The recognition of the close link between the lifestyles of 'indigenous' and 'local' people and biodiversity is widely acknowledged as crucial, not only for the survival of biological diversity but also for the protection of cultural diversity. Most discussions centre on the argument that cultural diversity can, through a wide variety of uses and practices, sustain and conserve biodiversity, particularly in many developing countries. However, local people's relationship with natural landscapes and the extent to which they value biodiversity has not been fully explored and is in most cases misunderstood, which in fact undermines the bio-cultural diversity link. This misunderstanding exists primarily because the majority of environmental or ecological research conducted so far has been oriented towards economic valuation, in quantifying the estimated value of plants and fauna utilised by local people. As a result, biodiversity is primarily treated as a commodity, with wild harvested plant products being classified as either having subsistence, or commercial and medicinal value. This approach is narrow and conceals the critical, profound noneconomic values of biodiversity among local communities in everyday life. Literature indicates that biodiversity and natural landscapes also include less tangible values such as spiritual, cultural, psychological and social values (e.g., sense of place, place attachment, and psychologically restorative effects) which are crucial to human well-being. This suggests that human-nature interaction is complex, and that the meanings and values that people ascribe to natural landscapes cannot be solely reduced to economic values. Nevertheless, to date, studies investigating these less tangible values have received little attention in South Africa. As a result, we have very little understanding of what local and indigenous communities value or appreciate with regard to natural landscapes, beyond their general economic significance. This study seeks to address this particular limitation by exploring non-economic values of natural landscapes and their significances to local people while illuminating the complexities inherent in human-nature interactions. I argue that the purely economic valuation of natural resources is simplistic and biased, and therefore does not represent the complete meaning and significance that natural resources may hold for local communities and households. Therefore, this study takes an innovative psychological approach to explore in detail the everyday lived experiences of the amaXhosa in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It seeks to investigate the cultural, spiritual, and psychological values that ordinary people attach to natural landscapes in the peri-urban and urban communities of Ndlambe Village l and Grahamstown respectively. This research also aims to study the general perceptions of and meanings ascribed to the natural landscape (referred to by the amaXhosa as ihlathi lesiXhosa). In addition, it carefully integrates the Phenomenological and Transactional approaches to investigate how the amaXhosa engage, interact, and find meaning within the natural landscape. Furthermore, the study explores the impact of such landscape experiences on local people's spiritual and psychological well-being, demonstrating it link to bio-cultural diversity and conservation. The major findings in this study reflect that ihlathi lesiXhosa provides a place for peace and tranquillity to enhance psychological restoration. Moreover, ihlathi contributes towards redefining and strengthening personal and cultural identity; and provides spiritual satisfaction in everyday life. Overall, the findings of this study indicate that i!liathi lesiXhosa plays a profound role in both the personal and social lives of many amaXhosa in the Eastern Cape in that it appears to improve their lives. Therefore, the evidence in this study suggests that, among the amaXhosa, biodiversity and natural landscape management processes should not aim to address and promote ecologicallbiological and economic values in a compartmentalized manner independent of other social, cultural, psychological, and more specifically the spiritual values of these features. An increased understanding of these more intangible values and local people's value system of biodiversity could help towards implementing improved biodiversity conservation and landscape management strategies in South Africa. These insights would not only help us to address the challenges of the previous conservation framework but would also encourage a more inclusive, mutual benefiting process that respects local people's values and needs.

