19 October 2023 Media Release: Celebrating conservation and bio- diversity in the Garden Route vital to its future

Media Release: Celebrating conservation and bio- diversity in the Garden Route vital to its future

For Immediate Release
19 October 2023 

The Garden Route district is blessed with numerous conservation organisations such as SANParks and Cape Nature as well as privately managed conservancies and nature reserves. Also, government and non-government agencies and citizens, have a collective responsibility to preserve the biodiversity that remains along the coastal and inland areas, says Cobus Meiring of the Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF).

“Celebrating Conservation in the Garden Route” is the theme of the GREF annual key stakeholder report- back event planned for 13 December 2023 in Wilderness, and vital recognition is given to the sustained collective effort of the resourceful, positive and conservation minded communities and authorities of the Garden Route.

Following a century of farming and development of the Southern Cape, with exponential growth recorded during the past thirty years and with much more projected as a fast- growing population demands ever more infrastructure and resources, the Garden Route has lost a staggering amount of bio- diversity and natural beauty with many jokingly referring to the area as the “Concrete Route” as the developed coastal belt and N2 highway now presents an almost solid barrier between the mountains and the ocean with only islands of bio- diversity remaining where fynbos and the eco- systems it represents and sustained once flourished.

In addition, increased demand for fresh water necessitating damming, water transfers and extraction of ground water all have an impact on the health of Garden Route river systems and estuaries, which in turn impacts negatively on the ability to survive of marine and aquatic life.

Despite these challenges, conservation is not taking a back seat in the Garden Route as there is general consensus that the region will lose much of its allure as world class tourist destination and a region renowned for offering a high quality of life for its communities if natural ecosystems and bio- diversity disappears into oblivion in the face of development.

GREF is a public platform for conservation and environmental management entities in the Garden Route

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