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Urban nature conservation issues in South Africa are overshadowed by the goal to improve human well-being, which focuses on aspects such as poverty, equity, redistribution of wealth and wealth creation. The growing need for urban employment is closely associated with the increase of squatting and informal settlements along the urban fringe, which contributes to habitat fragmentation and sprawling of cities. This increasing urbanisation is one of the main threats to biodiversity in the Grassland biome as the natural vegetation in and around cities in the North-West Province of South Africa is destroyed at an alarming rate. The lack of detailed ecological data is a major problem in the implementation of conservation-orientated policies in urban planning and management. This paper gives a brief overview of urban nature conservation in the world, the obstacles to implementation in South Africa and the importance of socio-economics and environmental legislation. We focus specifically on projects involving phytosociological studies and biotope mapping in cities in the western Grassland Biome of the North West Province. The visible presence of native vegetation is essential and integral to urban nature conservation. There is a vital need to present urban environmental data in a format that is convincing and useful to decision makers. We propose an integrated approach towards urban ecological studies culminating in effective urban nature conservation.