Cape Town in a class of its own

It's official: Cape Town DOES have separatist tendencies.

City officials have applied to have the city declared a distinct bioregion to help protect its natural habitats.

A bioregion is defined as "an area constituting a natural ecological community with characteristic flora, fauna and environmental conditions, and bounded by natural rather than artificial borders".

Declaring the city a distinct bioregion is intended to help government officials with spatial planning. The application has prompted praise and could serve as a model for other cities wanting to protect wilderness areas.

Requirements for bioregion status include the compilation of a map of critical biodiversity areas, and the setting of land-use guidelines to prevent loss of natural habitats.

Johan van der Merwe, the Cape Town mayoral committee member for economic, environmental and spatial planning, this week said bioregion status would "emphasise where our critical biodiversity areas and ecological support areas are located".

"These areas are required for the conservation of a minimum set of Cape Town's biodiversity and will contribute towards securing our national biodiversity targets."

He said bioregion status would not affect development rights but would help the city "prioritise areas for future conservation".

A spokesman for the Wildlife and Environment Society of SA in Western Cape, Patrick Dowling, welcomed the application.

"It would remove some of the stress of [having to mount] rear-guard actions to protect [some of the city's areas] from development and other [forms of] degradation," Dowling said.