The lingering effect the Rainshadow

by Nelmarié Saayman, nelmaries@elsenburg.com

SSouth Africans are all too aware of the impact of the drought of the past few years. Not only because of Cape Town’s (almost) Day Zero, but because of the cries for help from our farmers. They do not have food for their animals, nor can they produce it on irrigated land as the dams are dry. This is especially true for the Little Karoo.

The Little Karoo forms part of the Rainshadow Valley Karoo bioregion of the

Succulent Karoo, which is a very special place regarding, among others, its high plant species diversity. The high diversity is possible because it has a predictable winter rainfall with few extended droughts. However, the bioregion has experienced an extreme drought since 2015, receiving less than 50% of the mean annual rainfall in the past couple of years. Droughts lead to changes in plant species composition and cover, and ultimately