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LANDSCAPING FEATURE

Forest Park, Umhlanga Photo: Hilton Maclarty Ohlanga River lagoon Photo: Hilton Maclarty
CONSERVATION, CHAMELEONS

AND CITIZEN SCIENCE

By Dr. Jonathan Foley

South Africa is blessed in terms of its floral treasure chest and vast array of fauna
from various habitats around the country. Knowledge of how this ecology works
can act as a template for designers and horticulturists when it comes to recreating
the natural world in an appropriate garden or landscape context.

irst, we will look at the eastern coastal Forest and Mangroves. These represent a was initiated. In summary, D’MOSS is a
strip of KZN in particular, its rich wide diversity of habitats and are home system of open spaces incorporating
Fhabitats and vegetation types and how to over 2 200 plant species, and numerous areas of high biodiversity value and
they are managed in one of the country’s bird, amphibian, reptile, invertebrate and environmentally sensitive habitats linked in
largest metropolitan centres - Durban. Then terrestrial mammal species. an ecologically viable network.
the engaging lifestyle of a special lizard, the With approximately 97 km of coast- Sadly, only 7.14% of the D’MOSS area
KwaZulu Dwarf Chameleon, illustrates the line and a diversity of beach types enjoys some form of environmental
fragility of life within disturbed habitats. and productive rocky shores, 17 river protection. This includes proclaimed and
Finally, we highlight ways in which catchments with 4000 km of rivers, and 16 unproclaimed private or public nature
landscapers and horticulturists can actively estuaries, this is an impressive eco-tourism reserves, conservation servitudes and sites
contribute to conserving this unique flora, attraction. In fact, the overall tourist spend that have been rezoned to conservation.
not only in the coastal region but also on a for the city in 2021 was R27.5 billion and On the positive side however, D’MOSS
national scale. the total asset value of Durban’s natural is a first class spatial planning tool that
and semi-natural areas has been estimated represents a distinct GIS planning layer. All
Durban – A coastal flagship for at R47.8 billion . Conserving these assets new developments must first pass through
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biodiversity then makes good sense. the Biodiversity Management Department
Durban in many ways encapsulates this (BMD) to receive approval or be flagged for
rich flora and fauna, containing three of the D’MOSS – A conservation template further scrutiny. This ensures that D’MOSS
country’s nine terrestrial biomes, namely for cities is prioritised before development plans
Savanna, Forest and Indian Ocean Coastal The total footprint of the existing open are submitted to the municipality’s town
Belt. Eleven other nationally recognised space system is approximately 95 000ha, planners and engineers.
vegetation types are included in the city, representing almost one third of Durban’s Managing such a large conservation
namely Eastern Valley Bushveld, KZN total municipal area. This represents a footprint on the ground is no small task
Coastal Belt, KZN Hinterland Thornveld, substantial conservation challenge, and the and current challenges include massive
KZN Sandstone Sourveld (KZNSS), city demonstrated leadership and resilience and severe rain events leading to blocked
Ngongoni Veld, Scarp Forest, Northern in the implementation of biodiversity plans stormwater pathways and infrastructural
Coastal Forest, Subtropical Dune Thicket, even back in the late 1980s when the Durban collapse, land invasions of squatters
Subtropical Seashore Vegetation, Swamp Metropolitan Open Space System (D’MOSS) prompted by shack lords, extensive

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