| karooinfo.com |
The US based Conservation International identifies biodiversity 'hotspots' as those areas where more than 1500 endemic plants occur. Just two southern African regions have been bestowed the honour of designation as Biodiversity Hotspots, one being the Succulent Karoo hotspot which incorporate the Tankwa Karoo, Namaqua and Richtersveld National Parks. The other is the Cape Floral Kingdom The Succulent Karoo ecoregion has been called the world’s most extraordinary desert, a designation that has earned it a place as the world’s only biodiversity hotspot that is entirely arid. The number of plant species in the region is unparalleled anywhere else in the world for an area this size, and at least 40 percent of these species are endemic. Most are succulents--plants with thick, fleshy tissues that can store water. One-third of the world's 10,000 species of succulent plants grows in this ecoregion. Stretching along the Atlantic coast of Africa, from southwestern South Africa into southern Namibia, the Succulent Karoo Hotspot covers 116,000 square kilometers of desert. It boasts the world's richest succulent flora, as well as high reptile and invertebrate diversity. The hotspot is vulnerable to several land use pressures, particularly overgrazing on communal lands, ostrich farming in the southeast, mining and the illegal collection of plants and animals for trade. Climate change is expected to have a serious impact on the region's biodiversity. |
