Being Green - 06 Aug 2021

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Adam Harrower, a botanist at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden about an alarming story in the New York Times detailing the extensive trafficking of succulents, many of them endangered, that are unique to the Western and Northern Cape. South Africa is home to about one-third of the world’s approximately 10,000 succulent species, and Cape Nature says there are fears that the level of poaching may result in some of them becoming extinct in the wild. It’s believed that the surge in smuggling is driven by a demand from collectors abroad, with foreign syndicates using locals to harvest the plants.