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<DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P><SPAN>The list of threatened terrestrial ecosystems is an important input into spatial planning and decision making in South Africa. The list and the spatial data underpinning it is referred to in national regulations relating to environmental impact assessment (EIA); specifically – Critically Endangered and Endangered ecosystem types trigger additional steps and processes during environmental authorisation processes. The data will also become part of the Environmental Screening Tool developed by the Department of Forestry Fisheries and the Environment which all prospective developers are required to complete prior to the environmental authorisation process. The remnants of the threatened types are input features in systematic biodiversity plans and are mostly absorbed as part of the Critical Biodiversity Areas network.</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>Polygon features, representing Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) for terrestrial realm for South Africa. This dataset contains the current remaining natural extent (circa 2018) of each of the 458 ecosystem types assessed. This means that those portions of ecosystems that have been lost to anthropogenic activities such as mining or croplands excluded and only the remnants are part of the dataset. A separate dataset (RLE_Terr_2021_June2021_ddw.shp) is also available and contains the historical / potential extent of each ecosystem type. This RLE is a revision of the “List of terrestrial ecosystems that threatened or in need of protection” published in the government gazette in December 2011. The revision is based on the best available data and used the IUCN RLE risk assessment framework version 1.1 (Bland et al. 2017). Ecosystem are categorised into one of four classes representing their risk of collapse; in descending order of risk: Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Least Concern. The national vegetation map, 2018 version (Mucina and Rutherford 2006; Dayaram et al., 2019) provided the ecosystem units of assessment for the RLE (Vegetation Unit / Type level). </SPAN></P><P><SPAN>Refer to the website for more detail on the assessments and methods used http://ecosystemstatus.sanbi.org.za</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>Layer clipped to the Western Cape Provincial Boundary</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>Publication Date: June 2021</SPAN></P><P><SPAN STYLE="font-weight:bold;">Attribute Definitions</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>OBJECTID - Internal feature number. Object Identification</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>Shape - Feature geometry. Shape</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>NAME - name of vegetation type version 2018 (based on Mucina and Rutherford 2006, updated Dayaram and Skowno 2018), 458 types in South Africa, 459 in SA, </SPAN></P><P><SPAN>LES and SWA</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>BIOREGION - Part of the vegetation hierarchy</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>BIOME - Part of the vegetation hierarchy</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>RLE2021 (Threat Status 2021) - Red List of Ecosystems category (CR = Critically ndangered, EN = Endangered, VU = Vulnerable, LC = Least concern</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>Trigger (Triggering Criteria) -IUCN RLE v1.1 criteria that were triggered in the </SPAN></P><P><SPAN>assessment and result in the status listed. </SPAN></P><P><SPAN>Summary (Assessment Summary) Narrative describing the triggering criteria </SPAN></P><P><SPAN>GlobvsNat (Global vs National scope) National Status (for non-endemic types that extend beyond SA borders); Global and National status (for types which are endemic and the assessment covers whole global extent)</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>Endemic Is the ecosystem type restricted to South Africa: Endemic; Not Endemic; Unsure -Needs Research; Likely not endemic; Likely endemic to ZA LS SZ</SPAN></P><P><SPAN /></P></DIV></DIV></DIV> |