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Why the IPBES Business and Biodiversity Assessment Matters

By Suzanne Powell and Catherine Kuhn of the EWT’s Biodiversity and Business Unit

We can no longer afford to overlook nature on a continent where many economies are expanding, infrastructure investment is accelerating, and global markets are demanding stronger environmental performance across value chains. At the same time, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) calls on governments and businesses to take coordinated, transformative action to halt biodiversity loss while strengthening resilience and development outcomes.

Hosted by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in collaboration with the South Africa Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), the two-day forum provided delegates with an opportunity to exchange ideas, learn from each other and create future collaborative opportunities to solve problems related to the inclusion of environmental practices into business in line with, amongst other, the Global Biodiversity Framework’s Target 15. This target aims to progressively reduce the negative impacts and increase the positive impacts of business on biodiversity and to encourage more sustainable patterns of production.

Among the key presentations was the unpacking and evaluation of a recently released report that highlighted the fact that the cost of the growth of the global economy has been at the cost of immense biodiversity loss. This now poses a critical and pervasive systemic risk to the economy, financial stability and human well-being.

The landmark global assessment places biodiversity firmly at the centre of business risk, responsibility and opportunity. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released the Business and Biodiversity Assessment: Summary for Policymakers. Among its authors was the EWT’s head of Sustainability, Kishaylin Chetty. His involvement reflects the growing contribution of African expertise to global conversations on the biodiversity-business interface.

The assessment comes at a critical time when evidence shows that biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people are declining across the globe.

Prepared under IPBES by 79 experts from 35 countries, and drawing on more than 5,000 references, this assessment carries significant scientific and policy weight as the first global IPBES assessment dedicated specifically to business and biodiversity. The report was approved through the IPBES Plenary by representatives of the Platform’s more than 150 member Governments on 9 February 2026, giving the assessment particular international authority.

So what does the assessment reveal? Here are five key insights that show why this report matters:

Nature is a systemic part of the economy

All businesses depend on biodiversity, whether directly or indirectly. Extensive evidence indicates that more than 50% of global GDP depends on nature. While sectors like agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism depend directly on biodiversity, other industries are indirectly dependent through their value chains. Raw materials, energy sources, and ecosystem services are all part of modern economies.

As awareness grows, biodiversity loss is increasingly recognised as a systemic risk to economies and financial systems, with serious consequences for financial stability and human wellbeing.

Money is still flowing in the wrong direction

Estimates suggest that globally, only around US$220 billion per year is directed toward biodiversity conservation and restoration, while a staggering US$7.3 trillion flows into nature-negative activities annually. At the same time, current economic incentives continue to lock in harmful activities, reinforcing this stark imbalance. More broadly, today’s business environment is not always compatible with a just and sustainable future, with unsustainable outcomes structurally embedded through perverse incentives, harmful subsidies and the failure to account for biodiversity impacts.

Momentum is growing

Globally, fewer than one percent of publicly listed companies disclose their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity. While this number is growing as awareness increases and frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) gain wider adoption, it raises a more fundamental question: what is actually changing for nature on the ground?

If most companies are not yet measuring or disclosing their impacts, it becomes difficult to know where biodiversity is being lost, and whether actions are contributing to positive conservation outcomes. Compounding this is the lack of independent verification which makes it hard to distinguish between meaningful action and tangible and credible improvements for biodiversity. Businesses need to ask themselves: Are ecosystems recovering? Are pressures on ecosystems being reduced? Are our actions contributing to harm or to positive outcomes? And how are we tracking this to ensure credibility and to avoid greenwashing?

The tools to act are already in place

A common assumption is that limited data is the main reason businesses are not acting on biodiversity. The report challenges this. While biodiversity measurement is complex, many methods already exist to help businesses understand their impacts and dependencies. The real challenge lies in using the correctly aligned approach method.

The report provides a robust guidance table to help companies select the correct method for a particular purpose at the appropriate decision-making level, whether for risk screening, comparing options or assessing impacts on the ground.

