Selected Tree Species for Sustainable Harvest and Calculating Their Sustainable Harvesting Quota in Tshanini Conservation Area, Maputaland, South Africa

Abstract

The process of calculating a sustainable harvesting quota for tree species is presented for the Sand Forest and Woodlands of Tshanini Conservation Area. The study area lies within the Maputaland Centre of Plant Endemism, in South Africa, which is threatened by human utilization outside conservation areas. In a defined harvesting area in the Sand Forest and Woodland communities the concept of species grain was first used to establish which species can be harvested. Then, by developing a method to establish sustainable harvesting quotas from which sustainable harvesting rates per year per species are derived. Sustainable harvesting is possible for seven, four, and three tree species in the Tall Sand Forest, Closed Woodland, and Open Woodland communities respectively. A comparison with another sustainable harvesting method produced similar results, although the present method is useful to determine sustainable harvesting quotas on a species basis rather than on the community level.