Kwelera Botanical Garden

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The Kwelera Botanical Garden ( English Kwelera National Botanical Garden , KwNBG ) in Kwelera near East London in the South African province of Eastern Cape is one of the state botanical gardens in the country, which are maintained by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) as research and educational institutions . It was founded on July 25, 2014 and opened on September 30 of the same year.

Kwelera is derived from the word Goerecha from the vocabulary of the Khoikhoi and means that "many aloes " occur at this point .

Location and structure

The botanical garden is located about 20 kilometers north on the coast of the Indian Ocean between the estuaries of the rivers Gonubie (southwest) and Kwelera (northeast), therefore still on the territory of the metropolitan municipality of Buffalo City (BCMM). The Kwelera River forms the administrative border with the Amathole district .

The Natal plum ( Carissa macrocarpa ) from a dune landscape near Kwelera

The area of ​​the botanical garden is taken up by the Kwelera Nature Reserve (KNR) , which has existed for a long time, with an area of ​​160 hectares along the coast. An adjacent, newly added area with an extension of 10.48 hectares, which was previously not open to the public as farmland, is intended to serve the future infrastructural facilities of the garden administration. The administrative management of the nature reserve is in the hands of the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA), the SANBI is involved in it through a contract. Various landscape details are affected by the extension of the botanical garden, sections of the Kwelera estuary, the riparian zone at the estuary and the sea, including existing dune systems as well as places with traces of early human settlement. The Kwelera Botanical Garden is intended to represent the natural habitat and landscape character of the Wild Coast region and to protect it from adverse influences in this area.

The area of ​​the botanical garden and its immediate surroundings were already under protection before it was founded in 2014. With the nature reserve Kwelera Nature Reserve (KNR), which represents a sub-area of ​​the East London Coast Nature Reserve according to the regulations of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (NEM: PAA), there have been long-term protective measures here. This national botanical garden was established as a public facility by two ordinances (No. 578 and No. 705) based on the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEM: BA) of 2004.

The facility has been in a development phase since it was founded. The additional area of ​​10 hectares acquired by SANBI in 2016 and officially declared part of the botanical garden in 2018 is required for the visitor entrance with information center and catering, the administration, staff and education area, the nursery greenhouses, the seed library and the specialist library .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Republic of South Africa: Minister of Environmental Affairs to launch the Kwelera National Botanical Garden . Communication from the government dated September 29, 2014 on www.gov.za (English)
  2. ↑ a b c d Republic of South Africa, Department of Environmental Affairs: Eastern Cape to get national botanical garden as part of Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs' Outcome 10 commitment to establish two new national botanical gardens by March 2014 . Communication from the Ministry of the Environment dated March 30, 2012 at www.environment.gov.za (English)
  3. ^ Berenice Carolus: Carissa macrocarpa (Eckl.) A.DC. In: PlantzAfrica from the South African National Biodiversity Institute (English)
  4. ^ A b Jaclyn Smith, Alan Carter, CES (ed.): Proposed Infrastructure Development in the SANBI Kwelera National Botanical Garden . Botanical and Wetland Impact Assessment for the South African National Biodiversity Institute , pp. 9–11 (in the PDF document, pp. 11–13). East London 2019, online at www.cesnet.co.za (PDF, English)
  5. ↑ Republic of South Africa: National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004, No. 10 of 2004 . In: Government Gazette No. 26436 of June 7, 2004, online at www.environment.gov.za (English)
  6. ^ Republic of South Africa: Government Notice No. 578, Declaration of the Kwelera National Botanical Garden . In Government Gazette No. 37854 of July 25, 2014, online at www.gov.za (English)
  7. ^ Republic of South Africa: Government Notice No. 705, Declaration Notice of the Extension of Kwelera National Botanical Garden . In Government Gazette No. 41766 of July 13, 2018, online at www.gov.za (English)
  8. ^ Republic of South Africa, Department of Environmental Affairs: National Botanical Garden Expansion Strategy 2019-2030 . In: Department of Environmental Affairs Notice 607 of 2019, Government Gazette No. 42839 of November 15, 2019, pp. 20-21, online at www.cer.org.za (English)

Coordinates: 32 ° 54 ′ 36 ″  S , 28 ° 4 ′ 17.4 ″  E