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Passionate conservationist enables big win

A generous donation by a passionate conservationist has allowed WWF to purchase Oranjevlei, a crucial conservation property near Jacobsbaai on the West Coast.

A generous donation by a passionate conservationist has allowed WWF to purchase Oranjevlei, a crucial conservation property near Jacobsbaai on the West Coast. The 190ha property contains a large portion of the remaining Saldanha Limestone Strandveld vegetation on the West Coast. This critically endangered vegetation type is jam packed with rare and endangered species, but is currently unprotected and under intense development and mining pressure. The property is also home to the newly discovered iris species, the name of which was recently auctioned to raise additional funding for land protection in the area.

“Jacobsbaai is the holy grail of biodiversity on the Saldanha Peninsula” says, prominent South African botanist Nick Helme. “Fine-scale scientific planning has identified this as a hotspot from a biodiversity perspective.”

Jacobsbaai is also interesting in that it extends as a mini-peninsula into the Atlantic Ocean that is cooled by the prevailing summer winds. This cooler micro-climate has possibly been a driving force behind the area’s special biodiversity. There are reptiles in Jacobsbaai, for example, that usually only occur in areas more than 1000 m in altitude.

This micro-climate serves as a refuge for species, which is important from a climate change perspective. As the Western Cape becomes hotter and drier, Jacobsbaai is likely to provide a place for species to survive these changes. And as part of a priority Western Cape climate change adaptation corridor, the Oranjevlei property is part of the puzzle that will secure the area’s rich biodiversity into the future.

The property will be declared a Nature Reserve and incorporated into the West Coast Biosphere Reserve for management.

"Thank you to our anonymous donor for backing this big conservation win."

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