: IS DURBAN’S FLAGSHIP REFORESTATION PROJECT MEETING STATED TARGETS? Kathryn Terblanche, Kevin Kirkman, Hylton Adie, Debra Roberts, Errol Douwes • South Africa’s major port city • Population: 3.5 million • Area: 2 300 km2 (888 mi2) • 30 – 40% unemployment • 37% 20+ completed high school • Contains four of South Africa's eight biomes • Seven vegetation types • Over 2000 indigenous plant taxa • Durban is part of a global biodiversity hotspot • Substantial development deficits - created by: • shortage of human and financial resources, • increasing levels of informality, • poor governance, • environmental degradation, • biodiversity loss, • poverty, • growing inequality. • This ultimately means that environmental projects need to address poverty alleviation and help to reduce inequality to be sustainable in the long term. • The Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department (EPCPD) - EThekwini Municipality. • Restore natural forest and woodland in the buffer zone of the Buffelsdraai Regional Landfill site. • Offset a portion of the carbon emissions related to the hosting of the ‘carbon neutral’ 2010 FIFA World Cup™. • Climate change adaptation role – to improve city resilience. The location of Buffelsdraai Community Reforestation Project within the eThekwini Municipal Area • 100 ha footprint but is surrounded by a 800 ha buffer zone. • Initially covered by over 500 ha of sugarcane. • Wildlands Conservation Trust’s ‘Indigenous Trees for Life’ concept. • Through tree planting, these projects are able to sequester carbon as well as alleviate poverty. • Previously sugar cane • Depleted seed bank • Uplift local communities • Quick • Forests supply many ecosystem services – buffer. • Trees are easier to trade. • Grasslands are a fire risk to the landfill. To determine whether active restoration implemented at Buffelsdraai will satisfy stated objectives of the restoration program. 1. To examine: • species richness; • species diversity; • stem density; • species composition; and • functional diversity (partially explored). 2. To compare active restoration sites with a reference ecosystem. • It is critical for management of the project. • This study will: • Determine biological composition of sites being restored. • Aid adaptive management on site and allow the department to fine-tune/adjust their management of the site. • Provide baseline data for monitoring. Is the project meeting its stated goals? • Three active restoration sites. • Project planting blocks -2009, 2010 and 2011. • 20 200m2 (2153 ft2) circular plots at each site. • Chosen randomly prior to field work. • Steel peg with a 7.98 m (26 ft.) length of 7.98m tape attached to it. • Plant identification. • Active restoration – planted specimens only. • Are we going in the right direction? • Intact forest/woodland patches at Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve. • Same methodology – (20x 200 m2 (2153 ft2) random plots). • Stems dbh >10 cm (4 in) 1400 1200 1000 Implications: 800 • Sprawling trees 600 • Grass dominated • Fire 400 • Competition Stemsper hectare 200 0 Site 1 (2009) Site 2 (2010) Site 3 (2011) Mean planting density (stems per ha). Error bars represent 95% CI. All sites below recommended reforestation planting density 40 35 30 25 Site 1 20 Site 2 15 Site 3 10 Site 4 (KS) species richnessRarefied 5 0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 No. of Individuals Tree species encountered per number of individuals through Mao-Tau sample- based rarefaction in EstimateS (Colwell) 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 number of Effective species 0 Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4 (KS) Species diversity (Shannon exponential) (Chao and Shen, 2010). Error bars represent 95% CI. 1 0.5 KS B1 0 B2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 B3 -0.5 -1 Differences in communities illustrated by an MDS plot using Bray Curtis similarity (PRIMER 6). Error bars indicate 95% CI. • Acacia caffra • Acacia karroo • Erythrina lysistemon • Dalbergia obovata NITROGEN FIXERS / SPRAWLING STRUCTURES / PERSIST IN FIRE • Croton sylvaticus • Englerophytum natalense • Searsia chirindensis • Xylotheca kraussiana • Drypetes arguta FOREST ONLY Fast growing, sprawling species dominating the reforestation sites, but forest species missing • Treepreneur choices (Easy to grow? Fast growing?) • Seed collection (what's in the vicinity?) • Survival 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 of species 0 Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4 (KS) Effective number Sites • More sun tolerant trees planted now, could act as nurse trees for the forest trees, which can be added at a later stage. • Not yet complete • Traits • Wood density (g/cm3) • Seed mass (g) • SLA (cm3/g) • Dispersal mode (CATEGORICAL) • Resprouter (CATEGORICAL) • Analyses (SPSS) • Log transform • MANOVA and post hoc tukey - continuous data • Chi square - categorical data • Increase density to reduce the risk of fire and speed up growth. • Increase diversity. • Start teaching people to grow forest species. • Source a good quality forest nearby where seeds can be collected. • Be prescriptive about what trees to be grown. • Perhaps offer incentives for the more rare / forest species. University of KwaZulu-Natal College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science Grassland Science Masters by Dissertation Kathryn Terblanche (213573257) [email protected] Thanks to: Prof Kevin Kirkman, Dr Hylton Adie, Dr Debra Roberts & Mr Errol Douwes Funding: .