A big leap forward for Afrotheria conservation in South Africa: A new environmental screening tool ensures cryptic species of conservation concern are not overlooked during the environmental impact assessment process

Abstract

Afrotheria is an ancient radiation of African mammals which includes the Chrysochloridae (Golden Moles), a highly specialized family of fossorial, range-restricted species, and the regionally endangered forest-dependent Dendrohyrax arboreus (Southern Tree Hyrax). South Africa is home to 17 of the 21 currently described Golden Moles, of which 16 are endemic and 10 listed as either Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered according to the IUCN regional Red List. As such, ensuring adequate conservation of Afrotheria within the country is paramount. Until recently, the legislation tasked with ensuring responsible infrastructure development in South Africa failed to adequately protect cryptic species such as Golden Moles and the Southern Tree Hyrax during the environmental impact assessment process. We detail how new legislation which requires the use of a web-based application, the Environmental Screening Tool, will improve the protection afforded to Afrotheria species of conservation concern. We describe the process by which 11 species of conservation concern are incorporated into the screening tool, what this tells us of our current knowledge of their distribution and discuss the potential impact the screening tool may have on Afrotheria conservation going forward.