All right, so we are heading to the breathtaking Overburg region for a remarkable environmental victory for our on the couch conversation today, the horror of x Rnosta Felts, which is home to some of the rarest plant and animal species in the world, has just been officially declared a provincial nature reserve. It's a really big deal for conservation and a massive milestone for one of the country's most
endangered ecosystems. I'm delighted that joining me this afternoon is doctor Adette Curtis Scott, who is the CEO and founder of the Overberg Ranostafeld Trust. Good to have you with us this afternoon's been making time.
Hi to start with you.
Just tell us what makes heart of xklu if I'm so sorry to all the offercants speakers so special, and why I have to put that cavea I have to put it every time, and why its declaration as a nature reserve is such a big deal.
Well, nat Felt a little bit renouta Felt is part of the fain Boss biom. And I think most people have heard of frain Boss, especially the locals, and we all know how special fain Boss is and the levels of endemism and the rarity. But within that, Renot de Felt is even more threatened than most fein Boss types because it lies on the fertile lowlands, which are obviously
the most suitable for agriculture. So the small percentage that we have left, which is estimated to be between five and ten percent depending on where you are in the overberg or swatland, is rarely precious. And despite how little is left, there's so much diversity and so much life still in these remnants and hardavaf Curf is basically part of the biggest area of rhinosta Felt left on the planet.
So buying it and declaring it a nature reserve has really helped us sort of put rhinoster Felt on a map in a more formal way and drawing more attention to it, which is so desperately need so that we can expand these protected areas for more in us to help.
Yeah, it's obviously a declaration that didn't happen overnight. So when you just walk astade, what did it officially take to declare this area of provincial nature reserve?
Yeah, it's quite a process, and a reserve declaration generally does take a couple of years to go through all the necessary steps and in parallel with some sort of legal processes that need to happen and potentially public participation and advertising and all the things that need to happen when a land use is changed. Also the writing up of a management plan and you know all that, so
working together with Cape Nature to get to that point. Also, the land and is not owned by us, it's owned by w w F, and we are the management authority on the land. So we have first of all that partnership with w w F, and then we have the partnership with Cape Nature and all of us working together to make to get it to the point of declaration.
So yeah, it was a process. It took a bit longer than it should have because of various changes in the various departments as as governmental positions changed and departments changed. But yeah, we're thrilled to have it where we where we have it now, and also to be adding land to it, which will be double doubling the size of the nature reserved very soon because of additional land that we've bought. So it's kind of the start of something really exciting and bigger. At a landscape level.
What is the legal protection actually mean in really practical terms, I guess for the land for conservation efforts, and also I guess for the public who like to enjoy it.
Yes, So the legal protection gives it the same status as a provincial nature reserve. So all the local nature reserves that are managed by Cave Nature, for example d Hup, which is very nearby the Harvest Cliff Reserve, it gives it that same legal status. So it's that same level of protection from developments, from mining, from wind farms, anything that could be a threat to the remaining Rhinosa felt. It just gives it the highest form of protection that
can be afforded to land that is privately owned. And it is also a place that you know, it's for us. It's we've developed quite a bit of the old infrastructure that was on the reserve, so it's it's like a hub for a Noster fault for students, for scientists, for visitors, for foreigners and locals to come and and learn more about it, spread the word experience the reserve and kind of immerse
themselves in Renoster felt. There are a few places you can do that, sorry, because it's all on parity owned land. The rest of it.
So you mentioned that of the noster felt, I mean, this is there's a very small amount still remaining. So what are the biggest threats to this ecosystem today?
And so because it's all found on privately owned land, the remaining that they're all sort of existing as little islands or little strips of water courses, little corridors joining the islands, in some cases surrounded by monoculture. So what's what's what's remaining as pressure from the outside, from chemical drift, from spraying and all the things that need to happen
on agricultural land. Also the illegal plowing because the law, there are laws to protect virgin land from being plowed, but that doesn't necessarily stop this from happening, overgrazing, incorrect fire regimes, being used as dump sites by land owners who don't value it. So yeah, it's got a suite of problems around it, and in it's in addition to the fact that they're so little left.
