Final Faunal Impact Assessment PROPOSED WYNBERG IRT BUS DEPOT WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE. DRAFT FAUNAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT Prepared for: Chand Environmental Consultants P O Box 238 Plumstead 7801 Tel: 021 762 3050 Fax: 086 665 7430 www.chand.co.za Prepared by: CAPE TOWN Also in Port Elizabeth, East London, Johannesburg, Grahamstown, Maputo (Mozambique) and Romsey (UK) 021 045 0900 www.cesnet.co.za June 2021 Faunal Impact Assessment REV ISIONS TRACKING TABLE CES Report Revision and Tracking Schedule Document Title: Faunal Impact Aseessment for the proposed Wynberg IRT Depot, Western Cape Province. Client Name & CHAND Environmnetal Consultants Address: Status: Final Issue Date: Draft June 2020 Final June 2021 Lead Author: Amber Jackson [email protected] Reviewer: Ms Tarryn Martin [email protected] No. of hard No. electronic Report Distribution Circulated to copies copies Report Version This document has been prepared in accordance with the scope of CES’s appointment and contains intellectual property and proprietary information that is protected by copyright in favour of CES. The document may therefore not be reproduced, used or distributed to any third party without the prior written consent of CES. This document is prepared exclusively for use by CES’s client. CES accepts no liability for any use of this document other than by its client and only for the purposes for which it was prepared. No person other than the client may copy (in whole or in part), use or www.cesnet.co.za rely on the contents of this document, without the prior written permission of CES. The document is subject to all confidentiality, copyright, trade secrets rules and intellectual property law and practices of South Africa. CES Environmental and Social Advisory Services CoCT Wynberg IRT Depot i Faunal Impact Assessment TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Project Description .................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Objectives and Terms of Reference ......................................................................... 1 1.4 Assumptions and Limitations ................................................................................... 1 2 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................... 2 3. OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT AREA ................................................................. 5 3.1 Climate ....................................................................................................................... 5 3.2 Topography ................................................................................................................ 5 3.3 Current Land Use ...................................................................................................... 6 3.4 Vegetation .................................................................................................................. 7 3.5 Wetland and Hydrology ............................................................................................. 8 3.4 Protection level: Other Ecological Support Area .................................................... 9 3.6 Protected areas ........................................................................................................ 12 3.7 Screening Tool: Sensitive Species ........................................................................ 12 4. REGIONAL AND PROJECT AREA FAUNA ....................................................... 14 4.1 Amphibians .............................................................................................................. 14 4.1.1 Amphibians of the Western Cape ........................................................................ 14 4.1.2. Amphibian Species of Conservation Concern .................................................. 15 4.2. Reptiles ................................................................................................................... 22 4.2.1. Reptiles of Conservation Concern ..................................................................... 22 4.3. Mammals ................................................................................................................. 23 4.3.1. Mammals of Conservation Concern ................................................................... 23 4.4. Birds ........................................................................................................................ 27 4.4.1. Birds of Conservation Concern .......................................................................... 27 5. SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS .................................................................................... 31 6 IMPACT IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT ................................................. 34 6.1 Identified Impacts .................................................................................................... 34 7 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................... 41 8 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 42 CES Environmental and Social Advisory Services CoCT Wynberg IRT Depot ii Faunal Impact Assessment LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: C-Plan OESA Significance & Descriptions of Permissible Activities...................... 9 Table 3.2: The terrestrial vertebrate faunal species that triggers sensitivity includes: .......... 12 Table 4.1: Amphibians Endemic to the Western Cape Province in relation to the project area (black squares) (IUCN, 2020). ............................................................................................. 20 Table 4.2: Threatened Reptiles Endemic to the Western Cape Province in relation to the project area (black squares) (IUCN, 2020). ......................................................................... 22 Table A.1: Pre-mitigation Evaluation Criteria ....................................................................... 50 Table A.2: Description of Overall Significance Rating.......................................................... 51 Table A.3: Post-mitigation Evaluation Criteria ..................................................................... 52 LIST OF FIGURES Figure A: Location of the proposed development. ................................................................. ix Table A: Summary of expected impacts on fauna from the proposed development .............. xi Figure 1.1: Location of the proposed development. ............................................................... 1 Figure 1.2: Proposed development layout. ............................................................................ 1 Figure 3.1: Graphs illustrating the average monthly maximum and minimum temperature and average monthly precipitation for Cape Town (Weather & Climate, 2020). ............................ 5 Figure 3.2: Topography of the project area (South West to North East) (Google Earth Pro, 2020). ................................................................................................................................... 6 Figure 3.3: Potential Biodiversity Corridors in the CoCT (Marlene Laros & Ass., 2007). ........ 8 Figure 3.4: Land use map showing the project area to occur with an area zoned as Public Open Space ........................................................................................................................ 10 Figure 3.5: Project area in context of regional vegetation types. The project area occurs within the Cape Flats Sand Fynbos (Mucina and Rutherford, 2020). ................................... 10 Figure 3.6: Delineated project area wetland showing the majority of the project area to occur within a degraded wetland (Mugabe & Steytler, 2020). ....................................................... 11 Figure 3.7: CBAs, Conservation Areas and OESA in relation to the project area (CoCT, 2017). ................................................................................................................................. 11 Figure 3.8: Animal species sensitivity for the proposed Wynberg IRT Depot project area (DEA, 2020). ....................................................................................................................... 13 Figure 4.1: Distribution of S. pantherina in relation to the project area - black square (IUCN, 2016) .................................................................................................................................. 16 Figure 4.2: Formally mapped breeding and non-breeding locations of S. pantherina in relation to the project area (red outline) (WLTCC, 2016) ..................................................... 17 Figure 4.3: Known breeding and non-breeding locations of S. pantherina in relation to the project area (red outline). .................................................................................................... 18 Figure 4.4: Distribution of M. capensis in relation to the project area - red square ............... 19 Figure 4.5: Distribution of X. gilli in relation to the project area - red square (IUCN, 2017). 20 Figure 4.6: C. maurus High animal sensitivity in relation to the project area ........................ 28 Figure 4.7: Distribution of C. maurus in relation to the project area - red square (Birdlife Int, 2017). ................................................................................................................................