The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) has created a data-driven web application, the Landscape Planning Tool, to help South Africa balance competing demands for land. Funded by the JRS Biodiversity Foundation, this tool allows planners, government, and developers to identify areas suitable for conservation, renewable energy, and agriculture with minimal conflict. The need for coordinated planning is becoming increasingly urgent as South Africa pursues ambitious targets for biodiversity conservation, renewable energy generation, and agricultural development.
South Africa has committed to placing 30% of its land and ocean under effective conservation management by 2030, under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Currently, approximately 15% of the country's land is under conservation management. The government also aims to develop about 34 gigawatts of new wind power and 25 gigawatts of new solar photovoltaic capacity by 2039, alongside an additional 14,000km of transmission infrastructure. Furthermore, the National Development Plan targets nearly one million new agricultural jobs by 2030, supported by a planned expansion of 500,000 hectares of irrigated land.
The Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Act, 2024, protects 24 million hectares of high-value agricultural land as a scarce national resource. However, these priorities increasingly overlap, with renewable energy infrastructure potentially encroaching on Critical Biodiversity Areas and Ecological Support Areas, while agricultural expansion can affect regions with high biodiversity sensitivity. Without coordinated planning, South Africa risks damaging natural habitats and threatening species, delaying energy infrastructure, and losing agricultural potential.
The Landscape Planning Tool uses systematic conservation planning methods and mathematical optimisation modelling to help identify how land could be allocated among competing priorities. It draws on more than 50 spatial data layers for each land-use zone, covering factors such as biodiversity importance, land cover, wind and solar resources, electricity grid and transmission infrastructure, and socioeconomic considerations. This tool provides planning options for the country as a whole and for all nine provinces.
Users of the Landscape Planning Tool can define their own areas of interest, set targets for how much land should be allocated to each use, and view the resulting trade-offs on an interactive map. According to the EWT, the tool does not produce a single fixed answer. Instead, it allows users to explore different scenarios, with its methodology openly documented so that the planning process remains transparent.
EWT project lead Dr. Oliver Cowan stated that conservation, renewable energy, and food security are all essential to South Africa's future, but each depends on land that is already under pressure. He emphasized that South Africa cannot afford to address these as though they exist on different maps. The Landscape Planning Tool gives decision-makers a shared and transparent way to plan these sectors together, making more informed choices that support biodiversity protection, energy development, and agricultural production.
The Landscape Planning Tool aims to help decision-makers understand the trade-offs involved in land-use planning. The tool is available online, providing a valuable resource for those involved in land-use planning in South Africa. By utilizing this tool, stakeholders can work together to balance competing demands for land and promote sustainable development.
Key points
- The Endangered Wildlife Trust develops an interactive planning tool to balance land demands for conservation, renewable energy, and agriculture in South Africa.
- South Africa has committed to placing 30% of its land and ocean under effective conservation management by 2030.
- The Landscape Planning Tool allows users to explore different land-use scenarios and make informed choices that support biodiversity protection, energy development, and agricultural production.
