400km hike aims to restore migration paths

Image by Peter Corbett

The hike starts in the Harkerville Forest on the coast near Knysna and ends 20 days later at Addo Elephant National Park.

The project plays a role in restoring ancient migration paths for mammals, insects and birds, which need to move because of climate change and to guard against in-breeding and extinction. Biodiversity corridors are a relatively new field in conservation - the idea is that by creating continuous paths or corridors of indigenous vegetation you maintain the biodiversity of a region.

Decrease in biodiversity

Alien vegetation and bad land-use often cause barriers that some birds, insects and animals won't cross. This leads to a decrease in biodiversity in an area, as gene pools get smaller due to the lack of movement of animals, birds, insects and plants into the area from other regions. Biodiversity corridors conserve viable populations of threatened and endemic species and cover enough of an area to sustain natural processes such as carbon and nutrient cycling, seed dispersal, pollination and water cycles. The initiative is also championing the clearing of alien vegetation, such as wattle, hekia and pines, which are threatening indigenous plant species, biodiversity and choking rivers.

Joan Berning, CEO of Eden to Addo, says they have a vital conservation role to play. "Man has destroyed large herds of not only elephants, but also buffalo, eland, zebra the Cape Lion and more in this area and hunters still continues to do so by relentlessly slaughtering leopards, jackals, black eagles and other animals. Monoculture based farming methods and the introduction of alien species, has also placed pressures on the survival of our wildlife."

Reverse the damage

The initiative aims to assist and engage with landowners and all stakeholders to identify and develop a living corridor from Eden to Addo by applying sound land-use practices, encouraging a diversity of environmentally sustainable livelihoods and linking ecological important areas for the benefit of biodiversity and the extended community. "We really want to reverse the damage done by man, encourage the reintroduction of indigenous species and instil a more conservation-minded approach to agriculture among landowners," says Berning.

Successes achieved by the initiative so far include obtaining the cooperation of landowners in three corridors, namely Robberg Coastal Corridor, Keurbooms Corridor and the Skilderkrantz/Heights Corridor in the Langkloof to dedicate portions of their land to conservation and obtaining a government grant of R7m to clear alien vegetation. In addition, the Watch Hill Foundation, a member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), has established a CGI Commitment to Action in collaboration with the Eden to Addo Corridor Initiative, for a large-scale alien-clearing project in the Keurbooms River catchment area.

For more information, go to www.edentoaddo.co.za or contact Eden to Addo at +27(0)44 533 1623.