历史沿革: 从 Kirstenbosch 国家植物园到 SANBI 法定研究机构
南非国家生物多样性研究所 (South African National Biodiversity Institute, 缩写 SANBI) 的历史可追溯至 20 世纪初。1989 年, 自治的法定机构国家植物学研究所 (National Botanical Institute, 缩写 NBI) 由原国家植物园 (National Botanic Gardens) 与植物研究所 (Botanical Research Institute) 合并而成, 总部分别设在开普敦 Kirstenbosch 与比勒陀利亚, 形成全南非范围内的植物园与研究中心网络。2004 年 9 月 1 日, 时任南非总统塔博·姆贝基 (Thabo Mbeki) 签署生效《2004 年国家环境管理: 生物多样性法》(National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004, 简称 NEMBA, 第 10 号法令), 将 NBI 的法定职责从专责植物界扩展到涵盖南非全境动植物及生态系统的整体生物多样性, 并在此基础上正式成立 SANBI, 接管其前身一个世纪以来在保育、科研、教育与访客服务方面积累的国际声誉项目。
法律授权与机构职责: NEMBA 法案下的生物多样性国家职能
根据 NEMBA 第 10 号法令, SANBI 获得国家环境保护主管部门 (现名 Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, 简称 DFFE) 授权的广泛法定职能, 涵盖以下方面: 定期向部长报告共和国生物多样性现状、列入名录的受威胁物种与生态系统状态以及入侵物种情况; 作为国家生物多样性事务的咨询与协商机构; 协调和促进南非生物多样性分类学; 管理并维护所有国家植物园、植物标本馆 (herbaria) 及动物标本收藏; 建立园艺展示、环境教育、访客设施与研究场所; 采集、生成、加工并发布生物多样性信息与数据库; 开展和促进本土生物多样性研究; 协调生态系统修复与入侵物种防控项目; 应部长请求协助履行国际公约 (如《生物多样性公约》) 义务, 并就生物多样性规划、生物区域 (bioregional) 计划、保护区管理提供建议。NEMBA 还规定 SANBI 为科学权威机构提供后勤、行政和财务支持。
国家植物园与动物园网络: 10 座国家植物园 + 国家动物园 + Mokopane 保护中心
SANBI 通过其保护花园与旅游部 (Conservation Gardens & Tourism Division) 管理全国 10 座国家植物园、正在筹建的第 11 座 Thohoyandou 国家植物园 (位于 Limpopo 省) 以及两座国家动物园。具体网络包括: Kirstenbosch 国家植物园 (开普敦, 被誉为世界顶级植物园之一)、Hantam (Nieuwoudtville)、Karoo Desert (Worcester, 非洲唯一的真正多肉植物专类植物园)、KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg)、Free State (Bloemfontein)、Harold Porter (Betty’s Bay, 海岸 fynbos 中心)、Lowveld (Nelspruit, 横跨 Crocodile 与 Nels 河)、Walter Sisulu (Roodepoort)、Pretoria (76 公顷城市绿洲, 也是 SANBI 总部所在地) 以及 Kwelera (东开普省, 第 10 座国家植物园); 国家动物园 (National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, NZG) 是该国最大且唯一具国家地位的动物园, 收藏 3117 件哺乳动物、1358 件鸟类、3871 件鱼类等; Mokopane 生物多样性保护中心 (1979 年建立, 1981 年开放) 是 NZG 的卫星保育站。
生物多样性科研链条: 从基础调查到政策建议的三层价值链
SANBI 的科研体系围绕一条「基础调查 → 知识构建 → 政策与行动」三层价值链展开。基础层 (Foundations of Biodiversity Science) 涵盖全国生态系统与物种调查、分类命名、生物标本馆、DNA 银行、千年种子库 (Millennium Seed Bank) 和国家植被地图 (National Vegetation Map) 等基础数据生产。中间层 (Building Biodiversity Knowledge) 在此之上开展评估与监测, 包括分子生态学、生物入侵 (biological invasions)、受威胁物种、转基因生物环境影响、关键生物多样性区域 (Key Biodiversity Areas) 和可持续野生动物贸易等专项研究。最上层 (Science into Policy and Action) 将科学转化为工具与政策建议, 服务土地利用决策、减贫与就业、气候变化适应、生态基础设施等国家级目标。SANBI 同时托管《生物多样性公约》南部非洲次区域技术支持中心, 并承办《南非植物红色名录》(Red List of South African Plants)、《南非国家植物名录》(South African National Plant Checklist) 和 PlantZAfrica (收录超过 1850 篇 “本周植物” 文章) 等关键知识库, 还定期发布全国生物多样性评估 (National Biodiversity Assessment, NBA), 最新 NBA 2025 网络门户已上线, 系统总结近 20 年评估成果。
教育推广与社会参与: Groen Sebenza 培训与九大园区环境教育
SANBI 把教育培训视为履行法定职能的核心环节, 通过设在各国家植物园内的环境教育中心 (Environmental Education Centres) 与学校和社区开展技能开发、教育和意识提升项目。旗舰项目包括: Groen Sebenza 培训计划与生物多样性人力资本发展项目 (Biodiversity Human Capital Development), 为生物多样性行业培养下一代从业人员; 在 9 座国家植物园 (Free State、Kirstenbosch、Karoo Desert、Harold Porter、Lowveld、Walter Sisulu、KwaZulu-Natal、Pretoria、Thohoyandou) 同步运行的生物多样性教育、能力建设和意识提升计划; 以及公民科学项目 (citizen science), 鼓励公众参与全国范围的生物多样性保护评估。此外, SANBI 与南非植物学会 (Botanical Society of South Africa, 简称 BotSoc, 1913 年成立)、南非国家公园 (SANParks)、WWF 南非、植物园保护国际 (BGCI)、南非旅游局、南非国家研究基金会 (NRF) 等机构保持长期合作伙伴关系, 通过 DFFE 公共实体身份定期发布年度公司战略规划 (当前为 2025-2030 CSP 和 2025-26 APP)。
History: From Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden to SANBI’s Statutory Mandate
The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) traces its origins to the early twentieth century. In 1989, the autonomous statutory National Botanical Institute (NBI) was formed from the amalgamation of the National Botanic Gardens and the Botanical Research Institute, both founded to study and conserve the exceptionally rich southern African flora. The NBI had its head office at Kirstenbosch in Cape Town, with gardens and research centres throughout South Africa. On 1 September 2004, then-President Thabo Mbeki signed into force the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004 (Act No. 10 of 2004, “NEMBA”), which expanded the NBI mandate from plants to all biodiversity and formally established SANBI to inherit its century of internationally respected programmes in conservation, research, education and visitor services.
