Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)
Although Kinixys zombensis is widespread in eastern Africa, and protected in several national parks and game reserves throughout its range, it was considered Vulnerable on a global scale at a Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group workshop in 2013 (Turtle taxonomy working group 2014) due to a decline in habitat quality and availability. The species has a relatively small distribution in South Africa (extent of occurrence (EOO) = 18,359 km2) but its distribution overlaps with several protected areas. The habitat outside protected areas is severely degraded. Jewitt et al. (2015) have shown that 46.4% of the natural habitat in KZN was transformed by 2011 and projected that habitat loss will increase to 55% by 2050. Transformation is due mainly to agricultural conversion and sylviculture (Rouget et al. 2004, Schoeman et al. 2013) although dune mining and urbanization also play a role to fragment the species. We estimate that at least 25% of the species’ habitat is already transformed and transformation has not yet stopped. An additional concern is that climate change scenarios predict a reduction or even disappearance of Indian Ocean Coastal Belt habitat in KZN (DEA 2013), where the species currently has high density. Due to the small EOO and severe habitat degradation, the species may qualify as Vulnerable under the B1 criterion, but it does not appear to be severely fragmented and there is insufficient information about the number of locations. Consequently, we list K. zombensis on a regional basis as Least Concern, but recommend that the species be considered for the category Vulnerable, once more information is available on population size and the extent to which its preferred habitat is affected by land-cover change.