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A marine protected area of South Africa is an area of coastline or ocean within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Republic of South Africa that is protected in terms of specific legislation for the benefit of the environment and the people who live in it and use it. [15]
The Rufiji River delta is the largest mangrove ecosystem on the East African coast, and accounts for half of Tanzania's 55,000 ha of mangroves. Other important mangrove forests in Tanzania are in Lindi and Tanga, at the mouths of the Wami, Ruvu, Matandu and Ruvuma rivers, and on the Mafia Archipelago. Kenya has 52,980 ha of mangroves, over two ...
Ecologists are increasingly recognizing the important effects that cross-ecosystem transport of energy and nutrients have on plant and animal populations and communities. [ 68 ] [ 69 ] A well known example of this is how seabirds concentrate marine-derived nutrients on breeding islands in the form of feces (guano) which contains ~15–20% ...
The estimated number of South African animal species as of 2018 is about 67 000, with 20 401 plant species described. This comprises about 7% of the world's vascular plants, 7% of birds, 5% of mammals, 4% of reptiles, 2% of amphibians and 1% of freshwater fishes.
[4] [5] Despite these benefits, economic activities often result in harm to biodiversity, such as through deforestation. [1] The majority of species have yet to be evaluated for their current or future economic importance. [6] Raw materials, pharmaceuticals and drug production all directly and indirectly depend upon biodiversity. [6]
The target was to have 10% of the oceanic waters protected by 2020. All but one of the MPAs are in the exclusive economic zone off continental South Africa, and one is off the Prince Edward Islands in the Southern Ocean. Without the large Prince Edward Islands MPA, South Africa has 41 MPAs covering 5.4% of its continental EEZ.
The Niger Delta mangrove is the third largest in the world and the largest in Africa. Since the 1960s oil and gas exploration has become an important economic activity, resulting in significant alteration of the landscape via pollution, urbanization and invasion.
In southern Africa, the Zambezi river basin is one of the world's most over-used river systems, and so Zambia and Zimbabwe compete fiercely over it. In 2000, Zimbabwe caused the region to experience the worst flooding in recent history when the country opened the Kariba Dam gates. [ 50 ]