Conservation at a Flyway Scale: South Africa
Discover why and how we’re helping to restore vital habitat at the Berg River Estuary on the East Atlantic Flyway
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South Africa’s superhighway stop
At the RSPB, an important part of our work is protecting and restoring vital habitat at key landscapes along the East Atlantic Flyway. This is a bird migration superhighway that connects over 70 countries from the Arctic all the way to the southern tip of Africa. This includes the UK.
On South Africa’s windswept west coast, near the southern tip of the Flyway, lies the Berg River Estuary; a globally important refuge for migrating birds. However, the estuary now faces growing pressure from drought and human activity. Read on to find out what factors threaten the Berg and what’s being done to preserve this vital habitat.
What makes the Berg so important?
More than 250 bird species have been recorded in the Berg River Estuary’s Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA). These include African Fish Eagles and European Bee-eaters, as well as globally threatened species like the Cape Cormorant and Lesser Flamingo.
The estuary also hosts as many as 127 species of waterbirds, with its De Plaat mudflat seeing the highest number of waders anywhere on South Africa’s Atlantic coastline. The estuary often hosts over 20,000 waterbirds at once, thanks to the arrival of migratory species. These include long-distance travellers like Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint.
With the largest expanse of saltmarsh anywhere in South Africa, the Berg is a key site for wetland species.
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However, precious wetlands like the Berg have become increasingly isolated, as Dr Giselle Murison, Western Cape Estuaries Conservation Project Manager at BirdLife South Africa, explains:
“Along the west coast these estuarine systems stand out as being some of the most significant intact ecological corridors in an otherwise rather transformed landscape”.
An ecosystem under pressure
The Berg’s varied habitats are being put under enormous pressure by a wide variety of issues. These include:
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Drought
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Reduced volume and quality of freshwater inflow
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Encroachment from agriculture
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Upstream extraction and damming
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Reduced winter rainfall due to climate change
All these changes and activities have had a major impact on wildlife. A recent count of waterbirds revealed that numbers had declined by 66% since 1994. Unfortunately, this reflects wider declines across the country. At the Berg, it appears that migratory wading birds may be the worst affected, as they’re showing declines of up to 85% since the 1980s.
Meeting the challenges
It’s never been more important to protect and restore this vital hotspot of bird diversity. So, to help combat these issues, BirdLife South Africa have been engaged in a wide variety of activities to restore and preserve the Berg’s habitats.
For example, formal protected areas have been created, such as the new 7000-hectare (ha) Melck Protected Environment. Biodiversity stewardship agreements have also been developed with local landowners, and scientific monitoring and environmental education work has been implemented. Finally, on-the-ground habit restoration has been undertaken too.
Priorities and partnerships
A key priority for the work at the Berg River is to identify the most effective restoration techniques for the fragile habitat. To that end, three restoration sites, covering different habitats (saltmarsh, reed marsh, and broader floodplain habitats) have been developed.
At these sites, various approaches are being trialled to establish which restoration tools are most effective for each area. They can then be scaled up across the estuary.
By working in partnership to protect and restore this vital site on the East Atlantic Flyway, both the Berg's resident wildlife, as well as its huge gatherings of visiting waterbirds, can be helped to recover and thrive for many years to come.
When working to help protect a vast migratory route like the East Atlantic Flyway, building strong collaborations is key.
Ian Barber, Senior Flyway Programme Officer at the RSPB, explains more in relation to our work with BirdLife South Africa,
"An important focus of this partnership is knowledge-sharing and we recently hosted Dr Murison on a visit to some of our nature reserves in East Anglia. Here we could look at work being done on coastal and wetland habitat restoration in the UK which can help BirdLife South Africa's efforts to develop a best practice guide for estuarine habitat restoration in South Africa. Sharing information and expertise along the Flyway is central to how we work with our fellow BirdLife partners."
Acknowledgements
This work is being undertaken by BirdLife South Africa in partnership with the RSPB and has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ecological Restoration Fund.
The Ecological Restoration Fund supports work that protects biodiverse hotspots, rejuvenates degraded landscapes and promotes local environmental activism. They are committed to re-establishing nature’s essential interconnections while fostering cultural, social and economic opportunities for the communities inhabiting those landscapes.