The assessment also identifies more than 25 actions businesses can take across strategy, operations, value chains and investment decisions. This includes embedding biodiversity into strategy, reducing impacts, improving supply chain transparency and shifting capital toward nature-positive outcomes.

Transforming the system will require collective effort

Many current incentives still reward activities that harm nature. While business action has historically been driven by regulation, real change requires shifting the system itself. Businesses can help shape an enabling environment by influencing suppliers, partners and markets. Governments are also central to this shift, setting the rules through policy, regulation and incentives. Civil society plays a vital role in building capacity, monitoring progress and holding actors accountable.

Ultimately, transforming the system requires collective action to ensure that positive outcomes for nature become the norm.

In closing, the message is clear: what is good for biodiversity is also good for long-term economic stability and business resilience. Through collaboration, shared responsibility, and an enabling environment, businesses can become part of the solution to shaping a just and sustainable future.

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From Red Lists to real action: How science shapes conservation

By Dr Tamanna Patel and Dr Lizanne Roxburgh, Conservation Planning and Science Unit

Conservation does not happen in isolation. Every decision about which species to protect, where to invest limited resources, and how to balance development with biodiversity rests on one critical foundation: evidence. When that evidence is outdated or incomplete, conservation action risks becoming ineffective, or worse, misdirected. In the face of an accelerating biodiversity crisis, acting on yesterday’s data can mean losing species forever.

This is why scientific assessments of species’ statuses, are not merely academic exercises, but essential tools for species survival. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species remains the world’s most authoritative system for assessing extinction risk of animals, fungi, and plants at either a global, regional or a national scale. It classifies species into nine categories, from Least Concern to Extinct, using objective criteria. Beyond labels, Red List assessments provide vital information on threats, habitats, population trends, and conservation needs, shaping policy, land-use planning, environmental impact assessments, and research priorities.

While global assessments provide a big-picture view, conservation action happens locally. This is why national and regional Red Lists are also important. National assessments identify species at risk within a country’s borders, guiding conservation policy, informing development decisions, allocating resources, tracking progress on international biodiversity commitments, and raising public awareness.

But Red Lists are only as powerful as they are current. When assessments lag behind reality, conservation resources, already stretched thin, may fail to reach the species that need urgent intervention. In conservation, timing matters.

This is why the release of the revised 2025 Mammal Red List of South Africa, Eswatini, and Lesotho in mid-January is so significant. Coordinated by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and informed by the knowledge of 150 mammal experts, the assessments reveal trends that demand attention from policymakers, researchers, and the public alike. They form part of a broader suite of National Red Lists, covering everything from birds and amphibians to spiders and freshwater fishes, which fed into the 2025 National Biodiversity Assessment launched by SANBI in December 2025 – demonstrating how Red Lists translate science into national planning.

The findings are sobering. Of the 336 mammal species assessed, 20% are now threatened with extinction, while a further 12% are classified as Near Threatened, meaning that they are close to meeting the criteria for threatened, and should be monitored closely. Eleven species were uplisted to a higher risk category, signalling declining conservation status, while only three species showed sufficient improvement to be downlisted. The Thick-tailed Bushbaby, once considered secure, has been uplisted from Least Concern to Near Threatened as agriculture, urban expansion, infrastructure development, and climate change increasingly fragment its habitat. In contrast, Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra offers a rare conservation success story, having been downlisted from Vulnerable to Near Threatened thanks to a real increase in population numbers – clear evidence that well-directed conservation can deliver results.

The region’s responsibility is particularly stark when it comes to endemic species. Sixty-seven mammal species occur nowhere else on Earth, and 42% of them are threatened with extinction. If these species are lost here, they are lost forever. Yet protection remains uneven: while around 76% of mammal species are considered well or moderately protected, nearly a quarter are poorly protected or not protected at all. Habitat loss from agriculture and urban expansion remains the dominant threat, compounded by climate change, extreme weather events, over-exploitation, and poaching.

