The Richtersveld Desert Botanical Garden is a lifeline for plants species endemic to the region
The Richtersveld Desert Botanical Garden, a first of its kind in South Africa , opened its doors in August. It aims to be a living bank of the endangered and threatened plant species in the region.Endangered succulents in the Richtersveld have been given a lifeline from poaching, mining, overgrazing, and climate change.
The Richtersveld Desert Botanical Garden, which opened in August this year, is the country's first botanical garden in the desert biome. Located in the Ai-Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park along the border between South Africa and Namibia, the garden is a partnership between the South African National Parks and the South African National Biodiversity Institute .
"I quickly realised we're sitting with a serious problem in the Richtersveld -- and that was before poaching. When poaching came, it just escalated," said Van Wyk. In 2021, there were over 400 species that had the potential of going extinct without intervention, he said. The garden is open to the public and includes facilities that hold plants saved from poaching, plants saved from mining sites, and a nursery that sells indigenous plants. There is also a Nama kraal, an education centre for the local community.
The poaching crisis has since improved, which SANBI attributes to collaborative efforts between provinces, and"harsher sentencing" especially in the Northern Cape. Last year about 200,000 plants were confiscated, and so far this year only about 30,000 plants have been confiscated.
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