Gouritz Cluster - Canca Coast (100782)
South Africa, Africa
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: A1a, A1b, A1c, A1d, A1e, A2, B1, B2, B3a, B4, E
Year of last assessment: 2024
National site name: Gouritz Cluster - Canca Coast
Central coordinates: Latitude: -34.3034, Longitude: 21.3882
System: terrestrial, freshwater, marine
Elevation (m): 0 to 276
Area of KBA (km2): 1617.86006
Protected area coverage (%): 3.01
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: No
Site details
Site description: Gouritz Cluster - Canca Coast is a large terrestrial site that has limited protection but has OECM coverage, found in the Western Cape, South Africa. Includes a series of hills with parallel crests, sand-filled plains and undulating hills. Neutral and acid sands support Albertinia Sand Fynbos, which dominates the valleys. This landscape is dominated by the Canca se Leegte and Wankoe depressions, with most of the limestone fynbos on the hill tops and ridges. This vegetation has tall, emergent proteoids in a medium dense low shrubland mainly asteraceous and proteoid fynbos, with restioid fynbos on skeletal soils. Rutaceae are dominant and succulents and geophytes are more abundant, grading into succulent thicket on the coast. Local diversity east of the Gouritz River depends on the extent of limestone patches, with smaller outcrops lacking characteristic species. Along the coast are flat to moderately undulating coastal dunes. A mosaic of low (1-3m) thicket, occurring in small bush clumps dominated by small trees and woody shrubs, in a mosaic of low (1-2m) asteraceous fynbos. Thicket clumps are best developed in fire-protected dune slacks, and the fynbos shrubland occurs on upper dune slopes and crests. Succulent karroid elements occur along bands of mudstone and shale. Further inland are plains and undulating hills with numerous dune slacks forming the most extensive area of sand fynbos within the limestone fynbos area and occupying most of the depressions, valleys and lower slopes.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that meets the thresholds for 3 criteria described in the Global Standard for the Identification of KBAs. Based on current available information, 77 species meet one or more KBA criteria for this site. The KBA trigger species at this site include birds, butterflies, and plants. The site meets criterion A1 due to the presence of significant proportions of the global populations of 38 threatened species. Effectively the entire global populations of 6 Endangered and 1 Critically Endangered species are within the site. The site regularly holds 57 individual geographically restricted species, therefore meeting criterion B1. Assemblages of co-occurring range-restricted species in the Asterales, Caryophyllales, Ericales, Fabales, Malvales, Proteales, Rosales, and Sapindales taxonomic groups regularly present within the site meet criterion B2. A quantitative analysis of irreplaceability indicate that the site is 100% irreplaceable for the global persistence of 17 species, therefore meeting criterion E. The site holds significant proportions of the global extent of 3 threatened ecosystems (meeting criterion A2) and 2 geographically restricted ecosystems (meeting criterion B4).
Additional biodiversity: 106 other potential trigger species meet minimum population parameter thresholds for the site, but presence and/or minimum reproductive units required to meet KBA criteria cannot be confirmed with available data.
Manageability of the site: This site is managed primarily by a Biosphere Reserve management authority, with parts of the site managed by a regional conservation authority responsible for enforcing statutory regulations on landuse change in Critical Biodiversity Areas and threatened ecosystems, and protected area management authority.
Supersedes another site: Overberg Wheatbelt ZA094 [50%]
Delineation rationale: Delination is around the coastal section of a Biosphere Reserve including small protected areas, Protected Environments and extensive fragments of threatened thicket and fynbos vegetation, categorised as Critical Biodiversity Area.
Habitats
Summary of habitats in KBA: Shrubland (85%), Artificial - terrestrial (13%)
Threats
| Threat level 1 | Threat level 2 | Threat level 3 | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential & commercial development | Commercial & industrial areas | Ongoing | |
| Agriculture & aquaculture | Annual & perennial non-timber crops | Scale Unknown/Unrecorded | Ongoing |
Additional information
Contributors: Gavin Masterson (Fathom Data), Warrick Stewart (Resilience Environmental Advice), Anisha Dayaram (South African National Biodiversity Institute), Maphale Monyeki (South African National Biodiversity Institute), Sediqa Khatieb (South African National Biodiversity Institute), Craig Hilton-Taylor (IUCN)