According to United Nations data projections for 2100, sub-Saharan Africa is set to experience a demographic explosion.
The most rapid population growth zones in Africa are in or around mountains and the importance of managing these mountain ecosystems sustainably in order to maintain the benefits to such a growing population is critical says Dr João Vidal, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Afromontane Research Unit and the Department of Geography at the University of the Free State.
The link between human population growth and the demand for water will impact these mountain grasslands. All of Africa’s important rivers originate in mountainous areas. The sustainable management of African mountain landscapes is thus vital for the sustained provision of quality water in suitable quantities. “Water is already limited in some places. This year we are facing another drought in South Africa, and if it was not for the mountains, it could have been much worse. The long-term resilience of Southern African mountains and their ecosystem services should be an absolute priority for both research and conservation,” says Dr Vidal.
As a mountain ecologist, his recent research is centred on developing indicators for monitoring biodiversity change in Southern African mountains. This is a collaborative research project with the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, and the University of Pretoria.
Human population growth, as predicted for Southern Africa, has several implications for natural resource management and biodiversity conservation. “Southern Africa has one of the highest proportions of grassland-dominated mountains in the world, comparable only to Central Asia,” says Dr Vidal.
Through his research, Dr Vidal – together with a growing community of practices for Southern African mountains – aims to understand the socio-ecological functioning of these montane grasslands in order to encourage a science-policy-action interface for their sustainable management in a changing world.
For example, the grassland-dominated landscapes of the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains are natural, open landscapes (not man-made) – a worldview at variance with much of the Northern Hemisphere-centric thinking about mountains (think about the Alps of Europe and the Rockies of the USA). These grassy mountain systems have a high ecological value and need to be protected.
Since much global mountain research is focused on forest-dominated mountains, Dr Vidal and his collaborators are developing specific tools to track climate change in grassy mountains.
He explains: “When you look at the available tools for tracking climate change in mountains, you have a tree line for many mountains in the world. However, with the Southern African grassy mountains, it is impossible to use such a tool. We are working on alternative ways for measuring environmental change in our mountains.”
“As it gets warmer, certain communities of grasses may retract towards higher elevations because they need a certain minimum temperature to survive. The problem seems to be that current climate change is occurring at a much faster rate than most species might be able to retract. This means that higher temperatures may lead to habitat losses for temperature-vulnerable groups.”
“Climate change is also making mountains increasingly vulnerable to ecological invasion by non-native species. The severe temperatures in mountains are a good barrier for many problematic lowland species. But with warmer temperatures in the mountains, these barriers are being weakened, increasing the number of potentially invasive plants in our mountains. With higher temperatures, there is potential for a large guild of invasive trees to overrun grassland mountains, affecting waterflow into dams and rivers. Examples are pines, willows, gums, and wattles, to name a few.”
“The presence of invasive trees, especially along rivers, has long-term negative impacts on the functioning of mountain catchments. These trees destabilise riverbanks, extract large amounts of water, and cause local extinction of endemic montane biodiversity. In drier environments such as grasslands, this exacerbates the fragile water productivity,” he adds.
The role of mountain grasslands
Global policy makers to recognise the value of grassy mountains
It is important to draw attention to the value of natural grassy mountain systems around the world and to how threatened they are. The world’s grassy mountains need to be better studied and better placed on the global stage. This will encourage policy makers to recognise these systems and implement appropriate measures to facilitate their sustainable management.
For the first time in twenty years, the recent International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) report to the United Nations included a chapter focusing solely on mountains. “Policy makers are finally realising how disproportionately important mountain environments are and how dramatically they are affected by climate change,” says Dr Vidal.
However, African mountains are underrepresented in research literature; it is the only continent for which there is no data included in the IPCC report. There is an urgent need to represent African mountains – especially Southern African mountains – on the global stage when it comes to climate change,” states Dr Vidal.
Dr Vidal is conducting this study in partnership with Dr Ralph Clark, Director of the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus.
“The long-term resilience of mountains and their ecosystem services should be an absolute priority for both research and conservation,” says Dr João Vidal, ecologist and postdoctoral research fellow in the UFS Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) and the Department of Geography. The Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains are dominated by montane and alpine grasslands. Many mountains in the mid-latitudes are dominated by grassy ecosystems.
Quote
“The long-term resilience of Southern African mountains and their ecosystem services should be an absolute priority for both research and policy.”
ARU and partners develop practical tools to monitor biodiversity change in Southern African mountains
SEOs: United Nations report on population growth, demographic explosion, Dr João Vidal, mountain zones, Afromontane Research Unit (ARU), mountain vegetation, climate change researcher, ecologist, Population growth, biodiversity conservation, quality water, Mountain catchment areas, Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains, grassland-dominated mountains, climate change, International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), United Nations, Dr Ralph Clark, Southern African mountains, South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON).
Links
Dr João Vidal http://www.speciesonthemove.com/3149
Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) https://www.ufs.ac.za/research/research-at-the-ufs-home/aru—afromontane-research-unit/general
International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) report https://www.ipcc.ch/
United Nations https://www.un.org/en/
Dr Vincent Clark https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vincent_Ralph_Clark
United Nations data: https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/population/index.html
South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0038-23532007000400010
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife http://www.kznwildlife.com/contact.html
University of Pretoria https://www.up.ac.za/
CONTACTS
Julian Roup[email protected]
Phone: +44 (0)7970563958
LINKShttp://www.speciesonthemove.com/3149https://www.ufs.ac.za/research/research-at-the-ufs-home/aru—afromontane-research-unit/general