Help heroes fight invasive alien plants
The Cape Times’ Big Friday Read is a series of feature articles focusing on the forgotten issues that often disappear with the fast news cycles, and also where we feature the everyday heroes who go out of their way to change the lives of others in their communities. This, too, is a place to focus on those whose voices are not heard.
EVERY year, the South African government spends approximately R2 billion to control invasive alien plant species that are intentionally or unintentionally introduced into new areas by humans, and have a variety of social, ecological and economic impacts.
It’s not easy to manage and control invasive alien plant species, and efforts to do so are often higher than the benefits of introducing them. We cannot just rely on state-operated, large-scale control initiatives such as the Working for Water Programme launched by the government in 1995.
Given the link between people and the introduction and spread of invasive species, we need to involve and engage the broader public.
We should also look at the efforts of volunteers who contribute to detection and removal of these invasive species.
It is also important to understand the motivations, contributions and challenges of volunteers to control invasive species and develop strategies to maintain their enthusiasm and willingness to participate in order to improve successful invasive species control.
Emphasis should also be placed on understanding the barriers that can negatively affect volunteer participation to guide relevant adaptive responses and policy.
For this reason, we conducted a study to identify, map and survey volunteer groups in the Western Cape managing invasive plants using various approaches.
We looked at the range and value of inputs made by these volunteer groups on invasive plant species.
This is the first documented information on the status of volunteer groups and their contributions to invasive species management in South Africa.
We found that they clear nearly 5 300 hectares of land a year with an estimated labour contribution of over R5 million when aligned with formal state management cost estimates.
We established a list of 52 volunteer groups in the province, with half of them participating in our survey.
Most of the volunteer groups are concentrated within the city, with some in smaller towns scattered throughout the rest of the province.
The oldest volunteer groups were initiated in the early 1980s. Many groups were triggered by the expansion of invasive plants, and members realising the need to stop their spread.
While most volunteer groups raise their own funds to facilitate their work, many suggest support from government entities, landowners and non-governmental organisations would help.
The groups indicated that they need support with aspects such as the removal of biomass, manpower to remove big trees, training for new group members, as well as for extra funding to pay for tools, additional labour and herbicides.
Most volunteers detect and report invasive species to their team leaders, citizen science platforms and relevant authorities. Volunteers themselves gain physical and psychological fulfilment and build their social network through meeting new people.
Volunteer groups mentioned that the main challenge was recruiting new members to remove invasive species in the future.
Some groups had volunteers that are 60 years or older who struggle with certain aspects of managing invasive plants, which also links to difficult terrain.
Other challenges included the sustainability of long-term funding, historically bad control of invasive plants by others, lack of support from government entities and landowners, and fluctuating volunteer support. Time constraints (volunteering time) as well as health and safety issues also hamper the work of volunteer groups.
There is no doubt that volunteers play an important role in the management of invasive alien plant species and are likely to continue doing so into the future.
However, to do this effectively, better co-ordination and engagement between volunteers and mandated authorities on science, policy and management are required to improve efficiency from both sides.
For example, it would be beneficial if volunteers could be trained on relevant species identification and effective ways of controlling invasive plants to improve their early detection and extirpation efforts.
Hopefully, the results from our study will be used as a baseline to understand how volunteer groups operate, their motivations and their challenges in South Africa, and even in other countries.
We believe the results will help create greater awareness among scientists and conservation managers in relevant government departments about the important work done by volunteers, and why it’s important to incorporate their contributions into the national programmes aimed at controlling invasions.
Jubase works at the Directorate on Biodiversity Evidence at the South African National Biodiversity Institute. Shackleton is affiliated with the Institute of Geography and Sustainability at the University of Lausanne as well as the Centre for Invasion Biology (CIB) at Stellenbosch University (SU). Measey is an associate professor at SU’s CIB. This article is based on their recent academic paper in the journal Bothalia – African Biodiversity & Conservation.