Importantly, this Red List also marks a step forward in how we assess species. For the first time, genetic health and climate change vulnerability were incorporated into all mammal assessments. Climate modelling was conducted for species already flagged as climate-sensitive in the previous assessment, and genetic indicators were evaluated across all mammals. These advances are critical, but they also expose how much we still do not know. Without targeted research on climate vulnerability and stronger genetic data, conservation planning risks being reactive rather than proactive.

The most significant gap remains basic population data, particularly for small mammals and species within protected areas. Many species continue to be under-studied, limiting our understanding of population size, trends, and genetic diversity. Seven percent of assessed species were classified as Data Deficient, meaning that experts were unable to assign them a Red List status due to insufficient information. Dolphins and whales dominate this group, highlighting an urgent need for baseline surveys and long-term monitoring of these marine species.

The IUCN recommends reassessing species every five to ten years. South Africa’s mammal Red List, first published in 1986, revised in 2004, expanded regionally in 2016, and now updated in 2025, shows the value of this commitment. Each revision not only tracks declines and recoveries but also refines the questions we must ask next.

Red Lists do more than tell us which species are in trouble. They reveal where our knowledge is weakest, where research investment is most urgently needed, and where conservation action can make the biggest difference. In a world of limited resources and growing environmental pressures, evidence-based decision-making is not optional, it is the difference between recovery and irreversible loss.

View the Red List

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ReLISA: Restoring South Africa’s Landscapes for Climate, Biodiversity and People

By Christopher Hooten – Project Manager, Endangered Wildlife Trust

Restored savanna landscape supporting biodiversity and livelihoods

South Africa stands at a critical crossroads. Decades of unsustainable land use, combined with intensifying climate pressures, have pushed some of the country’s most important ecosystems to the brink.

Grasslands that supply the majority of the nation’s water, savannas that support iconic wildlife and rural livelihoods, and thicket systems unique to the Eastern Cape now show the accumulated scars of overgrazing, mining, invasive alien plant encroachment, drought and fire.

But, alongside this sobering reality lies a growing movement—one that is evolving from scattered localised rehabilitation efforts to coordinated, large-scale action capable of transforming entire landscapes. At the centre of this shift is ReLISA: Restoring Landscapes in South Africa, a five-year, €15-million initiative funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUV) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI).

ReLISA brings together an exceptional consortium—United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), C4 EcoSolutions and Unique Landuse—with the aim to develop large-scale restoration initiatives, expand protected areas and drive social inclusivity.

On 16 October, on the sidelines of the G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) Ministerial Meeting in Cape Town, the ReLISA project was jointly officiated by Dion George, South Africa’s Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE); Carsten Schneider, German Federal Minister for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN); Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and Nelson Muffuh, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in South Africa.

ReLISA project launch with government and international partners

ReLISA is not just another conservation project. It is a strategic intervention designed to unlock private and public investment, drive protected area expansion and place nature-based solutions at the heart of national development priorities. It marks a new generation of restoration programming—one that pairs ecological restoration with economic valuation, financial innovation, and strong community partnerships.

At the heart of the initiative lies a simple but powerful premise: restoration is not only good for nature—it is good for people, economies, and long-term climate stability.

Healing Biomes That Sustain a Nation

South Africa’s landscapes are globally celebrated for their richness and diversity. Yet three biomes, in particular, stand out for their ecological and economic importance. ReLISA’s core areas of focus are the Grassland, Savanna and Thicket Biomes. These landscapes have absorbed the impacts of generations of intensive use. Today, they face additional threats from climate change—prolonged droughts, record-breaking temperatures, wildfires and shifting rainfall patterns. Meanwhile, invasive alien plants continue to spread at unprecedented rates, outcompeting indigenous vegetation and consuming critical water supplies.

Decades of land degradation, notably within Strategic Water Source Areas (SWSAs), have undermined biodiversity, strained water security, and eroded the natural assets that rural communities depend on. As climate change intensifies, the impacts of droughts, extreme weather, and land degradation are becoming more severe, especially for vulnerable households and farmers. This project emphasises the importance of SWSAs in South Africa, which are critical for maintaining water supply whilst supporting agriculture, communities, and wildlife. By focusing restoration work within, and protecting, SWSAs, water retention in the landscape can be enhanced, erosion reduced and the resilience of ecosystems in the face of climate change improved.