Legal Mandate and Institutional Functions under the NEMBA Act
Under NEMBA, SANBI receives its mandate from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE). Its statutory functions include: monitoring and reporting to the Minister on the status of the Republic’s biodiversity, listed threatened or protected species and ecosystems, listed invasive species, and the environmental impact of genetically modified organisms; acting as the national advisory and consultative body on biodiversity; coordinating and promoting the taxonomy of South Africa’s biodiversity; managing and maintaining all national botanical gardens, herbaria and zoological collections; establishing facilities for horticulture display, environmental education, visitor amenities and research; collecting, generating, processing, coordinating and disseminating biodiversity information; undertaking and promoting research on indigenous biodiversity and sustainable use; coordinating ecosystem rehabilitation and invasive species prevention; advising the Minister on bioregional plans, biodiversity management plans, national protected areas and international agreements binding on the Republic; and providing logistical, administrative and financial support to the Scientific Authority.
National Botanical and Zoological Garden Network
Through its Conservation Gardens & Tourism Division, SANBI manages a national network of ten established national botanical gardens, the Thohoyandou Botanical Garden scheduled to become South Africa’s eleventh (in far northeastern Limpopo Province), the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (NZG) in Pretoria — the country’s largest and only nationally designated zoo, home to 3117 specimens of 209 mammal species, 1358 specimens of 202 bird species and 3871 specimens of 190 fish species — and the Mokopane Biodiversity Conservation Centre (founded 1979, opened to the public in October 1981) as a satellite conservation station of NZG. The ten national botanical gardens are Kirstenbosch (Cape Town, world-renowned), Hantam (Nieuwoudtville), Karoo Desert (Worcester, Africa’s only truly succulent botanical garden), KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg), Free State (Bloemfontein), Harold Porter (Betty’s Bay, coastal fynbos), Lowveld (Nelspruit), Walter Sisulu (Roodepoort), Pretoria (76 ha urban oasis and SANBI head office), and Kwelera (Eastern Cape, the tenth and the first established in the Eastern Cape).
Biodiversity Science Value Chain: Foundation, Knowledge, and Policy Action
SANBI’s science work is organised around a three-tier value chain. The foundations tier covers baseline surveys, classification and mapping of South Africa’s ecosystems and species, including the herbaria, the DNA bank, the Millennium Seed Bank partnership and the National Vegetation Map. The middle tier builds on this foundation through biodiversity assessment and monitoring, including units for molecular ecology, biological invasions, threatened species, genetically modified organisms, Key Biodiversity Areas and sustainable wildlife trade. The top tier translates science into policy and action, including mainstreaming biodiversity, biodiversity policy and the Scientific Authority, producing outputs such as the periodic National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA), with NBA 2025 marking twenty years of the assessment cycle. SANBI also hosts the Subregional Technical Support Centre for Southern Africa under the Convention on Biological Diversity’s technical and scientific cooperation mechanism, and maintains the Red List of South African Plants, the South African National Plant Checklist, the PlantZAfrica knowledge base (over 1,850 Plant of the Week articles) and Biodiversity Advisor.
Education, Capacity Building, and Community Initiatives
Education and capacity development are statutory priorities. Through Environmental Education Centres located in the national botanical gardens, SANBI facilitates skills development, education and awareness programmes with schools and communities. Flagship initiatives include Groen Sebenza and the Biodiversity Human Capital Development programme, which grow the next generation of biodiversity practitioners; biodiversity education, capacity development and awareness programmes operating across nine national botanical gardens (Free State, Kirstenbosch, Karoo Desert, Harold Porter, Lowveld, Walter Sisulu, KwaZulu-Natal, Pretoria and Thohoyandou); and citizen science projects that invite public participation in nationwide biodiversity assessments. SANBI is a public entity under DFFE and works in long-term partnership with the Botanical Society of South Africa (BotSoc, founded 1913), South African National Parks (SANParks), South African Tourism, the National Research Foundation (NRF), WWF South Africa and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), publishing a five-year Corporate Strategic Plan (currently the 2025–2030 CSP and 2025–26 Annual Performance Plan).
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