The Cape Peninsula is one of the world's leading natural tourist attractions. With Table Mountain dominating one end and Cape Point the other, the Peninsula is home to spectacular scenery and amazing floral diversity. The city of Cape Town, situated within a densely populated metropolitan area and subjected to ever-increasing human usage, still provides a habitat for an amazing variety of Cape flora and some remarkable fauna. These include the Table Mountain ghost frog found in the streams of certain ravines and the small striped mountain toad which occurs only on the higher slopes and plateaux of the Cape Mountains. Unfortunately, the Peninsula mountains have been exploited for centuries for their timber, firewood and wild flowers and the larger animals have been hunted to extinction.
Uncontrolled fires result in soil erosion and gully formation.
Alien trees have spread rapidly to the detriment of the indigenous plants. It was set up at the request of several conservation organisations and management authorities concerned about the area's plight. The GEF grant was the biggest ever international injection of funds into conservation in South Africa. The Fund functions as an independent trust, with a Board of Trustees comprising representatives of the South African National Parks, WWF-SA and the Cape Peninsula National Park Committee. The projects initiated by the TMF have to meet specific criteria, such as the building of partnerships between local communities and the formal environmental sector.