At the same time, governments and land users have consistently faced a barrier common to restoration efforts worldwide: how to finance restoration at scale. The project aims to bridge this gap by combining biophysical science with economic valuation and investor-ready project design, building a compelling economic case for restoration in South Africa in order to attract private investment and blended finance opportunities.

ReLISA recognises that restoring these biomes is no longer optional; it is essential. Not only for safeguarding biodiversity, but for national water security, economic resilience, climate adaptation and the well-being of communities who depend directly on the land.

The main target landscapes for the EWT within ReLISA are the Northern Drakensberg, Soutpansberg and the Amatholes. Within these, the EWT strives to further expand the existing protected area network through biodiversity stewardship mechanisms, whilst addressing land degradation and species conservation. Within each of the landscapes there is a dedicated and committed field officer who actively works alongside land users, building relationships and providing input and assistance with rangeland management, restoration and alien plant clearing. The work undertaken within these landscapes is more than just protected area expansion for the sake of numbers, it focusses on key corridors, areas of intact habitat and properties where there are known threatened species, with the aim to create a larger, connected network of protected areas.

What ReLISA Aims to Achieve

The true innovation of ReLISA is its systems thinking. Instead of treating restoration as isolated interventions, the project views landscapes as interconnected ecological, social and economic systems.

Restoration at Scale

ReLISA aims have 100,000 hectares across key landscapes under restoration by 2030, biomes that are essential for biodiversity, water supply, and climate resilience.

Expansion of Protected Areas and the Northern Drakensberg Biosphere Reserve

In conjunction with the expansion of protected areas, the EWT is in the very early stages of setting up the proposed Northern Drakensberg Biosphere Reserve, targeting the grassland biome and incorporating existing protected networks along the northeastern escarpment between Royal Natal National Park and Memel in the eastern Free State.

Economic and Financial Innovation

ReLISA is developing bankable business models for restoration, creating opportunities for impact investors, agribusiness, and other private sector actors to finance nature-based solutions. Funding models include payments for ecosystem services, carbon-focused finance through carbon credits, and potential water-fund mechanisms.

Strengthened Ecosystem Services

Restoration activities will improve water security, stabilise soils, restore carbon stocks, and enhance biodiversity. These improvements directly support local livelihoods, agriculture, and tourism.

Policy Support and Knowledge Sharing

Through strong collaboration with government partners, ReLISA will support policy development and share insights nationally and internationally, helping shape a long-term, sustainable restoration economy.

Looking Ahead

As climate risks accelerate and water security declines, the cost of inaction grows each year. Yet restoration—when done at scale—offers one of the highest returns on investment of any nature-based solution.

With its official launch complete, ReLISA now moves into full implementation. The coming years will focus on expanding restoration efforts, deepening community partnerships, and demonstrating that nature-based solutions can deliver economic, ecological, and social benefits at scale.

Through strong collaboration, innovative financing, and evidence-based action, the project seeks to become a flagship model for sustainable restoration—not only in South Africa, but globally.

EWT field officer working with landowners on landscape restoration

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Turning around the threat of extinction, one species at a time

By Yolan Friedmann – CEO, Endangered Wildlife Trust

EWT field team monitoring endangered species (Wattled Cranes) in South African wetlands

Since our founding in 1973, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) has established itself as a leader in wildlife conservation, focusing on the African species under greatest risk of extinction. Over the decades, so-called “species conservation” became frowned upon, with a view that only ecosystem and large habitat conservation is worth the funding, focus and energy. This view is not incorrect, and the EWT has spent considerable recourse successfully conserving large tracts of grasslands, mountains, wetlands, riparian systems and drylands.

The value of this work cannot be understated, as space, intact biodiversity and ecosystem function forms the basis of all life on earth. However, there is no doubt that a strong focus on saving species, with research, monitoring and specific activities focussing on the needs to individual species or their families is just as important if we are to stem the tide of extinction that threatens to overtake numerous species whose future survival requires more than just saving their habitat.