In terms of the wildlife, when you and the plants that are found here, what maybe might people be surprised to learn about? I mean it's home to some quite rare species.
Yes, So despite how little is left. These remnants are bursting with life. Obviously most well known for their plant diversity. On Harva's Clerf, we recorded over six hundred species in rhinoster felt Across the Overberg over one two hundred species, and a very high proportion are endemic, meaning that they are only found on those islands. And I don't mean like every island. In some cases, some of the species occur on fewer than a handful of sites, some on
just one or two remaining sites. So we say the levels of endemism are very high, the very special, really endangered plants. And if you look at the system, if you sort of take a bird's eye view of the Overberg, the diversity of animals is completely dependent on those remaining remnants because they need them as a refuge and as a place to go and to breed and to hide when the lands are barren at certain times of the year after the crops have been harvested and so on.
And there are many animals that cannot make use of wheat fields because it's just too foreign to them and it's too sort of hostile for them. So yeah, those little remnants are critical and burst with diversity, which is surprising if you think about how little is left if you're just joining us.
This afternoon, I'm speaking to doctor Adette Curtis Scott, who is the CEO and founder of the Oberberg Roinestereveld Trust, about the heart of exclure for an aster feld that's been declared a provincial nature reserve and the significance of that legally and in very practical terms, both for that piece of land for conservation efforts and for the public. How, then, I wonder, does this fit into the bigger picture of conservation in the Western Cape or even across the country more.
Broadly, well, of all the all countries that have agreed to go for the thirty thirty target, where we were all aiming to get suty percent of our learned into conservation by twenty city. These hectors contribute to our to the government's ability to report on those achievements and on the hectares that are being conserved. But it's also especially important for the fame Boss Biome, because we are considered the Fames Biome is considered the smallest but amongst the
very richest in the world. If you take the number of special plants that you get per hectare or per meter per meter squared. So for example, just to come down again to our scale we have had, we've done surveys with a one by one meter little quadrants where we've recorded over fifty species in a one by one meter quadrant, which is absolutely mindless. So the diversity on
that small scale is incredible. And then zooming out, what we rarely need to remember with conserving these natural systems is that we are trying to build resilience in these landscapes for future generations to be able to still enjoy these natural systems, and also with climate change and with land use changes, that these little remnants are what harbor
what is left of nature. And I mean people feel they need nature to varying degrees, but most people will agree that there is a really important element in nature that we all get something out of whatever it is that you get out of it. I find peace, and you know, my time with the little critics and my camera, that's my that's my piece, you know, and everyone finds.
People find solitude there, and and so I think it's really really important that we view these places as just as important as things that bring in a different kind of value monetary value. Yeah, and and and so linked to that, if I can just mention we we are running some retreats at our reserve because we wren't more people to come and see it. We want more people to experience for Anurse de celt and really kind of
immerse themselves in it. And having a nature reserve where people can come and do that is really great for the specific vegetation that's so threatening.
Yeah, we can you just tell us a little bit more about those retreats that did.
Yeah, so we're what we've done is we've developed some of the infrastructures I mentioned earlier that it was already on the reserve from an old dairy to an old shared and the old original farmhouse, and we've got some accommodation there and in a lovely learning space for people to interact and run sort of run workshops and retreats.
And so we are running a series of retreats whether they are they connected to art, to photography to birding at the reserve and they are on our website and so that people can come and learn something different and learn something, you know, take away a new skill, but also get to know an osterfelt and understand its importance and spend time walking in it, enjoying the hikes around the reserve and that kind of thing.
So congratulations on this, and you're on your work on doing this, and thank you for sticking with it. As you said earlier, it didn't happen overnight and it required an awful lot of work on your part and other collaborators to congratulations on that and good to have you
with us this afternoon. Doctor Adette Curtis Scott, who is the CEO and founder of the Overberg of an Osterfelt Truster talking to us about the heart of Execluree for a nooster Felt that's been declared a provincial nature reserve. Great news for local conservation