Home: TRD: Resource utilisation: NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE WESTERN CAPE
Climate
The Mediterranean climate of the greater part of the Western Cape is nearly optimally exploited by agriculture. Expansion of fruit and wine production are mainly limited by the availability of irrigation water and, to a much lesser extent, suitable soils.
Rainfall
The Western Cape has a diverse rainfall distribution, ranging from a winter rainfall in the western parts, a summer rainfall in the arid northeastern region, and an all year rainfall distribution along the South Coast.
Water
Contrary to belief, the Western Cape does not have an unlimited supply of water. Water consumption in certain areas exceeds water supply, which means that water restrictions will inevitably become part of life for the inhabitants of the Western Cape.
The recent Water Act rectifies certain shortcomings with regard to claiming water for the purpose of maintaining ecological systems. Accordingly, primary human consumption (water for drinking, washing and cooking) and ecological needs, together known as the Reserve, receives priority with regard to water allocations from a source. Because of this, the volume of water available for human secondary use (i.e. gardens, industries and irrigation) will have to be drastically reduced, and in certain areas consumption needs to be curtailed, to address the needs of the Reserve.
Agricultural activities account for nearly 55% of all water consumption in the Western Cape. Using water effectively will therefore become extremely important. Any future expansion in existing irrigation will only be possible from savings achieved in other current areas of water use.
Soil
The Western Cape has a fairly complex soil pattern. This is mainly due to diverse parent materials and the dissected nature of the land surface. Shallow lithosols are common in the dissected areas. Deeper soils occur mainly on the relatively small old land surface remnants and on the sandy coastal plains.
Vegetation
The Western Cape province is famous for its Cape Floral Kingdom. This includes the Mountain and Sand Plain Fynbos, Renosterveld and Succulent Karoo.
Agriculturally, only the succulent Karoo is extensively used for grazing by domestic animals. However, the export and local marketing of fynbos species has developed into a major business. Agri-tourism into the fynbos areas is also expanding rapidly.
Afromontane forest covers relatively small areas of the Western Cape, mainly along the Southern coastal plateau. Presently, minimal exploitation of these forests take place.
Klein Karoo vegetation maps are available here. These maps were kindly made available to the Department of Agriculture: Western Cape by Jan Vlok of Regalis Environmental Services, P.O. Box 1512, Oudtshoorn, 6620, Richard Cowling, University of Port Elizabeth, P.O. Box 1600, Port Elizabeth, 6000, and Trevor Wolf, P.O. Box 2779, Knysna, 6570.