The Mogale’s Gate Biodiversity Centre is a 3 060 ha reserve located within the Gauteng province. The area comprises grassland with woodland patches in valleys and lower-lying areas. To develop a scientifically based management plan a detailed vegetation study was undertaken to identify and describe the different ecosystems present. From a TWINSPAN classification twelve plant communities, which can be grouped into nine major communities, were identified. A classification and description of the plant communities, as well as, a management plan are presented. The area comprises 80% grassland and 20% woodland with 109 different plant families. The centre has a grazing capacity of 5.7 ha/LSU with a moderate to good veld condition. From the results of this study it is clear that the area makes a significant contribution towards carbon storage with a total of 0.520 tC/ha/yr stored in all the plant communities. / Environmental Sciences / M.Sc. (Environmental Management)

MENVSC / Department of Geography and Geo-Information Sciences / The purpose of this study was to contribute towards a better understanding of the effectiveness of Biosphere Reserve as a tool in managing natural resources in the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM), Limpopo Province of South Africa. There are limited documented materials for a better understanding of the effectiveness of Biosphere Reserve (BR) as a tool in managing natural resources in the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM). As a result, this study was undertaken to bridge this gap and to discover new insights to assist in understanding the effectiveness of BR as a tool in managing natural resources. This study adopted a pragmatic research approach, which is a mixture of the qualitative and quantitative research approaches, wherein data were collected using primary and secondary sources. Both primary and secondary data were used, in order to obtain information concerning the effectiveness of biosphere reserve in the study area. Primary data were obtained using a combination of methods, including participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools and techniques, and informal and formal surveys. The secondary data was collected from desk-based examination of relevant documentation relating to conservation of the Biosphere Reserves areas. The documents included previous reports from Greenest Municipality Competition (GMC) results for all local municipalities from 2012 to 2017, Management Effective Tracking Tool (METT-SA) from 2016 to 2018, and previous research data on conservation. The results obtained revealed that Biosphere Reserve (BR) is an effective tool for the conservation of natural resources within Vhembe District, South Africa. This is because natural resources are taken into consideration when there are developments and projects being undertaken. Furthermore, the communities in Vhembe District Municipality benefit from the programmes and projects aimed at conserving natural resources within the VBR. The study also revealed that there are environmental challenges within the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve due to mining activities, climate change, developments in natural resources and deforestation, which require the enforcement of by-laws and programmes and projects aimed at conserving natural resources. / NRF

The most contemporary approach to biodiversity conservation within South Africa is that of community-based initiatives, which seek to combine biodiversity conservation with socioeconomic development. As a challenge to the Western, science laden approaches to conservation there is an increasing need for community initiatives to reflect the values of local communities. Values of local communities and the management body, CapeNature, with regards to Driftsands Nature Reserve, Cape Town, were captured and analytically coded through the qualitative methods of interviewing and participant observation in order to develop a grounded theory and model. A discussion of the expressed values suggests that community-based conservation initiatives are doing little to include community values even though there is a large degree of agreement between these and corporate values. As such, it is questioned whether community-based conservation can be practised within an organisation which, due to procedures and protocols, is top-down in its approach. / Geography / M. Sc. (Geography)

