Natural Heritage: Our fragile, living treasure
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Princess Vlei is the first substantial water body in the massive wetland system extending through Grassy Park to Strandfontein. Like any wetland, it provides valuable services such as mitigating winter floods, providing habitat, purifying water, and retaining nitrogen, lowering the demands on public sewage and water works. These functions are particularly urgent now for building resilience to climate change. Princess Vlei also has value in sustaining the fragile floral kingdom of the Western Cape, which is a world heritage site.
These values have been compromised by neglect, poor or inappropriate management, lack of investment, pollution and invasive alien growth. The Forum’s mission is to overcome this historical legacy and ongoing neglect by direct action, and by lobbying the authorities to invest in the site and manage it correctly as a biodiversity site. The Greater Princess Vlei Conservation Area forms part of the City of Cape Town’s biodiversity network (BioNet) – a network of sites making up the viable minimum area required to conserve a representative sample of the City’s biodiversity. Three vegetation types occur in the area: Cape Lowlands Freshwater Wetlands, Cape Flats Dune Strandveld from False Bay (endangered) and Cape Flats Sand Fynbos (critically endangered). In addition, Princess Vlei, Little Princess Vlei and the Mocke River are used for breeding and foraging by the endangered Western Leopard Toad (Amietophrynus pantherinus) and are home to a number of rare bird species. Restoring the natural vegetation began ten years ago, through a civic-led rehabilitation project, Dressing the Princess. In 2018, the Forum contracted a consultant to embark on a five-year restoration plan. The plan proposes to fully restore 5 to 10 hectares of vegetation, revitalise habitats and biodiversity, involve community members in mass planting, and reintroduce 17 threatened species. Read more about this here. A detailed description of this can also be found on the Society of Ecological Restoration website. Princess Vlei also offers an opportunity to reconnect highly urbanised societies with nature, to promote knowledge of and love for fynbos, and to be a centre of practice for community rehabilitation projects throughout the region. |
Breaking down divisions between people and nature...
School learners have been involved in gathering data on Leopard Toads, using our leopard toad workbook. This may be downloaded strictly for non-profit educational use.
Princess Vlei can play a critical role in breaking down the separation between people and nature that is particularly evident in urbanised communities. Building these connections is critical for the future of our planet... Read more
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