Going for Gold: The CPPNE as World Heritage Site
What makes the Cape Peninsula Protected Natural Environment a worthy candidate for such status?
o The Cape Peninsula has some of the world’s best-known landmarks. Table Mountain, rising majestically above the city of Cape Town, was for many centuries regarded as the gateway to Africa. The Cape of Good Hope, at the southern end of the Peninsula, was an important landmark for mariners on the routes between Europe and the East.
o With its breathtaking scenery the Peninsula occupies a unique position as an island of floral wealth girded by sea and city.
o Because of its climate and its complex geology the Cape Peninsula’s Table Mountain chain provides a representative sample of the major soils and associated vegetation types found in the Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest and in many ways the most remarkable of the world’s six floral kingdoms.
o The Peninsula is marked by a wide variety of habitats which support a luxuriantly high biological diversity. World-renowned biologists have said that we have an "Aladdin’s Cave" of indigenous flora, most of which is to be found nowhere else in the world, and some of which is to be found nowhere else in the Cape Floral Kingdom.
o The statistics are mind-boggling. The Cape Peninsula is home to no fewer than 2 285 plant species, which is more than one quarter of all the species in the Cape Floral Kingdom. It has the most diverse flora in any temperate region of the world. It has more plant species than the whole of the British Isles, which has 1 443 species in an area that is 600 times bigger, or New Zealand, which has 1 996 species in an area 530 times the Peninsula’s size. With an area of only 470 square kilometres, the Peninsula has had recorded from it 105 plants, 111 invertebrates and one vertebrate species which occur nowhere else on the planet! The fact that the total world populations of these 217 species occur only on this tiny, vulnerable site makes it uniquely precious, and by itself is sufficient justification for World Heritage Site candidacy. In many areas an observer can view the entire world’s population of a given species from a single vantage point.
o Because of its scenic beauty, its diverse habitats and its phenomenal floral diversity, and due to its being bound to a major city, the Peninsula is remarkably important as a recreational and ecotourism resource. Two of the major attractions, Cape Point at its southern tip and the Table Mountain summit to the north, each receive over 400 000 visitors annually, more than any other recognized nature-area tourist destination in southern Africa. The Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens attracts half a million people annually, while the numerous picnic sites, hiking trails and beaches provide recreational opportunities for Cape Town’s 2,5 million people -- and a growing number of national and international tourists, the latter representing a significant export industry.
o We run the risk of never getting World Heritage Site status for this area if we ourselves are not committed the protection and conservation of the CPPNE. UNESCO bestows World Heritage Site status only on areas that enjoy sound protected conservation status in addition to the area's global ecological importance and outstanding natural beauty. Inescapably, it is the duty of the South African Government as the custodian of the country's natural resources to ensure that the CPPNE receives adequate legal protection. In the critical quest for conservation gold, your advocacy will be vital.