Development of a compendium of local, wild-harvested species used in the informal economy trade, Cape Town, South Africa
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Date
2012
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Resilience Alliance
Abstract
Wild harvesting has taken place over millennia in Africa. However urbanization and cash economies have
effectively altered harvesting from being cultural, traditional, and subsistence activities that are part of a rural norm, to being a
subculture of commonly illicit activities located primarily within the urban, cash-based, informal economy. This paper focuses
on Cape Town, South Africa where high levels of poverty and extensive population growth have led to a rapidly growing informal
industry based on the cultural, subsistence, and entrepreneurial harvesting and consumption of products obtained from the local
natural environment. Through a process of literature reviews, database analysis, and key informant interviews, a compendium
of harvested species was developed, illustrating the breadth of illicit harvesting of products from nature reserves, public open
space, and other commonage within the City. The compendium records 448 locally occurring species (198 animals and 250
plants) that are extracted for medicinal, energy, ornamental, sustenance, nursery, and other uses. The sustainability of harvesting
is questionable; nearly 70% of all harvested flora and 100% of all collected fauna are either killed or reproductively harmed
through the harvesting processes. Furthermore, for the 183 indigenous flora species currently recorded on the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, 28% (51) hold assessments ranging from Declining through to Critically
Endangered. With respect to the more poorly assessed fauna (46 spp.), approximately 24% (11) have Declining or Threatened
status.
Description
Keywords
Ecology, Biodiversity, Conservation, South Africa, Economy
Citation
Petersen, L. M. et al. (2012). Development of a compendium of local, wild-harvested species used in the informal economy trade, Cape Town, South Africa. Ecology and Society, 17(2), 26. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-04537-170226