The threats facing the survival of individual species have amplified in recent years and include targeted removal from the wild for illegal trade (dead, alive or in parts), poisoning (direct or indirect), snaring, infrastructural impacts, alien invasive species, unsustainable use, and today, more than 48,600 species face the risk of extinction at varying levels. In response, the EWT has broadened our focus and our expert teams of specialists to ensure that we cover lesser-known, but equally important and often more at-risk species that include insects, reptiles, amphibians, trees and succulent plants. This makes the EWT the most diverse and extensive biodiversity conservation organisation in the region. And, if too little is known about the species in a particular area or what may be at risk, we have a specialist team that undertakes rapid biodiversity assessment, or bioblitzes, to quickly reveal the natural secrets that may be hiding in understudied areas, but may be facing a great risk of being lost to this generation or the next.

The IUCN’s Species Survival Commission issued the Abu Dhabi Declaration in 2024, emphasising the critical importance of saving species to save all life, calling on “… diverse sectors – including governments, businesses, Indigenous peoples and local communities, religious groups, and individuals – to prioritise species conservation within their actions, strategies, and giving, recognising that protecting animals, fungi, and plants is fundamental to sustaining life on earth.”

In October 2025, as nearly 10,000 members of the world’s conservation community gathered again in Abu Dhabi for the 5^th IUCN World Conservation Congress, the message was clear: Save Species, Save Life. The congress featured very powerful calls for more urgent work to be done to stem the illegal wildlife trade, halt unsustainable use and prioritise funding, research and action in order to prevent mass extinction rates. Of the 148 motions that were adopted by the IUCN Members’ Assembly, a large number focussed on the need for intensified action and policy to address the issues facing species such as:

Holistically conserving forests, grasslands, freshwater ecosystems and coral reefs and other marine ecosystems
Species recovery for threatened taxa
Sustainable use and exploitation of wild species
Invasive alien species prevention
Combatting crimes like wildlife trafficking and illegal fisheries
One Health

Species can only survive and thrive within larger, functioning and healthy ecosystems, and more space is desperately needed for our ailing planet to retain its viability as a healthy host for all life. But the life that exists in micro-habitats, and those that face ongoing persecution which threatens to decimate all chances of survival, needs rapid and targeted interventions now.

The EWT remains at the forefront of this work, having rediscovered populations of species thought to have gone extinct such as the De Winton’s Golden Mole, the Pennington’s Blue Butterfly, the Orange-tailed Sandveld Lizard, Branch’s Rain Frog and the Blyde Rondawel Flat Gecko, and effectively turning around the fate of others, such as the Cheetah, Wattled Cranes and the Pickersgill’s Reed Frog – once facing imminent risk of extinction, but now heading back to survival and expansion. Our work to discover, save, monitor and protect the most threatened, whether visible or not and whether charismatic or not, is unwavering. Together, we can turn the tide on extinction, on species at a time.

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Old Salt Trail Soutpansberg: Experience Nature and Biodiversity

By Eleanor Momberg

Diverse ecosystems encountered on the Old Salt Trail

Day 2: Hamasha Gorge

Amazing. Mind-boggling. Beautiful.

These are among the words used by Jo Bert, the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Senior Graphic Designer, following their five-day hike of the Old Salt Trail in the Soutpansberg.

Jo had joined a group of hikers to experience the Trail that spans the upper reaches of the Soutpansberg Mountains in Limpopo.

“I did not have context of the trail. I had been telling the story for months and all I had to go on was the information that had been supplied and the photos I had seen. A lot of the story so far has been conservation-focused, so going on the trail enables us to tell the story better from a marketing perspective and, through that, get more people to join,” said Jo.

For someone who is largely deskbound at the EWTs Conservation Campus in Midrand, this was an ideal opportunity to get back to nature and to collect photos and video material needed for future projects.

“It was amazing. I honestly love getting out away from my desk. It was so beautiful. I think the best part is that I have looked at those photos so many times, and to actually be in that space, to stand where the photo was shot, puts the whole thing into a different perspective,” they say.