Savannahs regulate an agro-ecosystem crucial for the production of domestic livestock, one of the main sources of income worldwide as well as in South African rural communities. Nevertheless, globally these ecosystem functions are threatened by intense human exploitation, inappropriate land use and environmental changes. Leaf area index (LAI) defined as one half the total green leaf area per unit ground surface area, is an inventory of the plant green leaves that defines the actual size of the interface between the vegetation and the atmosphere. Thus, LAI spatial data could serve as an indicator of rangeland productivity. Consequently, the accurate and rapid estimation of LAI is a key requirement for farmers and policy makers to devise sustainable management strategies for rangeland resources. In this study, the main focus was to assess the utility and the accuracy of the PROSAILH radiative transfer model (RTM) to estimate LAI in the South African rangeland on the recently launched Landsat 8 sensor data. The Landsat 8 sensor has been a promising sensor for estimating grassland LAI as compared to its predecessors Landsat 5 to 7 sensors because of its increased radiometric resolution. For this purpose, two PROSAIL inversion methods and semi- empirical methods such as Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were utilized to estimate LAI. The results showed that physically based approaches surpassed empirical approach with highest accuracy yielded by artificial neural network (ANN) inversion approach (RMSE=0.138), in contrast to the Look-Up Table (LUT) approach (RMSE=0.265). In conclusion, the results of this study proved that PROSAIL RTM approach on Landsat 8 data could be utilized to accurately estimate LAI at regional scale which could aid in rapid assessment and monitoring of the rangeland resources. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Science)

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Conservation planners use many traditional biodiversity conservation tools to help alleviate the global biodiversity crisis. However, ongoing biodiversity loss has stimulated the development of new and improved methods for conserving biodiversity. One such new conservation tool is the mesofilter approach. Mesofilters are biotic or abiotic ecosystem elements which are critical to the well-being of many species, and therefore could help to explain spatial heterogeneity in species across a landscape. It is also complementary to more traditionally used concepts such as coarse- and fine-filter conservation concepts. Applying the mesofilter approach in protected area, conservancy, or land-sparing design and management, could optimise biodiversity conservation in a rapidly developing world. For example, the timber industry has been pro-active in its approach to lessen biodiversity loss, by optimising design and management of the plantation matrix through ecological networks. Here, I explore the use of mesofilters within highly threatened remnant Afro-montane grasslands in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to optimise biodiversity conservation planning for such landscapes. As per anecdotal evidence, I used rockiness in the landscape as a possible driver of species richness and species assemblage variability at the meso-scale, using a multi-taxon and multi-trophic approach. In this montane landscape, I also examined the effect of elevation on spatial heterogeneity of taxa. I further examined the functional responses of taxa to rockiness in the landscape. Rockiness in the landscape significantly influenced the species richness and assemblage structure of three key grassland taxa: flora, butterflies, and grasshoppers. I showed that for plants, this response was due to growth forms such as geophytes and perennial grasses that were more closely associated with rockiness, and therefore the main contributors to observed differences in the dispersion patterns of flora. Grasshoppers were not necessarily responding to higher rock exposure per se, but rather towards the environmental conditions created by rockiness within the landscape, such as lower vegetation density. For butterflies, certain behavioural traits, such as resting, territorial behaviour and/or mate-locating behaviour, were more typical in areas of higher rock exposure. This suggested that rocks are a definite habitat resource to certain butterflies. Overall, this finding where an abiotic surrogate is representative of key taxa in an ecosystem is interesting, as cross-taxon surrogacy has been shown to be stronger than surrogates based on environmental data. Furthermore, taxa responded functionally to rockiness in the landscape. This thesis therefore supports the idea that environmental surrogates are indeed useful for biodiversity conservation planning. Furthermore, ecosystems can potentially have many attributes or features that would be of conservation interest, and delineating a set of mesofilters is a useful way of expressing particular attributes to be used in wildlife conservation evaluation. The concept of the mesofilter as a practical biodiversity conservation tool is therefore validated here. I also argue the importance of habitat heterogeneity for biodiversity conservation planning in this montane grassland landscape. The potential for optimising the design of landscape configurations such as ecological networks, through information obtained from the mesofilter, is emphasised. We can safely add another tool in the biodiversity conservation toolbox of this Afro-montane grassland ecosystem. