The Biodiversity & Wine Initiative

A Technical Guide
for Wine Producers

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The Biodiversity & Wine Initiative

Why a Biodiversity & Wine Initiative?
South Africa is the world’s eighth largest producer of wine, contributing 3% of the world’s total wine production. About 90 per cent of this production occurs within the Cape Floral Kingdom (CFK), the smallest yet richest plant kingdom on earth. Internationally recognised as a global biodiversity hotspot, the most important areas of the CFK have been listed as South Africa’s newest World Heritage Site. As one of the richest yet most threatened reservoirs of plant and animal life on earth, conservation of the Cape Floral Kingdom is critical.

Splendour of the Cape floral kingdom (courtesy of Botanical Society of SA).

A boom in wine exports during the previous decade created concern within the conservation sector that some of the region’s most threatened natural habitat (renosterveld & lowland fynbos) might be targeted for vineyard expansion. Following an initial study by the Botanical Society of South Africa and Conservation International, the South African wine industry and the conservation sector have embarked on a pioneering initiative to incorporate biodiversity best practices into the SA wine industry.
The Biodiversity & Wine Initiative (BWI) presents a great opportunity to both the wine and conservation sectors. The wine industry benefits from using the biodiversity of the CFK as a competitive marketing advantage, and from contributing to sustainable natural resource management, as prioritised in the Wine Industry Strategy Plan (WIP). The conservation sector benefits from pioneering biodiversity best practices with the wine industry, which will result in conserving the CFK’s threatened habitats. Successful implementation will result in conserving South Africa’s unique natural heritage for future generations.
What is the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative (BWI)?

Niel Rossouw (winemaker for Vergelegen Estate Wines), Kerry Delahunt (CapeNature Extension Officer) and Tony Hansen (BWI Project Co-ordinator) discuss the vineyard environment on Vergelegen Estate, Somerset West (courtesy of Andrew Purnell).

The BWI is a partnership between the South African wine industry and the conservation sector to minimise the further loss of threatened natural habitat, and to contribute to sustainable wine production, through the adoption of biodiversity guidelines by the South African wine industry.
The initiative aims to:

Prevent further loss of habitat in critical sites;
Increase the total area set aside as natural habitat in contractual protected areas;
Promote changes in farming practices that enhance the suitability of vineyards as habitat for biodiversity, and reduce farming practices that have negative impacts on biodiversity, both in the vineyards and in surrounding natural habitat; Create marketing opportunities for the wine industry by positioning the biodiversity of the CFK, and the industry’s proactive stance on biodiversity, as a unique selling point to differentiate Brand South Africa.

How will the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative be implemented?

Boschendal, Franschhoek (courtesy of Wines of South Africa).

The BWI partners are implementing six key strategies to achieving these objectives:
1. Establish an enabling environment
The BWI partners have established an enabling environment to build capacity and facilitate meeting the objectives. The BWI office is based at the SA Wine & Brandy Company in Stellenbosch. The Project Co-ordinator is Tony Hansen and the BWI Extension Officer is Sue Winter.
2. Incorporate biodiversity guidelines into the Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) Guidelines
The BWI is working closely with the wine industry to include relevant biodiversity guidelines in the IPW environmental guidelines. The biodiversity guidelines will be practical and realistic for growers and producers to implement, with maximum conservation benefits. The first draft of biodiversity guidelines have been incorporated into the current IPW guidelines for 2004 and 2005.

Paarl rock, Paarl Wine District (courtesy of Wines of South Africa).

3. Identify and enlist biodiversity & wine champions
Through marketing the BWI in wine industry publications, the BWI will enlist interested producers and growers to champion the initiative. These "champions" will be guided through the implementation of the biodiversity guidelines, and assisted with building a biodiversity story into the identity of their winery.
If you would like to become a "champion" for the initiative, by being amongst the first growers or producers to implement the new biodiversity guidelines and help sell the concept to other growers in your area, then please contact the BWI extension officer Sue Winter, tel (021) 886-8428.
4. Extend conservation stewardship to the wine industry
Cape Nature’s (CN) existing Conservation Stewardship Programme will be extended to winegrape growers with endangered renosterveld and lowland fynbos on their properties. Landowners can enter into formal contract agreements with CapeNature to conserve critical portions of a property. Benefits to the landowner can include property rate rebates, securing the area for conservation, assistance with land management, alien plant clearing and positive media coverage.
5. Integrate biodiversity into Brand South Africa

Groenekloof ward, Darling Wine District (courtesy of Wines of South Africa).

The BWI aims to incorporate biodiversity into Brand South Africa, thus giving South Africa a competitive marketing advantage in the global wine market. The industry can differentiate itself from other wine producing countries, based on the unique attributes of the scenery and biodiversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom, a recently listed World Heritage Site. The BWI will build on the fact that South Africa’s complex terroir, unique in the world, results in complex biodiversity and complex wines.
6. Develop a biodiversity wine route
The BWI aims to establish a biodiversity wine route in the second year of the project, where visitors are exposed to both the wine and the biodiversity experience of each participating producer. The biodiversity wine route is an opportunity to create employment and develop a new ecotourism angle for South African wine tourism.
Project Timeframe & Funding
Having commenced on 1 July 2004, the BWI funding will run for two years. The intention is that after two years the core values and benefits of the BWI will be entrenched within the wine industry structures, thus ensuring sustainability. The Initiative is being funded by the wine industry, international donor organisations, the private sector and local conservation organisations. The extension officer, Sue Winter, has been appointed from 1 November 2004 to assist wine growers and producers to implement the biodiversity guidelines within IPW by providing advice and putting them in touch with conservation expertise.
Pilot Areas
The BWI has chosen a number of pilot areas where project implementation will be focused for the next 2 years. These areas were selected based on the existence of large areas of threatened vegetation (such as renosterveld and lowland fynbos) and many rare and endangered species that can be found in these areas. The pilot areas include: Bottelary (Stellenbosch district), Paarl Mountain ward (Paarl District) and the Slanghoek ward (Robertson district). Other pilot areas, including the Elim ward in the Overberg district and the Groenekloof ward in the Darling district, are also being considered. Interested farmers from regions outside the pilot areas can however, still be linked to the initiative through the various training workshops that will be held.
Workshops
Two workshops are being held in November to train extension officers and consultants in the wine industry (including viticulturalists, soil scientists etc), as well as the extension staff in the agricultural and conservation sector in what the IPW biodiversity guidelines comprise and how to assist farmers in implementing them. Wine producers may only realise the marketing benefits once they have implemented the biodiversity guidelines. The dates and details follow:

9 November 2004, 09h00 - 13h30, Tygerberg Nature Reserve.
25 November 2004, 09h00 - 13h30, Nietvoorbij, Stellenbosch.

For those wishing to attend the November workshops or be put on the mailing list for any future workshops, please contact Sue Winter. A number of additional regional workshops will be held for growers and producers in 2005, aimed at training farmers in how they can comply with the new IPW guidelines to make their vineyard environments more biodiversity-friendly. If you are interested in attending a growers/producers workshop in 2005, please send your contact details to the BWI office.
For more information contact:
Sue Winter, BWI Extension Officer
Tel: (021) 886-8428, Fax: (021) 882-9510,
Cell: 083 649 0004
E-mail: bwi@sawb.co.za

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