Upper Karoo (100967)
South Africa, Africa

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Global KBA criteria: A1a, A1c, A1d, B1, B4, E

Year of last assessment: 2024

National site name: Upper Karoo

Central coordinates: Latitude: -31.8000, Longitude: 22.1430

System: terrestrial, freshwater

Elevation (m): 1011 to 1733

Area of KBA (km²): 10109.14315

Protected area coverage (%): 0.01

KBA classification: Global

Legacy site: No

Site details

Site description: Upper Karoo is a very large terrestrial site that is unprotected, found in the Northern Cape, South Africa. Includes flats and gently sloping upper Karoo plains (interspersed with hills and rocky areas of Hardeveld in the west, Besemkaree Koppies Shrubland in the northeast and Tarkastad Montane Shrubland in the southeast), dominated by dwarf microphyllous shrubs, with white grasses of the genera Aristida and Eragrostis (these become prominent especially in the early autumn months after good summer rains). The grass cover increases along a gradient from southwest to northeast. On a much dissected landscape in the southwest associated with the tributaries of the upper catchment of the Sak River, often rocky, is a mixture of small-leaved shrubs and shrubby succulents (Brownanthus, Drosanthemum, Ruschia etc.) with drought-resistant (mostly white) grasses. On steep slopes of koppies, butts, mesas and parts of the Great Escarpment covered with large boulders and stones supporting sparse dwarf Karoo scrub with drought-tolerant grasses of genera such as Aristida, Eragrostis and Stipagrostis. Narrow riverine flats supporting a complex of Acacia karroo or Tamarix usneoides thickets (up to 5m tall), and fringed by tall Salsola-dominated shrubland (up to 1.5m high), especially on heavier (and salt-laden) soils on very broad alluvia. In sandy drainage lines Stipagrostis namaquensis may occasionally also dominate.

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, 7 species meet one or more KBA criteria for this site. The KBA trigger species at this site include birds, mammals, plants, and reptiles. The site meets criterion A1 due to the presence of significant proportions of the global populations of 4 threatened species. The site regularly holds 4 individual geographically restricted species, therefore meeting criterion B1. A quantitative analysis of irreplaceability indicates that the site is 100% irreplaceable for the global persistence of 2 species, therefore meeting criterion E. The site holds a significant proportion of the global extent of 1 geographically restricted ecosystem (meeting criterion B4).

Additional biodiversity: 22 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 regional conservation authority responsible for enforcing statutory regulations on landuse change in Critical Biodiversity Areas and threatened ecosystems.

Supersedes another site: Karoo National Park ZA081 [0%]

Delineation rationale: Arid escarpment and high plateau shrublands, used as rangeland, and categorised as Critical Biodiversity Area.

Habitats

Summary of habitats in KBA: Shrubland (98%)

Threats

Threat level 1	Threat level 2	Threat level 3	Timing
Agriculture & aquaculture	Wood & pulp plantations	Scale Unknown/Unrecorded	Ongoing
Residential & commercial development	Commercial & industrial areas		Ongoing
Energy production & mining	Mining & quarrying		Ongoing

Additional information