More than 500 vineyards are scattered across the slopes and valleys of South Africa’s Western Cape , one of the world’s most biologically diverse landscapes. The region produces about 90 percent of South Africa’s wine , but winemakers there are increasingly struggling with drought, excessive heat and erratic rainfall.
Temperatures in the region have risen 1.5 to 2 times faster than the global average over the past five decades. And extreme storms have become more intense as climate variability increases. The late 2010s brought a significant challenge for winemakers, as three years of severe drought placed vineyards under intense stress and reduced grape production.
As climate variability places increasing pressure on grape production, many wine producers are building on sustainability measures that have long been part of vineyard management.
We are a team of geographers and sustainability scientists who study environmental change , environmental health, conservation, agriculture and land management. Our team wanted to better understand how farmers in South Africa’s wine-producing regions are responding as a range of environmental and economic pressures rise. We talked with growers, conservation practitioners and wine industry experts in the Western Cape and analyzed how 107 vineyards , about 20% of the total, were using sustainable land stewardship practices to adapt.
In many agricultural landscapes, production and conservation goals are frequently viewed as competing priorities . But our research found that many vineyard operators in the Western Cape see long-term stewardship and conservation of soil and wildlife habitat as essential strategies for business success.
The Western Cape is home to the Cape Floral Region , a global biodiversity hot spot. It includes fynbos , a unique biome containing thousands of endemic plant species, including types of proteas , ericas and restios that are found nowhere else on Earth.
