management
Ensuring environmental sustainability and preserving the natural heritage of Mpondoland are key focus areas for SANRAL as it embarks on th construction of the N2 Wild Coast Road (N2WCR) project.
To facilitate the roads agency’s compliance with environmental and heritage-related requirements, a forest ecologist and palaeontologist have recently been appointed to provide expert input on the environmental impact of the road’s construction.
The N2WCR environmental impact assessment identified the Mpondoland Scarp Forest – which is home to many endemic (native) species, six endemic genera and one endemic family of trees – as one of the most valuable forests in South Africa. To ensure the protection of this forest area, and in order to comply with the Record of Decision (Environmental Authorisation) issued for the project by the Department of Environmental Affairs, forest ecologist Derek Berliner has been appointed to guide the control of impacts on the forest areas during construction. Berliner has a PhD in Botany and has spent the past 25 years consulting on forest ecology and conservation planning in South Africa and across the continent.
The Mpondoland area is one of the least studied in South Africa in terms of palaeontology and the Msikaba Formation, which is situated in the greenfields section of the N2WCR route, is one of the least studied geological formations in South Africa in terms of paleontological heritage. As such, following the release of the project’s environmental impact assessment, the South African Heritage Resources Agency requested that a paleontological survey of the project area be undertaken.
This survey was conducted by Robert Gess of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown, who found that a lack of rock outcrop in the greenfields section of the route provided little opportunity for paleontological inspection. The findings of the survey therefore recommended that all new road cuttings be inspected after they have been cut in order to record and sample any newly exposed paleontological material.
Palaeontologist Gideon Groenewald has been appointed to conduct these inspections along the greenfields section of the route. Groenewald has a PhD in Geology and is a member of the Palaeontological Association of Southern Africa and the Geological Society of South Africa. In addition to examining the new road cuttings, with 39 years’ experience in geological mapping and environmental education in the rural and farming regions of Southern Africa, he has been tasked with training engineers, contractors, on-site environmental personnel and environmental compliance monitoring personnel in the identification of fossil material.
Since the N2WCR runs through a largely unexplored area of palaeontological heritage, the project has opened up opportunities for the discovery of unique fossils never before found in this part of the country.