Description: In 2018, the Provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEA&DP) commissioned the CSIR to develop an Ecological Infrastructure Investment Framework (EIIF). The purpose of this Framework is to guide decision-makers from both the private and public sector in making choices around where – and how – to invest in order to promote the resilience of the Western Cape’s ecological infrastructure. The project mapped the following threats to ecological infrastructure at quaternary catchment level to determine catchment priorities through an Analytic Hierarchical Process:Threat to water security due to human dependence on water from ground and surface Water Source Areas, as well as reduced water runoff due to the spread of Invasive Alien Plants;Degradation of river and wetland systems due to modification activities (e.g. through the channelization of rivers to increase agricultural land) as indicated by the present ecological status of rivers and wetlands;Degradation of estuary function due to reduction in water quality and quantity as indicated by the ecological status of the estuaries;Increased exposure to uncontrolled wildfires due to a lack of fuel reduction measures, indicated by the estimated fuel loads in the wildland-urban intermix and in natural vegetation in rural areas including alien plant invasions;Increased exposure to uncontrolled wildfires due to unwise and/or uncontrolled urbanisation (as well as human activities such as lighting fires) indicated by fuel loads within the wildland urban intermix, including alien plant invasions;Increased flood damage potential due to the degradation of natural vegetation which increases the potential for high volumes of runoff in response to rainfall;Increased flood damage potential due to unwise and/or uncontrolled urbanisation in areas where there is high potential for flooding due to intense rainfall events and hydrologically sensitive catchment areas;Degradation of rangeland productivity due to poor land use practices (particularly over-grazing) resulting in a loss of rangeland productivity and increased soil loss; andIncreased coastal vulnerability due to physical erosion and coastal flooding resulting from intense storms (with heavy rain and strong winds) that are anticipated to increase with ongoing climate change.This dataset represents the threat input data at Quaternary catchment level. It is presented as normalised values so that the values in each column (input value) range from 0-1.
Service Item Id: 0f3c8120106a4bfbb7cfe444499086db
Copyright Text: Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Western Cape Government, Biodiversity Management. Contact person: Johan Wilson, DEA&DP