Land Use Decision Support System

The ECBCP land use decision support system provides recommendations for land-use decision- making in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Underpinning these recommendations is the conservation of critical biodiversity areas.

Critical biodiversity areas are environmentally sensitive areas considered as priorities for conservation and essential to ensure the persistence of all species and ecosystem represented within the Eastern Cape.

Critical biodiversity areas have been identified for both terrestrial and aquatic systems (rivers, estuaries, catchments) through the process of systematic conservation planning. Critical biodiversity areas (or CBA's) are given at various levels, the most important of which are CBA 1 & 2 : CBA1 are highly sensitive areas, that's require strict conservation; and CBA 2 are areas that should be kept in a near natural state so as to support biodiversity persistence. Only biodiversity friendly forms of land use are recommended for these areas.

The aim of this system is not to prevent development, but rather to guide (or limit) certain forms of land use in environmentally sensitive areas or catchments.