Africa Geographic Oktober 2004 [antikvár]

editorial O'Y' fert T CC Can we revel in the World Heritage status of our Cape Fold Mountains because of their undoubted botanical glory, yet at the same time be indifferent to the creatures that live there? 1 he Cape Floristlc Region extends in a lazy and somewhat irregular arc from the dry mountalnlands north of Cape Town, through the very centre of the dty itself and then eastwards along the southern Cape mountains as far as Port Elizabeth's hinterland. It is truly one of the natural wonders of the world. This extraordinary flora is by far the smallest of our planet's six defined plant kingdoms, yet the diversity within it makes it the richest. It covers only half a per cent of the continent's landmass, but nearly 20 per cent of Africa's known plant forms occur here. Of its 8 996 plant species, some 70 per cent occur nowhere else in the world. The botanical significance of the region - of which proteas and ericas form the flagship and most famous groups - has been known, and exploited, by humans since the first of our species arrived at the southern tip of Africa. It fascinated and intrigued the 18th- and 19th-century explorer-botanists, and scientists today are no less engaged with these plants and their ecology. Ranked as one of the lUCN's World Centres of Plant Endemism, the plant kingdom has now also been recognised as a World Heritage Site. As David Rogers tells us on page 56, this is of enormous significance for the conservation future of the region. Winning World Heritage status is a huge achievement, and all who had a hand in promoting and fighting for this are to be congratulated. This good news story for plants will hopefully also serve to highlight the plight of other life forms in the region, some of which are not faring well at all. For example, there can be no doubt that the leopard is in dire straits in the Western and southern Cape. I was recently at Bushmans Kloof Private Reserve in the Cedarberg - a magnificent example of how land can be returned, and profitably so, to the wild. Here, looking up at the tortured sandstone mountains, I asked our guide about leopards. 'Some signs,' she replied, 'but no one sees them.' Little wonder that the few remaining specimens are reluctant to show themselves, given the prolonged persecution that their kind has endured. After all, the jackals have all but gone. And so have most of the caracals. Eagles and other raptors haven't been treated too well either. Is it just a matter of time for those few tenacious leopards? And can we in all honesty revel in the World Heritage status of our Cape Fold Mountains because of their undoubted botanical glory, yet at the same time be indifferent to the aeatures that live there? Well, hopefully not, and if two young conservationists, Quinton and Nicole Martins, have anything to do with it, the leopards and other smaller predators of the region will not only survive, but prosper. In his August column, Ian Michler referred to the work of this courageous and determined couple whose Cape Leopard Trust has just been successfully launched to raise ongoing funding for their important work. Afiica Geographic has 'adopted' this project and I look forward to telling readers more about it in the months to come.