The Fynbos Forum Turns 40 — But the Conservation Fight is Far From Over

By Alastair Potts

I've attended many of the Fynbos Forums over the years. It's a fantastic place where scientists, managers, government officials, and NGOs get to meet and share ideas about the Cape Floristic Region. Overseas researchers, e.g. from the US or Europe, are blown away by this conference concept. The Forum can be seen as a think-tank for research and conservation. Many ideas generated at the Forum have gone on to grow into major globally recognised initiatives (e.g. the Working for Water program).  These successes have been documented by Caroline Gelderblom & Julia Wood in their recent book "The Fynbos Forum: Its Impacts and History" (Available for free download in coming months).

The Forum has always had an upbeat vibe as it is where all those at the frontline of the conservation battle get to meet, share war stories, the successes, the losses, and all the interesting facts that we continue to learn about nature. 

This year felt different. Very different. In reviewing the amazing work of dealing with alien invasive plant species (the biggest threat to Fynbos!), the continued glaring omission of pine trees in the biocontrol list is devastating. Pine trees have escaped plantations, gone feral in the Fynbos, and are marching on unabated. (The reason for this is the plantation industry's fears around biocontrol affecting their plantations).

But these policy-level problems have been around for a long time. But this year, the problems were more personal, more devastating to the psyche. Those at the conservation frontline are hurting. There were many stories, and I list a few below for a feeling of them...

• A site monitored by the CREW due to its rare plants was bulldozed by order of a local council in the Western Cape to make a parking lot for a water collection point. The bulldozers worked carefully around the large information signs explaining the unique heritage of the site. When confronted, the council apologised, and is "restoring" the veld, but the damage is irreversibly done. It is likely that these plant populations have been lost for good.
• The City of Cape Town's biodiversity management department has put in years of effort and energy to conserve important open spaces in the City. The City of Cape Town is largely built on lowland Sand Fynbos, and this vegetation type is nearly extinct within the City's footprint — this is an incredibly rich vegetation with many endemics (most of which are now extinct). The biodiversity management department would always have an uphill battle against the needs of a growing city compared with the generally globally unique situation of incredibly high levels of biodiversity that is also spatially restricted. But the water crisis has brought on a mass flouting of environmental regulations and resulted in the ruining of many sites and threatening of plant species. But more worrying is the growing land appropriation question. There are land grabs in the city, and these naturally focus on the open undeveloped areas — but these are the exact same pieces of land that the biodiversity team have spent years in obtaining and managing for conservation. With single swoops, these areas are invaded and shacks are built on them. Evictions are nearly impossible as this is politically-sensitive topic, and what politician is going to stick his or her neck out to evict illegal land grabbers "for a few plants". The twin onslaughts are juggernauts that are impossible to stop. So while the City deals with the water crisis, and our Nation deals with the land crisis, we're losing our natural heritage.
• There are also development plans for Kenilworth racecourse which is driven by the government, despite the obvious and documented conservation of the racecourse.  
• Phosphate mining has reached the border of the West Coast National Park, and there are moves afoot to de-proclaim sections of the Park to allow the miners in...
• The scuttlebutt is the Dr Guy Preston (Deputy Director General in the DEA) is being sued in his personal capacity by trout enthusiasts for his work on trying to get trout out of South African rivers where they are causing harm. Trout, an alien and invasive fish species, has caused huge amounts of biodiversity harm to the unique fauna of Cape rivers and there is a strong environmental case for their removal. But to attack conservationists in their personal capacity sets a worrying precedent for those who are willing to stand up against the "mighty" (the trout associations are backed by big money as is the case for most of those involved in major despoiling the environment!).

With all of these frontline stories shared at the Forum, it was apt that the concept of "ecological grief" has just been defined and Rupert Koopman shared this at the Forum. As Neville Ellis and Ashlee Cunsolo write..

"Research shows that people increasingly feel the effects of these planetary changes and associated ecological losses in their daily lives, and that these changes present significant direct and indirect threats to mental health and well-being. Climate change, and the associated impacts to land and environment, for example, have recently been linked to a range of negative mental health impacts, including depression, suicidal ideation, post-traumatic stress, as well as feelings of anger, hopelessness, distress, and despair."

Those in the conservation sector aren't in it for the money. The aren't in it for the fame. They're there because they can see the tidal wave of destruction that humans are unleashing and they know what it means. They are not "doing it" for us, but for future generations who are going to look back in despair at what our century destroyed. They can see the long view, the big picture, which gets lost in the day to day need to "make" money, whatever the cost.

Our environment needs help, but our conservationists also need help. This is not a war they can win on their own. And it is a war that is going on in your back yard, no matter where you live.

Glenn Moncrieff shared the following quote during his keynote address by Gus Speth (a leading US environmentalist):

“I used to think that top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that thirty years of good science could address these problems. I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and to deal with these we need a cultural and spiritual transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.” - Gus Speth

Although the Fynbos Forum has been an amazingly successful think-tank for scientific and conservation issues, as well as making substantial progress highlighting the value of biodiversity to politicians and the public, there are still missing elements. The psychologists, the advertisers, the graphic designers, the famous, and the trend setters need to become part of the Forum's fellowship. It is no longer about what we know, but rather how we can capture minds across all walks of life. A difficult task given the pressing issues facing the world (the gross inequality in South Africa being especially prominent), and it is a task that both scientists and conservation managers are poorly equipped to do. We need to re-think who can really have the biggest impact on conserving biodiversity.

Imagine if Schalk Burger were to adopt a plant species and he took part in surveying it each year... :)