The City of Cape Town Council adopted the Cape Town Biodiversity Spatial Plan (CTBSP) 2025 as Council Policy last week. The plan provides detail on the profile of Cape Town’s biodiversity, the BioNet map and the associated land use guidelines for these areas.
The purpose of the policy is to inform and guide spatial planning, environmental assessment and natural resource management by a wide range of sectors whose policies and decisions impact on biodiversity. Additionally, it provides a framework for all City line departments to align their environmental responsibilities.
The CTBSP 2025 is of value to Cape Town, because:
• It provides up-to-date biodiversity information based on legislation, scientific data, best practice and expert input
• It allows for better spatial planning and decision making to reduce conflict and risk, and improve sustainability
‘Cape Town is the first municipality in South Africa to develop and implement a spatial biodiversity plan, which is fitting since this beautiful city claims the title of the most biodiverse city in the world. The Cape Town BioNet is the least land-hungry option possible to meet the national biodiversity targets and the best option to keep Cape Town sustainable into the future. It positions the City as a role model and global leader in urban biodiversity spatial planning and it aligns the City to provincial and national legislation, policy and recent sector advances,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.
The City, in partnership with various conservation organisations, can confirm that currently, conserved land in Cape Town covers 55 697 ha, which is 22,72% of the municipal area. The City manages a total of 20 039 ha in its 22 nature reserves and 16 Biodiversity Agreement Conservation Areas in this conservation estate, the majority of which are open to the public. Cape Town’s conservation estate comprises Table Mountain National Park, nature reserves and conservation areas, as well as some private biodiversity stewardship sites.
The Cape Town BioNet 2024 map illustrates the biodiversity network and selects terrestrial and aquatic features that are critical for conserving native biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem function at the landscape level.
The Cape Town BioNet 2024 map includes the following categories of biodiversity priority areas:
· Protected Area
· Conservation Area
· Critical Biodiversity Area 1a (irreplaceable high and medium condition)
· Critical Biodiversity Area 1b (irreplaceable low condition, connectivity)
· Critical Biodiversity Area 1c (irreplaceable low condition)
· Critical Biodiversity Area 2 (optimal)
· Ecological Support Area 1 (natural or semi-natural ecological condition)
· Ecological Support Area 2 (intensively modified ecological condition)
· Other Natural Area (not required to meet biodiversity targets)
The updated policy includes:
· The Cape Town BioNet 2024, the fine-scale, systematic, biodiversity spatial plan with updated and new input layers, categories aligned to the national categories and new spatial products (map)
· The Cape Town BioNet 2024 is now referred to as a Biodiversity Priority Areas Map, based on a recent sector shift to avoid misinterpretation. Further updates to legislation and strategies were also made, and a policy name change was adopted to align to the Western Cape Biodiversity Act, 2021.
The CTBSP 2025 cannot grant or take away development rights. Rather, it is an informant for decision-making, because the Cape Town BioNet 2024 is a representation of the biodiversity that exists on the ground.
The Cape Town BioNet 2024 is publicly available online on the CityMap Viewer, CCT Open Data Portal, SANBI BGIS and CapeFarmMapper3; and summarised in the Cape Town BioNet 2024 Information Sheet.
