SAEON St Lucia site - South Africa

This site falls partly with the isimagaliso wetland park as well as within forestry areas on its boundary. SAEON is beuiling onf a >40 year ground water record and has added rain gauges to the site. It is a cimplimentory site to teh SAEON MCP site assessing the realtive impacts of land use land cover and climate on the ecosystem services in the area. Threats to Lake St Lucia Ramsar Site from proposed open cast mining operations in 1992 (CES, 1992) prompted a national and international outcry culminating in an international petition to “Save St Lucia” that led to its declaration as a World Heritage Site. This culminated in the proclamation and development of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park that protects the marine and coastal environments from Cape St Lucia to the Mozambique Border. The conservation policy in terms of the 1992 Conservation Development Plan was to protect a diversity of habitats such as coastal dune forests, coastal grasslands, hygrophilous grassland, coastal woodlands and shrublands. This vegetation mix would allow for the required habitat and feeding area for priority St Lucia animal species ...” (CES, 1992). Consequently, the St Lucia system, with its rich diversity of habitats, will be protected by national and international legislation for long-term global prosperity.