Professional River Rehabilitation and Restoration Services
Our comprehensive river rehabilitation services are designed to restore and protect vital natural resources, ensuring they continue to thrive for generations to come.
Our Goal
Our goal is to remove invasive alien species according to the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity (NEMBA) Act (Act 10 of 2004) Invasive Species Regulations – promulgated in 2014 and updated in 2020.
Our Aim
We aim to restore the natural dynamics of river systems, including flow regimes, sediment transport, and ecological connectivity. Our approach ensures legal compliance while promoting sustainability and biodiversity.Â
How We Help
We enhance ecological health by addressing pollution, altered flow patterns, and habitat degradation. Our interventions also support the recovery of native species and improve overall ecosystem resilience.
Our Process
We ensure our clients’ legal compliance with specialized clearing of invasive alien plants in riparian zones, mandated removal of fish migration obstacles, restoring natural flood capacity and flow regimes of rivers, and enhancing biodiversity
How ABC Helps River Rehabilitation by Removing Alien Invasive Plants in South Africa
ABC works to effectively remove any declared invasive alien flora that can cause significant harm to watercourses, native biodiversity, and human livelihoods. Our river rehabilitation solutions focus on repairing and improving the existing conditions of a river system that has been degraded or damaged. After removing these invasive plants we rework the material into biomass.
Invasive Tree Species We Recycle:
We have a recycling solution for all declared alien invader woody plant species, but have treated most of the declared species as per NEM:BA regulations including:
- Rooikrans
- Black Wattle
- Beefwood
- Eucalyptus
Invasive Species Negatively Affect Natural Ecosystems By:
Consuming excessive volumes of water leads to reduced water availability for native species.
Outcompete native flora, leading to a loss of wildlife habitat.
Outcompete native flora for natural resources of sunlight, water, nutrients, and space, prolifically produce more seeds and flowers earlier than native species and are viable in soil seed banks for longer periods of time.
Severely alter ecosystems, making them less resilient to environmental changes.
They increase the fuel load through their faster growth forms, causing more frequent and hotter fires, damaging soil layers as well as increasing required fire frequency ratios required by plant communities. Some alter the salinity of soils or introduce allelopathic agents to soil, ensuring only they can grow in these altered soils.
Success Stories and Achievements
Our Ongoing River Restoration Efforts
Since 2013, our contracting department has actively participated in river rehabilitation efforts. Our focus areas include removing and recycling alien invasive trees in riparian zones. The wood chips generated from these projects are then repurposed as mulch for newly established vineyards and orchards.
Our Breede River and Berg River Projects
We achieved significant success that results in cumulative water savings equivalent to the annual water consumption of approximately 45,000 households. ABC continues to sustain this remarkable achievement in water conservation annually through our ongoing efforts in river rehabilitation and recycling of invasive trees.