The intrepid team of four hikers were led by the EWT Medike Reserve Rangers Tharollo Mthisi and Khathutshelo Mukhumeni. The Old Salt Trail is a 73km, five-day, four-night slackpacking adventure traversing numerous private properties in an area that now largely comprises the Western Soutpansberg Nature Reserve.

The hike starts at the Medike nature reserve, which is owned and managed by the EWT. On Day One, you climb 11.5km to Leshiba Luvhondo Camp. On the second day, the hikers embark on a 15.5km hike to Sigurwana Lodge, followed on the third day with a trek of about 15km to Lajuma Wilderness Camp. On the fourth day, the hike takes about 19km you back to Leshiba Venda Village Lodge from where you return via an 11km route to Medike on Day Five where the adventure ends.

Before the hikers set off from the bottom of the Sand River Gorge, Tharollo and Khathutshelo give a safety briefing and all luggage is loaded into a vehicle to be taken to the overnight accommodation at Leshiba. All hikers carry with them are a day pack.

“You carry a day pack with you with your lunch in, maybe a spare jersey and your water,” said Jo. “The first day I packed way too much, because I didn’t realise that we had so much food given to us, so I brought a whole bunch of snacks with me, and a whole lot of clothes because I didn’t know how wet we were going to get or if it was going to be super hot. I also had a bird book, but then realised that Therollo and Khathu have all the apps on their phones so we just identified with that. So every single night I was taking things out of my bag and by the last day I only had my lunch and my water and a very light jersey”.

On the first two days of the Old Salt Trail hikers not only have to tend with steep and rocky slopes, but also cross bushveld, forests, grassland and savannah beside enjoying a variety of San and Khoekhoe rock art and ancient artefacts.

“The cultural heritage in that area is so amazing. And there are so many spots where you are in the ruins of an old village where there are bits of clay or you can see the foundations of a house. And the places with the rock paintings are fascinating,” Jo explained.

For paintings that have been damaged by years of weathering, a phone APP was used to highlight the original paintings. “A lot of people thought that the paintings were about daily activities, but they are about special occurrences and a lot of the paintings in that area are about spirits, ancestors and trances; a lot of really spiritual stuff and not just day to day things. And there’s a lot of giants in there that you can’t really see with the naked eye, but when put through the APP you can see them and it is amazing,” said Jo.

On Day Three hikers head straight towards a rocky cliff and a waterfall into a Fever Tree forest before climbing to the top of Mt Lajuma, the highest point of the Soutpansberg at more than 1,727m above sea level.

“It is crazy. When I got to the top of the mountain, I looked around to see everything below and realised I had forgotten that I was actually on top of the Soutpansberg. I actually only remembered we were up on the mountain when I looked out from on top of Mt Lajuma and I saw how far down everything else was,” said Jo.

For this adventure, hikers need to be reasonably fit.

“On Day Four there is a section where you have to climb up The Chimney as they call it. I do rock climbing and I am ashamed to admit that I needed a hand in some places. It’s not the most insane climbing, but it is fairly technical,” said Jo. “I think you have to be fairly fit, but I still managed even though I was a bit ill, so it’s not an impossible thing.

Hikers have to be prepared to walk long distances. Although there is a break for lunch and several short stops in between, it is an all-day walk across sometimes flat areas, traversing unsteady and rocky terrain, rivers and other obstacles, and scrambling up some challenging cliffs.

“You do have to be fairly confident in your ability. If you are reasonably fit, you can do it,” they said.

The main calling card for the Soutpansberg and the Old Salt Trail is the variety of ecosystems. Jo points out that the terrain constantly changes.

“You start on Medike where it is fairly dry … and by the time you get to Leshiba it is marshy on the side of the mountain, and on the fourth day you’re in a Yellowwood forest. Even on the first day you start to get up into the mist belt and by Day Two you’re seeing Old Man’s Beard lichen everywhere. Some days you’re walking through grasslands or marsh and then you’re in Bracken taller than you. It changes within seconds”.

