Educating learners about Cape Town’s precious lowlands

Cape Town’s lowland ecosystems are extremely threatened. For example, only 19% of the critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos remains, of which only 0.1% is protected. The threat to these ecosystems comes from urban sprawl together with degradation of open space by brush cutting, dumping, frequent fires and invasion by alien species. Education is desperately needed to help people understand and appreciate the value of the small surviving patches of these lowland ecosystems. They have incredible value not only to the citizens of Cape Town but to the world, as these areas contain many extremely threatened plants and animals that are found nowhere else. For example, most of the 65 plant species that are found only in the city limits and threatened with extinction, are found in these patches.

The Botanical Society and the City of Cape Town have partnered to produce an education resource called “e-Kapa: Cape Town’s Lowlands - A Global Treasure”. Alice Ashwell, an environmental educator, wrote the material and Martin Cocks and his team from the International Ocean Institute Southern Africa at UWC converted the text into a richly illustrated resource. Using the resource’s comprehensive teacher’s guide with its clear curriculum links, teachers may teach many types of lessons, not only in biology but in other subjects such as geography, languages or history. The web-based resource itself acts as a “library of information” for the lessons and contains comprehension activities related to the content of each module.

The resource is divided into ten modules which cover all aspects of the natural history of the Cape Flats. Although the focus of the resource is the Cape Flats it nevertheless contains a great amount of information relevant to all parts of South Africa, which is indicated in the list below.

Although the resource, available in English and Afrikaans at this stage, is aimed at learners in grade 7 - 9, it is certainly very useful to anybody who wants to know more about the natural environment around them. It is being rolled out to school computer labs in the Western Cape through the Khanya Project and is also available on CD-ROM from the City of Cape Town’s Environmental Resource Management Department and on the web at http://www.ekapa.ioisa.org.za.

List of modules

	Biomes of  South Africa – places the fynbos/renosterveld biome in the context of South Africa’s other biomes Rest of SA: information on all of South Africa’s biomes
	Nature on your doorstep – setting the background for understanding the context of Cape Town’s lowlands Rest of SA: many general concepts are discussed such as the value of nature, urban nature and taxonomy
	Four unique ecosystems – the four main lowland ecosystems: sand fynbos, strandveld, renosterveld and wetlands Rest of SA: discusses how soil affects vegetation, what threatens different ecosystems, wetland ecosystems
	A brief human history – the history of Cape Town from an environmental point of view Rest of SA: discusses the history of Cape Town, which plays a central role in South African history
	Urban nature under pressure – damaging our environment with pollution and invasive alien species Rest of SA: the whole module is of relevance i.e. pollution, fragmentation and invasive alien species
	Rare, endangered and extinct – endangered plants and animals from Cape Town’s lowlands Rest of SA: discusses the concept of rare as opposed to endangered
	Conserving nature in the city – nature reserves and conservation organizations within Cape Town Rest of SA: contains many beautiful photographs of plants and animals which are also found in other parts of South Africa
	Nature and culture – useful plants from Cape Town’s lowlands Rest of SA: discusses the concepts involved in cultural interaction with the environment
;	Adapting to the environment – adaptation of plants and animals to fire, drought, poor soils and water Rest of SA: the concepts discussed have relevance to many South African ecosystems
	Local ecology – all about seed dispersal, pollination, predation and competition in lowland ecosystems Rest of SA: the concepts discussed have relevance to all South African ecosystems
	Planting indigenous – how and what to plant in an indigenous, water-wise garden Rest of SA: the general principles are the same across the country and the list of plants contain indigenous species from all over South Africa.