Relentless warming coupled with increasingly variable rainfall will increase the risks of drying soils and vegetation, resulting in land degradation and soil erosion, especially in the rangelands. As a result, more multi-year severe droughts may become part of the future that farmers must plan for. This is according to Climate Change and Risk Assessment Scientist Professor Stephanie Midgley of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s Programme Research and Technology Development Services.
Speaking during the marking of the Desertification and Drought Day today, the professor said that despite the drought being thrice more- likely because of climate change, the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) has a roadmap to mitigate these risks, the SmartAgri Plan.
Read: MEC Ivan Meyer on celebrating Desertification and Drought Day
“Two priority projects will contribute directly to building resilience against desertification. Firstly, restored ecological infrastructure for increased landscape productivity, socio-ecological resilience and soil carbon sequestration (focus on more arid areas). Secondly, collaborative, integrated catchment management improves water security and job creation (i.e. clearing invasive alien plants). These and other climate-smart actions are already being implemented.” She said.
Ashia Petersen, the Director for the Department’s Programme Sustainable Resource Use and Management, who was also in attendance, highlights that invasive alien vegetation is a significant threat to land degradation. According to her, by competing with indigenous vegetation, alien vegetation reduces biodiversity and increases soil erosion.
“Our area-wide ecological planning and fencing in the Koup area of the Central Karoo enables sustainable land-use management practices. In this area, WCDoA has constructed 110 km of fencing that resulted in positives – both environmentally and economically. The erection of the fences allows for rotational grazing that prevents the degradation of the Karoo veld and has seen lambing percentage increase by 400%.” Said Petersen
In the last ten years, the Western Cape has experienced at least three disasters per year. These include the current drought experienced in the Central and Little Karoo and the northern parts of Matzikamasome. As a result, bi-annual veld assessments are performed to monitor and evaluate the condition of our veld continuously. These assessments form part of our baseline data. In addition, they serve as early warning systems that support our decision-making process in identifying the areas needing drought fodder support and the frequency of fodder support. Fodder support is critical as it prevents over-grazing of the natural veld and ecological disturbance that could result in land degradation.
Also in attendance was Western Cape Minister for Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer.