Jo added: “The amount of birds we saw was amazing. We saw and heard birds I had never seen or heard in my life. There are so many mushrooms and there are tiny little frogs and flowers and we saw so many beautiful beetles… So many amazing things that I have never seen before, and I have seen a fair amount, but this was just blowing my mind – the amount of nature and biodiversity that I have never even seen before and it is such a small area”.

The Soutpansberg is a unique refuge. “If you go to the Kruger National Park, you can drive for hours in the same kind of veld. Go to Soutpansberg and walk around for two hours and you have seen six different biomes, you’ve climbed a mountain, you have walked across marshy flats and it is a complete variety every five minutes. We saw zebra and quite a couple bushbuck, klispringers, and we found several snake skins,” they said.

Jo said they did not even take much note of the iconic waterfall because there were so many butterflies and River Fever Trees.

“I was just looking at the trees and the mosses and large butterflies and the one lady that was with us knew all the species of butterfly. I learnt quite a lot.”

Colourful beetle crawling on vegetation along the Old Salt Trail Soutpansberg

Native orchid flowering in the Soutpansberg on the Old Salt Trail

Wildflowers blooming along the Old Salt Trail Soutpansberg

Small frog perched near marshy area on the Old Salt Trail Soutpansberg

Accommodation

Jo has nothing but praise for the accommodation at Leshiba Luvhondo Camp and Venda Village and Sigurwana Lodge describing them as beautiful and luxurious. Although the Lajuma Wilderness Camp was more rustic, it was comfortable, they said.

After a day of hiking, the warm facecloth at Leshiba handed to hikers and drinks and snacks served are a blessing. Moreso the food, the comfortable huts, rondawels and tented camps with their welcoming beds—with hot water bottles—and bathrooms at the end of a day-long slog through the bush.

Jo recommends booking accommodation at Medike for the night before the start of the hike, and the last night – if you are not from nearby. This is because of the time it takes to travel there. The hike starts in the morning and ends in the afternoon.

“We stayed at the Stone Cottage at Medike, which was really nice. If someone is coming from Joburg it is worth staying over because it is a long hike”.

Two weeks after completing the hike Jo said they were still trying to process everything seen and experienced.

“It was difficult to process in the moment and the more I think about it, I still can’t appreciate the amount we actually saw. It was mind boggling,” they said.

Sunset view from the Old Salt Trail Soutpansberg

Day 3: Mt. Lajuma

Hike the Old Salt trail

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First Conservation Servitude Wholly Initiated by the EWT Registered in the Northern Cape

By Zanne Brink, Drylands Strategic Conservation Landscape Manager

Northern Cape biodiversity conservation through Lokenburg Conservation Servitude

The first Conservation Servitude initiated by the Endangered Wildlife Trust has been registered in the Northern Cape.

The registration of the Lokenburg Conservation Servitude is to ensure the long-term protection of, particularly the Speckled Dwarf Tortoise, its habitat and the associated biodiversity on a farm that has been occupied by the same family for six generations.

The protection of dwarf tortoises is critical, especially because they occur in very specific habitat types along the West Coast of South Africa, inland to Namakwaland, and while this is a large area, they actually only occur in a few tiny remnant patches of critical habitat.

Lokenburg is situated in the district of Nieuwoudtville, widely known for its unique vegetation and springtime floral splendour. The farm is unique in two respects. It was the first farm in the area to receive Title Deeds in 1774, and it is the only farm to host a dwelling built by each one of the six generations that have lived on the property. Situated in the Bokkeveld, an area previously known for its large Springbok population, the working farm boasts a large variety of plant species. The owners, Nelmarie and Herman Nel, farm sheep, cattle, and rooibos tea.

It is a farm with a rich history, with numerous explorers traversing the area and documenting the rich soils and the associated fauna and flora since the mid-1700s. The late Francois Jacobus van der Merwe (the owners’ great-grandfather) was the only one of the four van der Merwe children whose land has remained intact for his descendants. This favoured the family and ensured that the land has been occupied by the same family for six generations, all of whom have always prioritised the conservation and preservation of their area because of their love of the land.

