Wild Coast - Port St Johns (100986)
South Africa, Africa

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Global KBA criteria: A1a, A1b, A2, B1, B2, B4, E

Year of last assessment: 2024

National site name: Wild Coast - Port St Johns

Central coordinates: Latitude: -31.5399, Longitude: 29.5407

System: terrestrial, marine, freshwater

Elevation (m): 16 to 517

Area of KBA (km²): 466.14218

Protected area coverage (%): 0.21

KBA classification: Global

Legacy site: No

Site details

Site description: Wild Coast - Port St Johns is a terrestrial site that is unprotected, found in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Mainly includes hilly coastal country with alternating steep slopes of low-reach river valleys and coastal ridges, sometimes broad enough to form small plains. A mosaic of grassland vegetation on the higher lying areas and characteristically on hill tops and upper hill slopes, alternating with bush clumps and small forests, is the major vegetation feature of the region. Most of the grasslands are undoubtedly secondary (result of forest clearing for cattle grazing). At the seaward border this vegetation mosaic is fringed by an interrupted belt of coastal dune thicket (considered as part Subtropical Dune Thicket) and vegetation of young coastal habitats (dunes and beaches). There are extensive patches of tall (15-25m), species-rich and structurally diverse, multilayered scarp forests, with well-developed canopy and understorey tree layers, but a poorly developed herb layer. The inland portion includes semideciduous savanna woodlands in a mosaic with thickets, often succulent and dominated by species of Euphorbia and Aloe. Includes a major permanently open estuary with perennial river flows and many small temporarily closed systems. The shore is mostly exposed and rocky.

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, 15 species meet one or more KBA criteria for this site. The KBA trigger species at this site include amphibians, birds, butterflies, plants, and reptiles. The site meets criterion A1 due to the presence of significant proportions of the global populations of 6 threatened species. Effectively the entire global population of one Endangered species is within the site. The site regularly holds 7 individual geographically restricted species, therefore meeting criterion B1. An assemblage of co-occurring range-restricted species in the Amphibia taxonomic group regularly present within the site meets criterion B2. A quantitative analysis of irreplaceability indicates that the site is 100% irreplaceable for the global persistence of 4 species, therefore meeting criterion E. The site holds a significant proportion of the global extent of 1 threatened ecosystem (meeting criterion A2).

Additional biodiversity: 49 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: Lower Mzimbvubu (blank) [42%]; Pondoland North Coast (blank) [38%]; Port St John's Forests (blank) [8%]

Delineation rationale: Section of coast with major river valleys and estuaries, including intact forest and threatened coastal belt vegetation, categorised as Critical Biodiversity Area.

Habitats

Summary of habitats in KBA: Savanna (56%), Forest (25%), Artificial - terrestrial (14%)

Threats

Threat level 1	Threat level 2	Threat level 3	Timing
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Scale Unknown/Unrecorded	Ongoing

Additional information