Woodlands and Indigenous Forest Management

Forests

NATURAL FORESTS

Definition of a natural forest

A natural forest is a generally multilayered vegetation unit dominated by trees
(largely evergreen or semi-deciduous), whose combined strata have
overlapping crowns (i.e. the crown cover is 75% or more), and where grasses
in the herbaceous stratum (if present) are generally rare. Fire does not
normally play a major role in forest function or dynamics except at the fringes.
Source: Shackleton, 1999
Area of natural forests
The total mapped area of natural forest (also
called indigenous forest) in South Africa is
approximately 0,5 million ha. The large Afro-
temperate forests of the southern Cape, although
distributed close to the coast, are aligned with the
inland forest types of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-
Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo Province. This is
because the southernly temperate latitudes
compensate for the altitude of inland forests.
Historical change in indigenous forest area was
investigated in the Karkloof/Balgowan region of
the KwaZulu-Natal midlands (Eeley, Lawes &
Macfarlane 2002). A relatively small reduction
(less than 6%) in total forest area was recorded Thathe Vondo, Limpopo
from 1944 to 1996 but there was a substantial loss Source: DAFF
of small forest patches (<0.5ha). This study
emphasised the importance of mapping
indigenous forests at a fine scale (to include
forests patches less than 1 ha in extent). Earlier
mapping projects, albeit at a provincial or national
scale, used a minimum mapping unit of 50 ha a
scale - far too large to capture the widely
dispersed and patchy nature of indigenous forests
in the country.

Key Data on Natural Forests

Land ownership of natural forest areas
Land ownership of natural forests in South African is not known directly but can be
inferred, to some extent, by level of protection. It is assumed forest patches that do not
have some form of protection have either communal or private ownership. Almost half
of all natural forests in South Africa are found on private property or land under
communal tenure.

Percentages
Area
Forest type Private/
(ha) National Provincial Municipal Unknown
Communal
Albany 23143 0 33.0 0 66.8 0
Amatole Mistbelt 64424 45.0 1.3 ?0 53.0 0.5
Drakensberg
1926 0 47.0 0 52.7 0
Montane
Eastern Cape Dune 10941 0 8.3 0 91.1 0.6
Eastern Mistbelt 42162 41.0 11.0 0 48.1 0
Eastern Scarp 33765 19.0 26.0 ? 0 54.9 0
KwaZulu-Natal
21092 0 61.0 0 38.7 0
Coastal
KwaZulu-Natal Dune 12398 13.0 23.0 0 64.3 0
Licuati Sand 24276 6.1 36.0 0 57.8 0
Lowveld Riverine 15830 20.0 ? 29.0 0 51.1 0
Mangrove 3054 0.5 71.0 0 28.8 0
Mpumalanga Mistbelt 34542 3.3 11.0 0 85.4 0
Northern KwaZulu-
5323 0 15.0 0.1 85.0 0
Natal Mistbelt
Northern Mistbelt 19349 100.0 ? 3.6 0 0 0
Pondoland Scarp 12441 33.0 10.0 0 54.9 1.7
Southern Cape
77535 63.0 5.5 0 29.2 2.2
Afrotemperate
Swamp 3022 0 67.0 0 32.8 0
Transkei Coastal
61490 ? 61.0 0 0 38.5 0.2
Platform
Transkei Mistbelt 30859 59.0 0 0 40.9 0
Western Cape
4731 43.0 9.5 0 47.6 0
Afrotemperate
Western Cape
2500 0 2.0 0 98.0 0
Milkwood
TOTAL 504803 ?
Source: Berliner & Benn, 2004; Forest types follow von Maltitz et al., 2003.

Lowveld Riverine Forest

Pondoland Scarp Forest
Source: DAFF