of the status quo. Compare it to Figure 18. 47 32 Figure 20: Koppen-Geiger modelling overlain on Google Earth imagery, indicating the expansion of Aw climate 33 class (depicted in pink) which has its southern limit in and around Maputo during the period 2001 to 34 2025 (a) to a point approximately aligned with Port Elizabeth during the period 2076 to 2100 (b). 35 (Source: Rubel & Kottek, 2010; http://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/) 52 36 37 38 INDIAN OCEAN COASTAL BELT BIOME SPECIALIST REPORT Page 5 STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR EXPANSION OF ELECTRICITY GRID INFRASTRUCTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA 1 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS 2 CB 1 Maputaland Coastal Belt CB 2 Maputaland Wooded Grassland CB 3 Kwazulu-Natal Coastal Belt CB 4 Pondoland-Ugu Sandstone Coastal Sourveld CB 5 Transkei Coastal Belt CBA Critical Biodiversity Area CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research DEA Department of Environmental Affairs EGI Electricity Grid Infrastructure EKZNW Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife ESA Ecological Support Area GIS Geographic Information System ha Hectares IOCB Indian Ocean Coastal Belt kV Kilovolt KZN KwaZulu-Natal Province NPAES The National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy SANBI South African National Biodiversity Institute SEA Strategic Environmental Assessment Spp Species 3 4 INDIAN OCEAN COASTAL BELT BIOME SPECIALIST REPORT Page 6 STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR EXPANSION OF ELECTRICITY GRID INFRASTRUCTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA 1 1 SUMMARY 2 This assessment aims to identify the potential impacts of constructing and maintaining Electricity Grid 3 Infrastructure (EGI) (i.e.