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Bewaringbeplanners gebruik tans baie tradisionele biodiversiteit-bewarings metodes om die huidige biodiversiteits krisis te help verlig. Tog, die huidige voortdurende verliese in biodiversiteit wêreldwyd, vra na nuwer en verbeterde metodes van biodiversiteit-bewaring. Een so ‘n nuwe bewaring metode, is die mesofilter. Mesofilters is biotiese of abiotiese ekosisteem elemente wat kritiek is tot die welstand van spesies, en daarom veral waardevol is om variasie in spesies verspreiding in ‘n landskap te help verduidelik. Daarby is die mesofilter konsep ook komplementêr tot meer tradisioneel gebruike bewaringskonsepte, soos fyn-filter en breë-filter konsepte. Deur die mesofilter benadering toe te pas in die ontwerp en bestuur van beskermde areas, bewaareas, of land-spaar initiatiewe, kan ons biodiversiteitbewaring in ‘n vining ontwikkelende wêreld optimaliseer. Byvoorbeeld, die bosbou industrie is pro-aktief in hul benadering om biodiversiteit verliese te verminder, deur optimalisering van die ontwerp en bestuur van ekologiese netwerke in die plantasiematriks. In hierdie tesis, ondersoek ek die gebruik van mesofilters in hoogs bedreigde oorblyfels Afrikaberg grasvelde in KwaZulu-Natal, Suid-Afrika, om die bewaringsbeplanning van dié gebiede te optimaliseer. Vanaf anekdotiese bewyse, het ek spesifiek gebruik gemaak van klipperigheid in die landskap as ‘n moontlike drywer van spesies-rykheid en spesies-samestelling variasie by ‘n meso-skaal, deur ‘n multi-takson en multi-trofiese benadering. In hierdie berglandskap, het ek ook die effek van hoogte bo seevlak op ruimtelike verspreiding van taksa bestudeer. Verder het ek ook gekyk na die funksionele reaksie van taksa tot klipperigheid in die landskap. Klipperigheid in die landskap het ‘n beduidende invloed gehad op spesies-rykheid en spesiessamestelling van drie sleutel grasveld taksa: plante, skoenlappers, en springkane. Ek wys dat vir plante, hierdie reaksie as gevolg was van spesifieke plantgroeivorme, soos bolplante en meerjarige grasse, se noue verband met klipperigheid, en daarom, dat hierdie groepe die hoof bydraers is tot gesiene variasie in plantspesies verspreiding in die landskap. Vir springkane, was hierdie reaksie nie noodwendig omdat hulle die klippe self gebruik het nie, maar meer as gevolg van die omgewingskondisies geskep deur verhoogde klipperigheid in die landskap, soos laer plantegroei digtheid. Vir skoenlappers, was hierdie reaksie tot klippe as gevolg van sekere gedragskaraktereienskappe, soos rus op klippe, gebied beskerming en/of paarmaat soektog, wat tipies meer gesien was in klipperige omgewings. Dit dui daarop dat klippe ‘n definitiewe habitat hulpbron is vir sekere skoenlappers. Oor die algemeen is hierdie bevinding, waar abiotiese surrogate verteenwoordig is van drie sleutel taksa in ‘n ekosisteem, baie interessant, siende dat tussen-takson surrogate soms gesien word as sterker as surrogate gebaseer op omgewingsdata. Verder, taksa het funksioneel gereageer teenoor die klippe in die landskap. Hierdie tesis ondersteun dus die idee dat omgewingssurrogate wel nuttig is vir biodiversiteit-bewaring beplanning. Ekosisteme mag vele potensiele elemente van bewarings belang bevat, maar om sulke elemente as ‘n stel mesofilters te klassifiseer, is ‘n nuttige manier om spesifieke elemente te gebruik in natuurbewarings evaluasie initiatiewe. Gevolglik word die konsep van die mesofilter as ‘n praktiese biodiversiteit-bewaring gereedskapstuk hier bevestig. Ek beredeneer ook die belangrikheid van habitat heterogeniteit vir biodiversiteit-bewaring van hierdie berggrasveld landskap. Die potensiaal vir optimalisering van ontwerp en bestuur van landskap konfigurasies, soos ekologiese netwerke, word beklemtoon. Ons kan met veiligheid nog ‘n gereedskapstuk plaas in die biodiversiteitbewarings gereedskapkis van hierdie Afrikaberg grasveld ekosisteem.

Thesis (MSc)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The conservation of biodiversity is becoming increasingly challenging as habitats are disturbed, fragmented or destroyed. Although nature reserves now cover more than 10 % of the earths’ surface it has become clear that more will have to be done to ensure the long-term survival of species. Therefore, focus is increasingly shifting towards conserving biodiversity in natural and semi-natural remnants in human-influenced areas. This study aimed to determine the contribution of remnants in human-influenced areas to the conservation of biodiversity in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) lowlands, using ground-dwelling arthropods, specifically ants, as the focal taxon. Initially, base-line information of arthropods and in particular ants was obtained. Sampling arthropods generally involves a large sample effort. Therefore maximizing sampling effort for ants in the CFR was investigated by trapping ground-dwelling ants at a single locality. Doubling the number of grids of pitfall traps was found to be more effective in trapping a greater number of species than doubling the duration of sampling. Therefore increasing spatial sampling intensity rather than sampling duration maximizes sample effort for CFR ants. Also, the seasonal changes of ground-dwelling arthropods, including ants, were determined by sampling four times during the year at a single locality. Overall arthropod abundance was found to peak in summer while dropping to a minimum in winter. This pattern was mirrored by that of the ants, indicating that ant results have a broader relevance than to ants only. The ground-dwelling fauna was dominated by ants