Durbanville Hills has become an accredited member of the Biodiversity &, Wine Initiative (BWI), a partnership between the South African wine industry and the conservation sector aiming to restrict, as far as possible, the further loss of any natural habitat in the Cape Floral Kingdom (CFK), one of the natural wonders not only of South Africa but of the world.

Declared a World Heritage Site in 2004, the CFK is the smallest of the six floral kingdoms on the planet and also the richest with 8 700 different species of which 68% are unique to it. The CFK is also the only floral kingdom contained in a single country. Although it covers only 6% of the surface of South Africa, 36% of all the country’s plant species occur here.

The two main vegetation groups in the CFK are fynbos and renosterveld (which literally means “rhinoceros veld” as in earlier years it provided grazing for rhinos and many other large species of game). Together, fynbos and renosterveld comprise most of the indigenous vegetation that covers the greater part of the Western Cape. From the earliest settler days at the Cape all agricultural activities took place within the confines of this plant kingdom. Fortunately, , fynbos with its richer incidence of plant species suffered comparatively little damage because it grows in poor soils good for little else. The same is not true of renosterveld, however, for it prefers fertile, fine-grained soils in areas with a relatively high rainfall – areas also ideal for wheat and vines. The result is that over the centuries much of what was formerly renosterveld, was converted to agriculture.

It has become a matter of great urgency to conserve as much as possible of what is left of especially West Coast renosterveld, which grows where Durbanville Hills and its member farms are located and of which less than 5% remains. Here it is found mainly on steep slopes and in gullies between vineyards. On our member farms more than 230 ha have been identified for conservation which also involves eradicating the invasive alien vegetation which currently constitutes the greatest single threat to these indigenous plant species. On one of the farms, Hillcrest, a wild-olive grove of 12 ha has been set aside as part of our conservation effort.

Through its collaboration with the wine industry, the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative has now conserved more than 112 000 ha of precious indigenous vegetation – more than the total national vineyard of 102 000 hectares. For us, our membership is of great importance and will provide a new focus of how we live with the world around us.