Land-cover change in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve 1993-2006): A first step towards creating a conservation plan for the subregion.

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dc.citation.doi10.4102/sajs.v106i7/8.221en_ZA
dc.citation.issue7/8en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorCoetzer, K.L.
dc.contributor.authorErasmus, B.F.N.
dc.contributor.authorWitkowski, E.T.F.
dc.contributor.authorBachoo, A.K.
dc.date.accessioned2016-09-22T14:59:39Z
dc.date.available2016-09-22T14:59:39Z
dc.date.issued2010-07
dc.description.abstractThis paper is a first step towards a conservation plan for the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve K2C) on the South African Central Lowveld, quantifying the historical land-cover trends 1993-2006). During the analysis period, 36% of the biosphere reserve BR) underwent land-cover change. Settlement areas increased by 39.7%, mainly in rural areas, becoming denser, particularly along roadways. Human-Impacted Vegetation increased by 6.8% and Intact Vegetation declined by 7.3%, predominantly around settlement areas, which is testament to the interdependency between rural communities and the local environment. However, settlement expansion exceeded the rate of rangeland growth; in the long term, this may raise questions for sustainable resource extraction. Similarly, the block losses of intact vegetation are of concern; issues of fragmentation arise, with knock-on effects for ecosystem functioning. In the economic sector, agriculture increased by 51.9%, while forestry and mining declined by 7.1% and 6.3%, respectively. The future of these three sectors may also have significant repercussions for land-cover change in the BR. The identification of historical drivers, along with the chance that existing trends may continue, will have important implications for biodiversity protection in this landscape. Applied within a conservation-planning framework, these land-cover data, together with economic and biodiversity data, will help reconcile the spatial requirements of socio-economic development with those of conservation.en_ZA
dc.description.librarianSP2016en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationCoetzer, K.L. et al. 2010. Land-cover change in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve 1993-2006): A first step towards creating a conservation plan for the subregion. South African Journal of Science 106(7/8), pp. 1-10.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0038-2353 (Print)
dc.identifier.issn1996-7489 (Online)
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10539/21090
dc.journal.titleSouth African Journal of Scienceen_ZA
dc.journal.volume106en_ZA
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherAcademy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)en_ZA
dc.rights© 2010. The Authors. Licensee: OpenJournals Publishing. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.en_ZA
dc.subjectCentral Lowvelden_ZA
dc.subjectConservation planningen_ZA
dc.subjectDevelopmenten_ZA
dc.subjectLand-use changeen_ZA
dc.subjectSouth Africaen_ZA
dc.subjectKruger National Parken_ZA
dc.subjectagricultural landen_ZA
dc.subjectanthropogenic effecten_ZA
dc.subjectbiodiversityen_ZA
dc.subjectdevelopment strategyen_ZA
dc.subjectforest managementen_ZA
dc.subjectfragmentationen_ZA
dc.subjecthabitat conservationen_ZA
dc.subjecthuman settlementen_ZA
dc.subjectminingen_ZA
dc.subjectnature conservationen_ZA
dc.subjectprotected areaen_ZA
dc.subjectquantitative analysisen_ZA
dc.subjectrangelanden_ZA
dc.subjectsocioeconomic statusen_ZA
dc.subjectsustainabilityen_ZA
dc.titleLand-cover change in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve 1993-2006): A first step towards creating a conservation plan for the subregion.en_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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