emphasizing their importance in the CFR lowlands, and demonstrating that ants are an appropriate flagship taxon for epigaeic arthropod diversity in the CFR. Finally the contribution of remnants in human-influenced areas to the conservation of the CFR was investigated. A nested hierarchical approach was used, where five localities were selected across the CFR, each containing one reserve site and one site with natural remnants. Ants were sampled, along with environmental variables, namely weather, vegetation and soil. Overall, remnants were found to support similar ant assemblages to those of reserves. However for individual localities some remnants were significantly different to their reserve counterparts. Differences in ant assemblages were found to be greater between localities than between reserves and remnants. The relatively high heterogeneity of ants found in this study emphasizes the conservation significance of invertebrates along with that of plants in the CFR. Remnants clearly show the potential to conserve ant assemblages, however correct management is needed for these areas to maximize their potential. Disturbances such as the presence of the invasive Argentine ant and increasing soil nutrients by fertilization, pose a distinct threat to the ability of remnants to conserve ant assemblages. This study has shown that remnants currently support ant assemblages representative of those present in the CFR today. Therefore, some remnant patches of habitat in agricultural areas currently do contribute highly to the conservation of a functional important taxon in this global biodiversity hotspot, and if managed correctly, may continue to do so in the future. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vernietiging en fragmentering van habitatte maak die bewaring van biodiversiteit al hoe meer van ‘n uitdaging. Alhoewel natuur reservate reeds meer as 10 % van die aarde se oppervlak beslaan is dit duidelik dat meer gedoen sal moet word vir die lang-termyn voortbestaan van spesies. Dus word die fokus van biodiversiteit-bewaring toenemend gerig op bewaring van natuurlike en semi-natuurlike fragmente in menslik-beinvloede gebiede. Die doel van hierdie studie was om te bepaal wat die bydrae van fragmente van natuurlike veld in menslik-beinvloede gebiede is tot die bewaring van die streek. Dit is gedoen deur van grond-lewende geleedpotiges en spesifiek, miere in die Kaapse floraryk (CFR) gebruik te maak. Aanvanklik is kennis ingewin oor die geleedpotiges en spesifiek miere in die omgewing. Omdat die versameling van geleedpotige diere gewoonlik baie moeite vereis is ‘n maksimum steekproef gedoen by ‘n enkele lokaliteit. Daar is gevind dat ‘n verdubbling van die aantal ruitsteekproefnemings met vanggate meer effektief is om miere te vang as ‘n verdubbling in die tydperiode wat vanggate oop is. Dus, is ‘n hoër ruimtelike steekproef intensiteit meer effektief in vergelyking met ‘n langer tydsduur vir miere in die CFR. Die seisoenale veranderinge van grond-lewende geleedpotiges, sowel as miere, was ook bepaal. Dit was gedoen deur vier seisoenale steekproewe te doen by ‘n enkele lokaliteit. Die totale geleedpotige-talrykheid was die meeste gedurende die somer en die minste in die winter. Die miertalrykheid het ook hierdie patroon weerspieël. Dit dui daarop dat veranderinge in mier versamelings van breër belang is vir alle grondlewende geleedpotiges. Miere was die dominante grond-lewende geleedpotiges en beklemtoon die belangrikheid van miere in die CFR, sowel as hulle toepaslikheid as vlagskip taksa vir grond-lewende geleedpotige diversiteit in die CFR. Laastens was die bydrae van gefragmenteerde natuurlike veld in menslik–beinvloede gebiede tot die bewaring van die CFR ondersoek. ’n Krimpende/ genestelde hiërargies benadering is gebruik in vyf geselekteerde lokaliteite, elk het bestaan uit ‘n area in ‘n natuur reservaat en ‘n area in ‘n naasliggende fragment. Miere was versamel saam met ‘n verskeidenheid omgewings veranderlike, naamlik weer, plantegroei en grond. In die algemeen is gevind dat fragmente en reservate gelyksoortige mier versamelings het. Daar was wel gevind dat party fragmente aansienlik verskillend was van die reservaat teenstuk. Verskille in mier versamelings tussen lokaliteite was groter as verskille tussen reservate en fragmente. Die relatief hoë heterogeniteit van miere beklemtoon die bewaringsbelang van invertebrate saam met dié van plante in die CFR. Dit is duidelik dat fragmente wel ‘n potensiale bydrae kan maak om die mier versamelinge te bewaar, maar gepaste bestuur is nodig om hierdie potentiaal te maksimaliseer. Versteurings soos die teenwoordigheid van die indringer Argentynse mier en toenemende grondvoedingstofkonsentrasie as gevolg van bemesting is ‘n groot bedreiging tot die vermoë van fragmente om mier versamelings te bewaar. Hierdie studie wys dat mier versamelings in gefragmenterde areas verteenwordigend is van die algemene mier versamlings wat op die oomblik in die CFR is. Dus lewer party fragmente in landbou gebiede op die oomblik ‘n wesenlike bydrae tot die bewaring van ‘n funksioneel belangrike takson in hierdie globale biodiversiteitsbrandpunt en die bydra sal volhoubaar wees met korekte bestuur.

