GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) recently held a meeting with role players reflecting upon the loss of life, property and infrastructure during the 2017 and 2018 wildfire disasters in the Garden Route.
Together with key government departments and land managers they reviewed the regional fire preparedness, as well as the state of the regional environment in terms of invasive alien plants which provide high fuel load levels to wildfires.
"Informed decision-making in planning for a safer Garden Route is crucial," said Gerhard Otto, manager of the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre.
"It must be based on available data on fire risk and the prevalence of invasive alien plants. Data is crucial when planning around the possibility of wildfires, as the data tells fire managers where the likelihood of fires is the highest, or where infrastructure and humans may be in harm's way in a wildfire scenario, and how to prioritise around what is present on the ground."
Paul Buchholz of the Southern Cape Landowners Initiative (SCLI) presented data based on vegetation patterns along the Garden Route and explained some of the challenges in this regard. According to Buchholz, the required data is not always readily available for affected landscapes, because vegetation patterns are continuously in transition due to changing types of vegetation, reduced rainfall and climate change.
The Garden Route cannot afford a repeat of the wildfire disaster of recent years. Spatial data can be extremely valuable in identifying high-priority areas and potential hazards in order to reduce fire risks.
Otto said that the GRDM has followed a rigorous tender process to appoint spatial data specialists who are now in the process of collating more accurate environmental data, which should become available in 2020.
"Costing models hint at billions of rand that is required to clear the Garden Route of invasive alien plants. Under the circumstances, it is important to prioritise danger zones and address those areas first, and continue managing them within existing funding streams," he said.
The meeting included representatives from all the fire departments of the respective Garden Route municipalities, Eskom, SANParks, the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (Deff), the Southern Cape Fire Protection Association, the Southern Cape Landowners Initiative (SCLI), private forestry, the Department of Agriculture, the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre and Working on Fire.
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