Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)
Kinixys spekii is widespread in eastern Africa, and protected in several national parks and game reserves throughout its range. It was nevertheless considered Vulnerable on a global scale (Turtle taxonomy working group 2014) at a Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (TFTSG) workshop in August 2013. Its distribution in South Africa and Eswatini (Swaziland) is relatively wide (extent of occurrence (EOO) = 213,980 km2) and overlaps with several protected areas, including the Kruger National Park. Most of the species’ range falls in Limpopo Province, for which 15% of land cover is considered transformed (Limpopo Environmental Outlook Report 2016). In Eswatini (Swaziland), more than 50% of its Lowveld habitat (from the Usuthu northwards) has been lost to sugarcane (R.C. Boycott pers. obs.) and fire is an new threat due to bush clearing (Boycott 2014). These observations are confirmed by land cover maps, which show that most habitats in eastern Mpumalanga is covered by plantations and that land transformation between 1994 and 2005 was extensive over the species’ range in Swaziland, Mpumalanga and Limpopo (Schoeman et al. 2013). We estimate that at least 20% of the species’ habitat has been destroyed and the process is continuing. However, the species is still common in some regions although no information exists on population size. On a regional basis for South Africa and Eswatini (Swaziland), we assess K. spekii as Least Concern but recommend that its status be monitored over the next years to ascertain if it should be listed as Vulnerable.