By Alan Lee
The National Biodiversity Assessment 2025 (NBA) was launched on 9 December 2025 by an array of governmental luminaries, including Deputy Minister Bernice Swarts. The NBA marks a major milestone for biodiversity science and conservation in South Africa. Produced by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) together with more than a hundred partner institutions and nearly 500 experts, the NBA provides the most comprehensive picture to date of the status and trends of South Africa’s biodiversity across terrestrial, freshwater, estuarine and marine ecosystems, including the subantarctic territories and coastal zones.
New digital format
Now in its fourth iteration, the NBA is presented both as a Summary of Findings and Key Messages and as a fully online, searchable resource (see links below). The new digital format represents a significant advance: it allows biodiversity information to be continuously updated as new data emerge and makes the assessment easier to navigate for decision-makers, researchers, conservation organisations and the public. In this sense the NBA has become a living resource rather than a static report.
The NBA serves a vital policy function by distilling extensive scientific information into evidence that can support conservation planning, spatial prioritisation, environmental assessment and land-use decision-making. It tracks not only status and trends of species and ecosystems but also examines protection levels, pressures and threats, and indicators of genetic diversity (new in this edition). Together, these elements offer a refined national picture of biodiversity condition and help to identify priority areas for intervention.
BirdLife South Africa played a substantial part in the development of the NBA, building on the Regional Red Data Book 2025 and its species assessment processes, as well as the Mouse-Free Marion Project. Additional work included protection-level metrics for birds and mapping regions of conservation concern. Much of this work draws from large national citizen-science datasets such as SABAP2, demonstrating how long-term volunteer-generated data can directly support conservation policy and national biodiversity reporting.
A number of emerging threats were emphasised in the findings, particularly continued wetland loss and degradation, the cumulative effects of energy infrastructure, climate change, and pressures associated with land-use change. Declines in waterbirds were again highlighted as a national concern, reflecting the deteriorating condition of freshwater and estuarine systems. The poor status of many native freshwater fishes underscores the same pattern of river and wetland degradation. These pressures have direct implications for a wide range of bird species dependent on aquatic habitats and reinforce the urgent need to secure and restore ecological condition in South Africa’s inland waters.
Achievement through collaboration, partnership and persistence.
The assessment of the White-winged Flufftail was highlighted at the launch as an example of how focused conservation action, informed by science, can yield meaningful outcomes. Intensive work by BirdLife South Africa and partners over many years has greatly improved knowledge of the species’ ecology, distribution and habitat requirements. This collaborative effort has underpinned targeted wetland conservation and monitoring, allowing the national assessment to present a more complete and confident picture of the species’ status. The White-winged Flufftail continues to face multiple pressures, but its inclusion in the NBA as a conservation success story demonstrates what can be achieved through science-based collaboration, strong partnerships and persistence.
Sharks and rays were among the most concerning taxonomic groups highlighted in the NBA, with many species facing escalating pressures from over-exploitation and habitat degradation. BirdLife South Africa’s Regional Conservation Programme also made a direct contribution here, with Charlotte Boyd and Keenan Meissenheimer assisting with shark assessments. Their involvement underlines the increasingly cross-taxon nature of our conservation work and the importance of integrating marine species into national biodiversity planning.
Looking ahead, the NBA provides a renewed platform for decision-making in an era of mounting environmental challenges. The genetic and spatial analyses in particular point to the importance of habitat protection, wetland conservation, and improved planning and regulation. For BirdLife South Africa, the assessment provides authoritative evidence to support advocacy, inform land-use planning, and guide conservation investment, especially for threatened species and habitats such as wetlands, grasslands and coastal areas.
References:
National Biodiversity Assessment. https://www.sanbi.org/biodiversity/building-knowledge/biodiversity-monitoring-assessment/national-biodiversity-assessment/
NBA species: Birds. https://nba.sanbi.org.za/content/species/sp_birds.html
NBA species: Marine birds. https://nba.sanbi.org.za/content/species/marine_bird_sp.html
NBA launch page. https://nba.sanbi.org.za/
