New task team to tackle Garden Route fire risks

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The crisis situation in which the Garden Route finds itself with our landscape increasingly changing for the worse due to invasive alien plants (IAPs), and the wildfire risk it poses, is to be tackled through a first-of-its-kind platform involving role players over a broad front.

The proliferation of IAPs in the region is listed by the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) as one of the highest risks the region is facing, and a task team to combat it was launched during a meeting on Thursday 28 August, chaired by Paul Gerber of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE).

It is an initiative of Cobus Meiring of the Garden Route Environmental Forum (Gref) in which hands hands are being joined with the GRDM and other key partners to address some of the region’s most urgent environmental and wildfire risks, bringing together government, conservation bodies and local stakeholders.

“The drive to launch this platform is also rooted in past occurrences and helps prevent similar instances like the Knysna and Bitou wildfires of 2017 and the Outeniqua fires of 2018, where IAPs fuelled the intensity and spread of these disasters.

"Furthermore, rather than just sharing information, stakeholders involved in this platform will focus on executing tangible actions.”

Meiring said while post-fire rehabilitation has progressed, AIPs have re-emerged more aggressively, worsening the wildfire risk for the region and threatening the Garden Route’s biodiversity.

The platform has set an interim vision: to reduce IAP coverage across the Garden Route by 30% by 2030. This will support biodiversity conservation, water security and wildfire risk reduction.

“We cannot afford to lose further control of wildfires. IAPs are choking our rivers, threatening ecosystems and putting lives, infrastructure and local economies at risk. This platform is about co-ordinated action,” said Meiring.

Gerhard Otto, the Garden Route’s disaster management chief, said: “We need to roll out block burning to achieve greater impact over the next two to three years. IAPs have already been flagged by the GRDM as one of the highest risks for the region and we need to focus on block-burning the highest risk areas.”

Catastrophic fires

GRDM Fire Chief Deon Stoffels said fynbos fires are part of the natural cycle, but IAPs create unnaturally high fuel loads that make fires catastrophic.

Dr Arne Witt, biodiversity specialist of the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (Cabi), said we are in a crisis situation. “There is significant fire risk, reduced water availability and massive biodiversity loss.”

The multi-stakeholder task team includes the DFFE, the GRDM Disaster Management and Fire Services, local municipalities, CapeNature, SANParks, the Southern Cape Fire Protection Association and several NGOs and research institutions.

Role players on the task team that will be focused on reducing fire risk through, among others, alien invasive plant eradication.

Together, the team will:

• Co-ordinate alien invasive plant management across administrative boundaries.

• Strengthen fire management capacity through integrated planning and joint operations.

• Support ecological rehabilitation in exit plantation areas (such as Buffelsnek, Bergplaas and Jonkersberg).

• Explore leveraging technology like drone mapping, geo-referenced data and machine learning for cost-effective clearing and monitoring.

• Engage landowners and communities in co-ordinated clearance and fire mitigation efforts.

Funding challenge

According to Meiring, the stakeholders stressed that the funding challenge is immense. “Clearing the IAPs between George and Nature’s Valley alone would cost R2.3bn (2018 figures). This is far beyond individual landowners’ means.

"With an impoverished state, all efforts for IAP eradication is literally in the hands of private land owners. They are not all unwilling to do it, but it is a very expensive and relentless process. But you eat an elephant one bite at a time.”

The GRDM submitted two multi-million-rand funding applications over the last few years, of which none were approved.

Witt said the task team would need to find ways of generating sustainable funds. “Without long-term funding, the cleared areas will be reinvaded. How do we ensure that the landowner keeps their land free of aliens? We also need to ensure that we have better law enforcement. The DFFE does not have the resources to ensure that the laws are adequately enforced.

"Many landowners refuse to clear their land, so without enforcement, any clearing plans across a landscape are unlikely to bear any fruit. So although I support the intention of the task team 100%, the first step should be securing long-term funding through a tourism levy, water-use levy or other mechanisms.”

According to Otto, the task team is open to consult with all stakeholders who play a role or are responsible for the management of IAPs, including private landowners.

"Participation is vital to ensure that IAP clearance takes place at an ecological and landscape level, not just in fragmented administrative blocks. More details about how to get involved will be communicated soon.”

In the coming quarter, the sub-teams’ job will be to connect the dots of what has been done so far regarding enforcement efforts, consolidating available funds, and more.

People in certain areas of George were evacuated during the Outeniqua fires. Stock photo