The greater area concerned falls into the northern section of the Succulent Karoo Biome, which is regarded as a global biodiversity hotspot (Myers et al 2000), and is thus important in global as well as regional and national terms. This makes only absolutely unavoidable damage acceptable. It is extremely sensitive in terms of near-endemic, endemic and protected plant and animal species. Approximately 16% of the Namibian flora as a whole is thought to consist of endemic species (Craven & Vorster 2006), and over 30% of plants that occur in the Namibian section of the Desert Biome are believed to be endemic to that area.