fyi, found websurfing the net at:
http://www.anc.org.za:80/ancdocs/briefing/nw20000606/6.html

FYNBOS VITAL FOR BILLION RAND FRUIT INDUSTRY - STUDY
CAPE TOWN 5 June 2000 Sapa

A study into conservation priorities in the Cape floral kingdom has found
that fynbos indirectly contributes
pollination services worth up to R1 billion to the Western Cape's fruit
industry.

Fynbos is the natural habitat of the Cape honey bees used to pollinate fruit
orchards, which implies that any
major threat to the indigenous vegetation may have repercussions on the
export-driven fruit industry.

Dr Jan Turpie, a resource economist attached to the University of Cape
Town's Percy Fitzpatrick Institute for
African ornithology, and Barry Heydenrych of SA National Parks calculated
that fynbos and its endemic bees
contributed R964 million to the gross value of the Western Cape fruit
industry in 1997 terms.

The Cape floral kingdom which stretches along the coastal mountains and
plains from Nieuwoudtville in the west
to Port Elizabeth in the east, covers less than 0,04 percent of the Earth's
land surface. Yet, of its 9000 plant
species, 6000 are found nowhere else and its 1406 Red Data Book species are
the highest number found in one
place anywhere in the world.

In recent research for the Cape Action Plan for the Environment (CAPE),
Turpie based her calculations on the
use of some 15000 hives for twice-yearly pollination of fruit orchards.
Beekeepers earn about R4,41 million
annually for this service.

"Through the pollination services of these beehives, the fruit industry in
the Western Cape is thus indirectly reliant
on the existence of fynbos vegetation," Turpie said.

"If R800 million of the turnover of fruiting crops is attributable to bees
which, in turn, are 80 percent reliant on
fynbos for their survival, then a value of R640 million could be attributed
to the fynbos in terms of the gross value
of the Western Cape's fruit industry for 1992.

"In 1997 rands, this value approaches R1 billion," Turpie said.

Turpie's findings on the economic value of fynbos and related natural
systems forms part of a research effort to
develop a strategic conservation plan for the Cape floral kingdom and its
sustainable use.

Managed by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), CAPE has harnessed the
expertise of a high-powered
range of biologists, conservation experts and social scientists to map a
five-year action plan for the Cape floral
kingdom with support from the Global Environmental Facility.

The findings of the study and priority projects to advance sustainable
development i the Cape floral kingdom will
be presented at a conference in Cape Town in September.

source: gopher://gopher.anc.org.za/00/anc/newsbrief/2000/news0606
processed Tue 6 Jun 2000 09:40 SAST.