Three species of the aloe quiver trees have been listed as threatened. (Christian VAISSE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Even before the poachers came for it, the dwarf succulent, Conophytum regale — also called buttons, knoppies and dumplings — was rare in the wild. It was known to occur in just one tiny spot in the Namaqualand region and found nowhere else on Earth.
In the last year, it’s been wiped out.
“We monitored the site in April last year and when we went back to monitor in April this year, every single plant had been removed [by poachers],” a botanical horticulturist told the Mail & Guardian. “It had been completely exterminated … and is now extinct in the wild.”
The horticulturist, who serves as an expert witness in cases against succulent poachers, requested anonymity. He cited fear of reprisals from organised criminal syndicates involved in the illicit trade of succulent plants in South Africa’s arid zone, particularly in the Succulent Karoo biome, a global biodiversity hotspot.
“Fortunately, through the confiscations, the plants came to us quite miraculously … So, we’ve propagated them, planted them and bulked them up a little bit and we’re desperately trying to save the species,” he said.
Conophytum regale is unique. “There’s nothing else like it, and it was found in just one tiny little spot … That’s the problem with species that are so tiny in their distribution that have such a limited area, they’re extremely precarious and prone to disastrous extinction events like this.”
Since 2019, the plant material confiscated from traffickers by local law enforcement agencies has increased annually by more than 250%, according to the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi). Its experts suspect that more than two million plants have been removed from the wild, with a cumulative age of well over 44 000 years.
Unprecedented decline
Succulent poaching, to supply a growing ornamental trade predominantly in emerging markets in Asia, coupled with climate change, has led to South Africa’s succulent plants experiencing “unprecedented rates of decline” over the past three years, it said.
The Succulent Karoo biome — in South Africa and Namibia — is rich in botanical diversity, Sanbi said. “Many of its unique species are desired by specialist plant collectors. Thousands of these succulent plant species occupy tiny global ranges and unfortunately, many of these in-demand plant species are not yet available in cultivation at a commercial scale.”
About 25% of the trade is being intercepted.
“The Succulent Karoo has incredible levels of what we call restricted range endemics, so they occur on one little hill or one quartz patch — literally a full species in one place,” said horticulturalist Domitilla Raimondo, the programme manager of threatened species at Sanbi. “And there’s no other arid region in the world that has that level of high localised endemics.”
The Succulent Karoo has evolved over millions of years with predictable rainfall and highly varied geology. “So, species have evolved to be very specific to the geology and the very restricted rain they get. That’s why we have such levels of high diversity,” she said.
“People from the region are very attached to these plants. They’re really devastated about the poaching because their heritage is being taken. Those plants have value, there’s a tourism value … and that’s a long-term value if they stay in their habitat. If they get taken out, then we lose that forever.”
‘Shocking collapse’
The latest International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species includes 210 species of succulents that have been listed for the first time because of the combined threats of illegal collection and climate change, Sanbi said.
Most belong to the genus Conophytum. A total of 97% of the genus is listed in one of the three threatened categories, while 45% are listed in the highest category as critically endangered or on the brink of extinction.
“It is very likely that some species have already been poached to extinction in the wild because the number of confiscated poached plants being housed at secure locations for court cases often exceed the previously estimated total wild population size.”
These succulent species were previously not assessed on the IUCN Red List but they were included in South Africa’s National Red List. Since 2019, 143 of the 157 previously listed Conophytums have experienced an increase in threat status, the vast majority because of poaching.
Social media
Raimondo said social media sites provide the ideal platforms to market succulent plants, fuelling the growth in illegal trade.
“Social media is facilitating the trade because middlemen who are buying to export to China can solicit and can find gatherers and poachers, by just checking on Instagram.
“Obviously, Facebook and Instagram are not aware that their platforms are facilitating this illegal trade. One of the interventions we’re looking at is … can the social media platforms help us to block it.”
Roughly 240 cases have been handled by expert statement writers but only six or seven have been finalised, according to the anonymous expert. “The court processes are happening very slowly, much faster in the Western Cape. In the Northern Cape, the court process is extremely slow and most cases get postponed or struck off the roll.”
He said most poachers are released on bail, sometimes for as little as R2 000. Many have been caught more than once, some four or five times.
Since 2019, he has received 676 000 confiscated plants and his actual job has ground to a halt. “What happens is the poachers get caught, the plant material gets seized and we are talking huge quantities, like ten of thousands. Just in the first three months of this year, we received 130 000 plants. Those plants get brought to us as statement writers, we have to sign for the plant material as a chain of custody.
“We have to write the statements and, of course, we have to plant these plants, we have to care for them as exhibits as part of the court case. So, the sheer volume and quantity of plant material coming in is actually preventing us from writing the statements, which in turn will be used for the prosecution. It’s a bit of a vicious cycle.”
Rescue plan
A National Response Strategy and Action Plan to address the illegal trade has been drafted as a collaborative effort by government departments, conservation authorities, NGOs and local residents to ensure the survival of rich succulent flora while promoting sustainable socioeconomic development. It was signed off by the Ministers and Members of Executive Councils in March.
Among its objectives are to ensure the long-term survival of populations, the establishment of well-managed collections, to capacitate the compliance and enforcement sector to enable more effective action against illegal collection and trade and to explore options for the development of a formal economy of succulent flora and contributes to socioeconomic development and conservation within the arid zone.
Climate threat
Over the past decade, the Succulent Karoo biome has experienced the worst drought on record, with climate models predicting ongoing aridification and increases in maximum temperatures, Sanbi said. In the latest IUCN Red List, three species of the aloe quiver trees have been listed as threatened.
The giant quiver tree has been listed as critically endangered based on extensive observed die-back over the past decade. Future climate models predict a 90% decline of the population by 2080, it said. The more well-known quiver tree is listed as vulnerable.
The most severe drought-related declines are unfolding in the Richtersveld/Sperrgebiet parts of the biome, renowned as the world’s most biodiverse desert region. “With close to 1 000 plant species endemic to this area, hundreds more species are experiencing similar levels of decline linked to the extended drought.”
Raimondo said the severe drought has put people in the Richtersveld in a desperate state. “They’ve lost their livestock so it’s another massively contributing factor to the poaching.
“The climate change models for those same small succulents that are being poached … showed very high levels of decline — that their actual specific little niches where they occur will not be getting the rainfall and that the temperature will change based on climate change.
“There’s high mortality of many, many succulents in the Richtersveld. It’s almost every single species that I’m now assessing — at least half of the plants are already dead, with some species up to 70% to 80% and that’s from this last extended drought … They are being double hit,” she said.
“Even if we don’t lose these plants to poaching we would be losing them to climate change in the next 30 to 40 years. What we’re trying to … really speed up is our ex situ conservation, collecting them from their habitats and making sure we’ve got them grown in the best botanical setups so we can reintroduce them where they will be able to survive.”
[/membership]