Lokenburg is situated in the winter rainfall region and lies in the transition zone between the Fynbos and Succulent Karoo Biomes. This makes the farm remarkable from a botanical point of view as it is also straddled by no less than four Bioregions: the North-West Fynbos Bioregion, the Western Fynbos-Renosterveld Bioregion, the Karoo Renosterveld Bioregion and the Trans-escarpment Succulent Bioregion.

Succulent Karoo Biome biodiversity at Lokenburg Conservation Servitude

The Succulent Karoo Biome, which boasts the richest abundance of succulent flora on earth, is one of only two arid zones that have been declared Biodiversity Hotspots. The biome is home to over 6,000 plant species, 40% of which are endemic, and another 936 (17%) are listed as Threatened. This biodiversity is due to massive speciation of an arid-adapted biota in response to unique climatic conditions and high environmental heterogeneity. Lokenburg lies on the eastern edge of the Succulent Karoo Biome, within the Hantam-Tankwa-Roggeveld Subregion.

A working farm, it boasts a variety of plant species, including Iris and Ixia, as well as five springs that support the owners, Nelmarie and Herman Nel and their son, Eduard, who farm sustainably with sheep, cattle, and rooibos tea. A more recent addition to their farming practices has been an entrance to the essential oil industry as a result of their great passion for the medicinal value of our indigenous flora. In 2023, the owners became members of the South African Essential Oil Producers and offer products in support of indigenous essential oils, some of which are produced on the farm, such as Lavandin. Their vision is to further expand the essential oil enterprise to make it sustainable and economically viable for the benefit of the community and environment.

Over the years, the family has aimed to preserve their land for future generations through sustainable farming practices alongside the preservation of the rich biodiversity found on their land. This has been enabled through the implementation of a Biodiversity Servitude, which ensures that the owners are not just farmers but also stewards of conservation. Through this, they can make a positive contribution to the community, economy, and environment through this step.

Sustainable farming and biodiversity protection at Lokenburg farm

Left: Lokenburg Lavender Harvest.

This Servitude has been registered across the Lokenburg farm. Specific conservation management areas have been designated within this area—a collaboration between the landowners and the EWT—and where targeted management actions and development restrictions will be in place. Additional, species-focused, conservation actions will also take place across the broader landscape and include management of the Pied Crow (Corvus albus) populations in the area, which are unnaturally high and, through excessive predation, are driving the tortoise populations to extinction.

The primary strategic management taken for the Servitude has been encapsulated in the Lokenburg Biodiversity Management Plan (LBMP). This plan also informs the need for specific conservation actions and operational procedures, providing for capacity building, future thinking, and continuity of management, enabling the management of the Servitude in a manner that values the purpose for which it has been established. Additionally, it ensures, through collaboration, that no detrimental forms of development or agricultural activities, will take place within the designated focal areas. Key to the management plan is the conservation and protection of Chelonians (includes all tortoise and terrapin species). These are one of the most imperilled vertebrate groups, with over 60% of the world’s 357 known species threatened with extinction. Nine of the 13 southern African tortoise species are found in the arid Karoo region where they face multiple threats, including habitat loss and degradation, predation, illegal collection and in fire-prone habits, uncontrolled fires.

This farms rich biodiversity sustains numerous other Species of Conservation Concern (SoCC) including numerous classified as Threatened in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Among these are a number of bird and plant species, such as the Non-Threatened Tent Tortoise (Psammobates tentorius) and Karoo Korhaan (Eupodotis vigorsii), and Vulnerable Species such as the Secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius), Southern Black Korhaan (Afrotis afra) and Verreaux’s Eagle (Aquila verreauxii), as well as the Endangered Ludwig’s Bustard (Neotis ludwigii) and Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus).

As stewards of our land, we work together to ensure long term sustainable agricultural conservation to the benefit of humans and species. We look forward to our path together to conserve ecosystems and landscapes.

EWT and Nel family collaboration for Lokenburg Conservation Servitude

Top left: Lokenburg Family

** The EWT’s work to secure the registration of the Lokenburg Conservation Servitude was made possible by IUCN NL, the Ford Wildlife Foundation and the Nel family.

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