Hollywood undermines Africa’s struggles, creating a false impression of the continent to please western viewers.
Wildfires are the inevitable consequence of three factors coming together at the same time: an ignition, the weather and fuel.
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The fynbos vegetation that historically clothed the slopes of Table Mountain is highly inflammable. This has been worsened by the spread of alien trees that burn more intensely than the fynbos.
A wildfire spread across the slopes of Table Mountain to the University of Cape Town.
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Fire hazards are influenced by three factors: weather, an ignition source and fuel loads. The first two are unpredictable. But fuel loads can be managed.
Fynbos, the biodiverse shrubland in Cape Town, is thought to have the third highest carbon stored per square metre for any biome in South Africa. It must be protected.
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These plants play a crucial role in a delicate ecosystem. If Cape Beech trees or in fact other native tree species are wiped out, that whole ecosystem shifts.
A fire rages through wetlands close to Cape Town in February 2017.
EPA/Nic Bothma
Invasive plants have an impact on native species and unless these factors are properly understood, it is difficult to predict what sort of impact invasive plants will have.
A worker piles up leaves of rooibos tea for drying. Local people have been marginalised in the industry.
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A tall grass-like plant in the Western Cape has managed to dupe dung beetles into rolling and spreading its seeds.
South Africa’s Proteaceae family, makes up a part of fynbos, a floral region with plants unique to South Africa Cape Town’s Table Mountain National Park.
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Given the global commitment to conserve biodiversity in the face of climate change, it is important to understand how biodiversity arises in the first place – and how it is maintained.
Pied crow numbers are growing because of powerlines and climate change. This growth is distressing to some.
Peter Ryan