The Red List has been funded by the Norwegian Embassy under the 
Climate Counsellor Tim Lund from the Norwegian Embassy together with Domitilla Raimondo (SANBI). Photo: Rolf Hansen
The list consists of over 20 000 plants and 13 265 endemic species. This will more than double the number of plants on the IUCN’s Global Red List. South Africa has a unique flora. According to Domitilla Raimondo, SANBI Threatened Plants Programme Manager and lead author of the South African list: “South Africa is one of the world’s mega-diverse countries in terms of its species richness and high levels of endemism. South Africa not only contains one of the world’s six floral kingdoms, but three of the world’s biodiversity hotspots are located mainly within its borders.”
Emphasising the significance of South Africa’s floral diversity and underscoring the global significance of this assessment, Craig Hilton-Taylor head of the IUCN Red List programme based in Cambridge England explains: “The Red List of South African Plants is a landmark publication that doubles the number of plants on the IUCN’s Global Red List. Compiling this list has been an enormous multi-partner conservation project. More than 200 professionals as well as members of the public have contributed.”
The comprehensive work undertaken in producing the Read List have been possible by utilizing dedicated amateur biologist through The Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflower programme (CREW), which is an extensive civil society network, together with experienced professional biologists.
The vuvuzela of plants
Moraea vuvuzela
A newly discovered species from the iris family found near Worchester in the Western Cape, is to be named Moraea vuvuzela by SANBI botanist Dr John Manning to honour the hosting of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The colourful, trumpet like appearance of the flower resembles the vuvuzelas as we have come to know them during the World Cup. The Moraea vuvuzela is severely threatened by agriculture and development in its very small natural habitat in the heart of the Cape Floral Region.
The need to conserve
The Red List also reveals the need to urgently conserve 24 % of the country’s plant species, half of them being in danger of extinction. The proportion of threatened species in South Africa is much higher than other mega-diverse countries such as Australia and Brazil, who estimate that only 6 % and 3 %, respectively, of their plants are threatened. South Africa’s higher proportion of threatened species is due to the fact that South Africa is the only country that has done a comprehensive study of its entire flora.
Loss of natural habitat is the most significant threat, affecting twice as many species as any other threat. 43 plant species have gone extinct or are listed as possibly extinct due to crop cultivation and 26 due to urban development. The second largest threat is habitat degradation mainly due to overgrazing by livestock, followed by and encroachment by invasive alien plants.