The Durban Metropolitan Area (DMA) is fortunate to have a high biodiversity. The city area hosts a wide range of often unique plant, bird, mammal and reptile species. This valuable and irreplaceable resource base is, however, increasingly under threat as the city grows. This loss of biodiversity is already impacting on residents through effects such as increased flooding, a reduction in recreational and cultural opportunities and a shortage of traditional medicinal plant species (muthi). It has also increased the cost of living and doing business in Durban. Important ecological services, such as waste treatment, are no longer adequately provided by natural systems and need to be replaced by costly artificial methods. A variety of initiatives, at all levels of government, are seeking to address these issues. These include expanding the Durban Metropolitan Open Space System and developing a Durban Metropolitan Environmental Policy.	What can you do to improve the situation
	About Indicators In this Terrestrial Report In this SOE Report Global Set
Population growth, and associated urban development, are the prime causes of degradation of biodiversity in the Durban Metropolitan Area. Other significant causes include invasion by alien plant species, housing and servicing needs which exceed delivery, urban agriculture, muthi plant harvesting, illegal dumping, quarrying and sand mining.
The DMA is historically a biologically rich area. The biodiversity has, however, been significantly degraded since humans first settled here. It is believed that the Durban area was first settled by the Nguni tribe but the date of their settlement is unknown. The first European settlers arrived in Durban in 1824. Since then, many important habitats have been largely destroyed. For example, Durban once contained the largest wetland area on the east coast but now there are only small remnants left. On the positive side, over a quarter of the land area in the DMA is still vegetated, although not undisturbed, open space. The proposed Metropolitan Open Space System links important conservation and recreation areas. Durban still hosts a wide range of plant and animal species.
The loss of biodiversity has resulted in the loss of important ecological goods and services such as the control of water flow and breakdown of waste products. These services are essential for the day to day functioning of the DMA and if lost, need to be replaced at substantial cost for example through flood control structures and waste treatment works. In particular, the removal of vegetation and hard surfacing has resulted in increased flooding in the city. The decline in the availability of certain indigenous plants is reducing the supply of traditional muthi species (plants and animals) making them less accessible to the poor. The loss of biodiversity has also reduced recreational and cultural opportunities in the city.
A wide variety of initiatives, at all levels of government, have been undertaken to help preserve the DMA's biodiversity. These include the preparation of a Durban Metropolitan Open Space System Framework, the establishment of protected areas, the operation of voluntary conservancies and Operation Gumdrop which seeks to remove gum trees to protect catchment areas. In addition, the environmental management policy prepared for the DMA sets out a range of policies and possible implementation strategies to address among other things the management of open spaces and the habitats which they contain.