Thesis (MSc (Conservation Ecology and Entomology))--University of Stellenbosc, 2005. / Biodiversity is under enormous pressure from an increasing human population. Urbanisation, agriculture, and mining are just some of the factors responsible for the continuous degradation of the natural environment. Of these, urbanisation is one of the leading factors of diversity loss. To address this problem, it is necessary to understand the relationship between biodiversity and urban areas, as well as the relationship between society and biodiversity. This study focuses on these relationships and suggest ways in which urban biodiversity can be maximised without compromising on development. In order to create an urban environment that successfully supports maximised biodiversity, new methods and ideas must be developed to promote the protection of urban ecosystems. The Cape Floristic Region in South Africa is a good example of an area that requires immediate action in order to prevent enormous losses in biodiversity. Data have shown drastic decreases in natural vegetation cover in this area, and with its close to 9000 species, of which approximately 60% occurs nowhere else in the world. This state of affairs should be regarded as a serious crisis. This study consists of three main parts, the first being a literature review on the current relationships between the urban environment, society, and biodiversity. The second and third parts report on two empirical investigations on the campus of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Stellenbosch in the City of Cape Town. The first of these investigates the possibility of using spirituality connected to nature as a promotional tool for conservation through rehabilitation or restoration of damaged urban vegetation habitats. For this purpose students’ and staff members’ opinions of the urban nature at the campus were tested. In the second investigation the options of restoring biodiversity to the campus was considered by exploring the best options available for rehabilitation while taking the current biodiversity status on and around the premises into account. This was carried out through three smaller projects that included the physical reintroduction of plant species, vegetation analysis, and bird identification and attraction. The response of employees and students at the Faculty of Health Sciences was found to be in favour of restoring vegetation and animal life to the campus. This is supported by a belief that their attitude towards their work would improve with improved natural surroundings. Initial rehabilitation attempts highlighted the complexity of rehabilitation practices by bringing forward challenges and problems experienced with the reintroduction of plant species. Despite these problems, increased plant diversity in experimental areas showed the possibility of successfully completing the project. Biodiversity analysis showed that methods of controlling vegetation used by the university are doing more harm than good, as it results in indigenous vegetation being displaced by exotic vegetation. This study introduces a number of questions regarding the relationship between urbanisation and biodiversity and to what extent the two should be linked. Hopefully it is a step in the direction towards marrying the urban and natural environment, and to create a sustainable urban environment where society no longer sees nature as something outside the city boundaries.

Thesis (MScConsEcol (Conservation Ecology and Entomology)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa promotes participatory, cooperative governance and environmental conservation. This constitutional directive is enhanced into the National Environmental Management Act and other conservation laws. These legal requirements for active community participation in natural resources management, including benefit sharing are sufficiently captured in the SANParks’ policy and strategy for the management of national parks.

Globally, ecosystems provide services of almost twice the value of global gross national product (Costanza et al., 2006). The Buffalo City Municipality (BCM), South Africa contains biodiversity of national and international importance (Pierce, 2003; Pierce et al., 2005). Despite this, the municipality continues to experience loss of both urban and rural biodiversity (Buffalo City Municipality, 2006a). This study sought to determine the status of biodiversity, and the potential for ecosystem services to contribute to conservation, within the BCM. Biodiversity features, including ecosystem type, species of special concern and biodiversity processes, were identified and mapped using a GIS to produce a biodiversity priority index for the BCM. Current transformation status was then mapped to determine the level of ecosystem degradation within the BCM. Priority biodiversity areas as well as individual biodiversity features were spatially overlain against current transformation status and protected areas and analysed using a GIS to determine the level of degradation and protection of BCM biodiversity. In total 3.5 % of total BCM biodiversity was protected. Of the 24 ecosystem types, 11 (45%) had less than 1% under protection, while 16 (67%) had less than five percent protected. Not restorable areas, thus completely lost to biodiversity conservation, comprised just less than a quarter of the total BCM area while un-impacted areas comprised just 12.3%. Twenty five ecosystem services were identified as being provided by intact natural ecosystems within the BCM. The natural capital providing these services was identified and mapped to produce an ecosystem service index (ESI) using a GIS. This ecosystem service index and the biodiversity priority index were overlain to determine their level of correlation. Overall ESI correlation with priority biodiversity was weak although several individual ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, showed correlation. Using the above data layers an implementation plan and conservation framework was proposed to assist the coordination of local conservation action within the BCM. It is concluded that ecosystem services are a potentially useful tool for conservationists at the local level seeking to ensure that biodiversity has relevance to and receives protection from broader society.