5 서명
청원서는 다음 주소로 보내주시기 바랍니다. Parliament of South Africa
We have to convince parliament to promulgate new legislation, requiring nurseries and other plant sellers to have 30% indigenous representation by the end of 2026, 50% by the end of 2028, and 70% by the end of 2029.
Because most nurseries and other plant retailers predominantly sell exotic plant species, the root of South Africa’s languishing biodiversity problem persists. Plants that should never leave cultivation are distributed freely through retail channels, often mislabelled or unlabelled, and later escape into surrounding ecosystems. This ongoing cycle of introduction, escape, and spread undermines the billions spent on control and rehabilitation. Without stricter enforcement and education within the horticultural trade, eradication efforts become a losing battle — we clear one area only for new invasions to begin elsewhere.
Nurseries have a crucial role to play in reversing biodiversity loss. By adopting strict indigenous-first policies, auditing plant lists against NEMBA’s prohibited species, and labelling all stock clearly, they can become the first line of defence rather than a vector of invasion. Promoting local provenance plants, partnering with conservation agencies, and educating customers about the ecological and water benefits of indigenous gardening can transform nurseries into active allies in restoration. This shift would not only protect natural habitats but also help rebuild public trust in the horticultural sector as a steward of South Africa’s living heritage.
이유
Alien plants already cover roughly ~7% of South Africa’s land area — that’s ≈85,336 km² (7% of 1,219,090 km²), an area larger than the Western Cape.
That’s about 52× the size of Johannesburg (metro), 35× Cape Town (metro), 14× the City of Tshwane (Pretoria metro), 54× Greater London, or 70× New York City.
Invasive alien plants are reducing national surface water runoff by ~2.9% on average (up to much higher losses in some catchments), and could rise to ~5.2% if unmanaged.
This means that the water that South Africa loses each year to invasive alien plants could supply around 40 to 80 million people with their daily household water, for a year.
Government’s Working for Water programme has cleared >1 million hectares since 1995, but national analyses show we’ve only reached ~14% of the estimated invaded area, so net invasion continues to increase without sustained follow‑ups.
Management spending (1960–2023) totals about R9.6 billion (2022 Rands)—estimated to be ~4% of what’s actually needed to manage invasions effectively (≈ R231.8 billion required).
National status reporting (SANBI, 2022) confirms biological invasions are a growing threat to biodiversity, water security, fire regimes and livelihoods, underscoring the need for pre‑border screening, nursery‑trade controls, early detection/rapid response, and long‑term follow‑up after clearing.
지금 이 청원을 번역하세요
새로운 언어 버전사람들이 서명하는 이유
Because the Invasive plant species in our beautiful country is out of control and something needs to be done before it passes the point of no return.
I would like to have easy access to indigenous plants and more education surrounding them so that I can plan better gardens in the future that makes ecological sense
청원서를 배포하기 위한 도구.
웹사이트, 블로그, 또는 웹 포털을 운영하고 계신가요? 이 청원에 적극적으로 동참해 주세요. 저희는 배너, 위젯, 그리고 이를 웹사이트에 통합할 수 있는 API(인터페이스)를 제공합니다. 도구에
We have a wide variety of beautiful and unique indigenous species which is being eviscerated and needs to conserved and protected before it is gone to due the lack of respect towards nature. More funds should be allocated to conservation instead of urban construction.