Anthropogenically induced climate change, coupled with the volatility of world oil markets, has accelerated the global implementation of a variety of renewable energy technologies (RETs). The southern African nation of Lesotho aims to utilise its aeolian resources by harnessing the power of the wind through the development of wind farms. The Lesotho government has approved the development of a 42 turbine wind farm in the Maluti-Drakensberg in north-eastern Lesotho. The development of a wind farm in this area is predicted to result in significant negative impacts on globally important populations of Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus and Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres, in addition to six other red-listed species, including Black Stork Ciconia nigra and Southern Bald Ibis Geronticus calvus. Concern over the impacts of wind farms on Lesotho's avifauna has resulted in calls for the development of an avian sensitivity map. Sensitivity maps have been developed in many countries, including South Africa, in order to provide locational guidance for the siting of wind farms and indicate areas where the development of wind farms could potentially result in negative impacts on sensitive bird species. This study has developed an avian sensitivity map for Lesotho by creating a species sensitivity index to determine the potential sensitivity of Lesotho's avifauna to wind farms and then mapping the distributions of 14 bird species considered most at risk to identify areas of "medium", "high", "very high", "maximum" and"unknown" senstivity. Individual species maps were converted to 1-km square resolution allowing for a Composite scoring map, selecting the highest sensitivity score for each square, and a Cumulative scoring map, summing all sensitivity score within each square, to be created.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/19984 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Sands, Dara |
| Contributors | Simmons, Rob, Ralston, Samantha, Amar, Arjun, McGuinness, Shane |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Science, Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MSc |
| Format | application/pdf |
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