South Africa’s wildlife and natural ecosystems are facing an accelerating decline, with the country’s most comprehensivebiodiversity stocktakewarning of deepening ecological stress across almost every landscape and ocean region. TheNational Biodiversity Assessment 2025, released earlier this week, paints a stark picture of collapsing freshwater systems,intensifying illegal wildlife trade, surging extinction risks and the destabilisation of natural systems underclimate change. Produced by theSouth African National Biodiversity Institutewith input from nearly 500 experts from 110 institutions, the fourth iteration of the assessment synthesises thousands of datasets across terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems, as well as genetic diversity and species assessments, offering a national environmental health check.
The analysis warns that South Africa is losing ecological resilience at a rate that threatens long-term water security, food systems and economic stability. The country is one of 17 megadiverse countries, with exceptional species richness, high levels of endemism and three of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots. Nature underpins the economy, jobs, food and water security and climate resilience, making it central to national development priorities.
But this ecological infrastructure is in trouble. According to the analysis, nearly half of the 986 ecosystem types assessed are threatened, with estuaries, wetlands, rivers and coasts most at risk. More than three-quarters are represented in protected areas, leaving 24% unprotected.
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Rivers, wetlands and estuaries have the lowest coverage. Of 20 248 plant species, 16% are threatened, and out of 5 226 animal species, 10% are threatened, with freshwater and cartilaginous fishes (sharks, rays and chimaeras) most at risk. Overall, 70% of plant species and 77% of mammal, reptile, bird, amphibian, and freshwater fish species are well protected.
Biodiversityunderpins both the country’s economy and its society, saidBernice Swarts, the deputy minister of forestry, fisheries and environment, at the report’s launch. “Biodiversity is not just an environmental concern — it is an economic asset. It supports over 400 000 jobs, particularly in rural areas, through conservation, restoration, ecotourism and sustainable harvesting,” she said.
“When we invest in biodiversity, we invest in people, in livelihoods, in the future of our youth and in the resilience of families and communities.” The report equips authorities with evidence-based insights to guide policy, strengthen governance and mobilise collective action across government, business and civil society, she added. More than 200 species, such as the iconichalfmens— a rare, spiny desert tree — and theNamaqua dune mole-rat, have experienced severe population declines due toclimate change.
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