South Africa has a wealth of valuable, natural resources which are under threat of degradation by competing land-uses. The Planning and Assessment section of the Biodiversity Advisor looks at the different tools available to safeguard South Africa’s biodiversity.
The Planning and Assessment section consists of four sections:
In the environmental assessment section, basic concepts are explained, and detailed instructions on using the BGIS website during the different phases of the EIA process, are given. The question of when a biodiversity specialist should be appointed is also explored in great detail.
The section of land-use planning focuses on various aspects of bioregional plans –- how to develop and publish one, the difference between a bioregional plan and biodiversity sector plan etc.
Systematic biodiversity planning identifies priority areas for biodiversity conservation within the landscape. The section provides users with useful references, and guides them through the preparation, analysis and use a systematic biodiversity
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South Africa uses the systematic biodiversity planning process, this has the foundational principles of representation which seeks to conserve a representative sample of the country’s biodiversity, persistence which aims to conserve ecological and evolutionary processes that allow biodiversity to persist over time and quantitative biodiversity targets which identify the amount of biodiversity that must be kept in a natural or near natural state in order to meet the goals. This process is characterized by complementarity and efficiency, conflict avoidance, connectivity, it is data driven, explicit and measurable.
Biodiversity plans provide the foundational information on biodiversity, they are basis from which all environmental assessments measure the impact on the natural environment. They support the EIA process by allowing Environmental Assessment Practitioners and EIA reviewers to scope the possible impacts associated with a development on the receiving environment. Biodiversity plans may also assist in identifying areas in need of protection and securing to prevent land uses that are incompatible with maintaining those areas in a natural or near natural state from being established there.
