Redraw Figure 4 & 10 – Land Cover and Terrestrial CBA Maps

[seabilwe]

REWRITE Figure 10 and Figure 4 shows that some of the land in the AOI has been highly transformed by agriculture, human settlement or mining or are under threat from climate change. But vegetation type is only one of the many biotic and abiotic factors that were included in the development of the SEMP: other parameters included:

i) Ecological Infrastructure; ii) Water production and stream flow augmentation; iii) Water Quality; iv) Flood attenuation; v) Integrated Ecological Infrastructure; vi) Climate Change Resilience; vii) Riparian corridors and buffers; viii) Areas with high biotic diversity; ix) Centres of floral endemism; x) Local refugia: south-facing slopes and kloofs; xi) Priority large unfragmented landscapes; xii) Other Biodiversity Priorities; xiii) Critical Biodiversity Areas from the provincial conservation plans; xiv) Protected Area Expansion Priorities; xv) Aquatic prioritization; xvi) Threatened Habitats; xvii) Ecosystem Protection Levels; xviii) Social Demand Priorities; xix) Poverty index: Dependency ratio; xx) Poverty index: Access to services; xxi) Poverty index: Consumption; xxii) Integrated Poverty Index; xxiii) Local Direct Natural Resource Dependence: Supply of Building Materials.

[seabilwe]

The land cover classes were reclassified using the information acquired from the current changes added to the SANLC data: https://egis.environment.gov.za/data_egis/data_download/current?q=data_download/current

The land cover layer was clipped and reclassified according to the classes contained within the clipped layer, following the codes shown in the image below. There are 18 classes in total within the AOI

Here is the updated land cover map:

Critical Biodiversity Area:

[RAP-ZAUK]

In both maps, I think simply place the outer polygon of the WBR as a line on the map, & remove zonation shading. It is quite possible my eyes are losing their ability to discriminate between subtle colour differences, but I struggle with NLC classes - note- you have duplicated "Commercial Annuals Non-pivot". I would also merge the 3 classes of "Commercial" into single category. I cannot tell, but does map actually show any "Planted Forest". I also find it hard to identify "Thicket/Dense Bush" - this is a very specific habitat category found in KZN/EC - not sure it is relevant here? Even if there are some small pixels with this categorization, at this scale they are "lost". This top figure is really to distinguish between "natural", arable & urban/industrial - can the legend be simplified, even if it means losing a few pixels here & there? Maybe discuss with Gavin? Thanks

[RAP-ZAUK]

The figure looking at the CBAs is crucial for LEDET & DFFE agreeing to the new boundaries, and hence really important having the 3 BR zones superimposed - unfortunately, with the shading of the zones superimposed on the CBA category shading, I cannot identify which is what!! I do not know what the answer is - I suspect it will cerianly mean drawing the WBR zones as unshaded polygonsoverlying the CBA categories. I strongly suspect we may want 3 separate figures - one with core polygon only, one with buffer & one with transition boundaries drawn. Perhaps then we use the above figure with polygons for the 3 zones superimposed on the CBAs. and then 3 seperate figures illustrating superimposition of core, buffer & transition?? Again Seabilwe, perhaps seek Gavin's advice?

[seabilwe]

Landcover

CBA

[seabilwe]

Coverage Assessment:	Land Cover Type	Core (ha)	Core (%)	Buffer (ha)	Buffer (%)	Transition (ha)	Transition (%)	Total Area (ha)
Forest Land	752308	32	1204507	51	424946	18	2381761
Grassland	163133	40	190013	47	54510	13	407656
Waterbody	2121	34	3350	54	759	12	6230
Wetland	6254	37	8963	52	1871	11	17088
Barren Land	11208	49	8109	36	3373	15	22690
Cultivated Land	32496	11	160819	54	106312	35	299627
Built-Up Area	4456	6	23636	34	40597	59	68689
Mining and Quarries	1536	20	2718	35	3475	45	7729

Updated land cover map:

[seabilwe]

Updated terrestrial cba map: