The Cape Floristic Region Under Threat

The Cape Floristic Region (CFR), is the smallest and richest of the world’s six floral kingdoms, and the only such kingdom to occur exclusively within a single country. Spanning an area of 90,000 square kilometres in the southern-most region of South Africa, the CFR is a winter rainfall area enjoying a temperate Mediterranean climate. The area is characterised by a narrow coastal plain and a mountainous interior. The CFR is extremely floristically diverse, being home to an estimated 9,600 plant species of which 70% are endemic. The main vegetation type within the biome is known locally as fynbos (‘fine leaved bush’), which consists of four plant families; the evergreen shrubs of the proteas (protaecae) and ericas (ericaceae), the grass-like reeds of the family restios (restionaceae) and daisies (Irididaceae). Unfortunately, the CFR is threatened by conversion to agricultural land use, poor fire management, alien species infestation and infrastructural development. Nearly one third of the original area of fynbos has been lost and 1200 species are critically rare, threatened or vulnerable. Fynbos flower farming is one of the main components of the agricultural sector in the CFR, with both cultivated and wild flowers being harvested for domestic and export markets. However, wild flower harvesting has been subject to minimal oversight over the years leading to over-picking, which damages seedstocks and has been linked to the eradication of species in some areas.