Garden Route Forum flags funding gap for invasive plants
The Garden Route Environmental Forum says it’s concerned about a lack of government funding for fighting invasive plants.
Several wildfires have raged in mountainous areas in recent weeks.
The forum’s spokesperson, Cobus Meiring, says when there is low rainfall, invasive species thrive and fire dangers increase.
This was seen with previous fire disasters in Knysna and George.
Meiring says government funding for clearing invasive alien plants has shrunk dramatically.
Meiring says, “Pines, lakea, lantana and a host of other species are hard to control and they provide the biofuel that fuels these fires. Of grave concern to us is the fact that government funding to curb invasive alien plants on the landscape, such as the working for water programme, for instance, have all but disappeared, leaving land owners vulnerable and the situation is not improving.”