Investing in Natural Capital and Economic Development: South Africa’s Drakensberg Mountains

Authors:
Blignaut, J., J. Aronson, M. Mander and C. Marais

Publication Date:
2008

Abstract/Summary:
We describe a proposed large-scale restoration and land use management project planned for a portion of the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa. Some 250,000 ha of high-lying land in the Drakensberg range are a protected conservation area and also a World Heritage Site. Bordering this conservation enclave is another 250,000 ha of increasingly degraded land subject to a variety of competing land uses. Conflicting land use objectives could, in theory, be mitigated and reconciled by identifying and developing a market for the delivery of ecosystem services such as water use and quality, carbon sequestration, erosion and siltation reduction, combating desertification, and the promotion of biodiversity conservation.

Resource Type:
Peer-reviewed Article

Source:
Ecological Restoration

Link:
http://er.uwpress.org/content/26/2/143.abstract