Month: July 2011

Over  4000 “green-preneurs” across the country regularly gather at ‘Green Futures Stores’ in their communities.  These stores form part of an innovative programme by NGO, the Wildlands Conservation Trust, whereby individuals exchange trees or recyclable waste for food, clothes, education support, building material, water tanks, solar water heaters, solar powered lighting and bicycles.

Through Wildlands’ Indigenous Trees for Life initiative people in need in rural and township communities are trained to grow trees from seed in order to barter them for goods once they reach a certain height. ‘Waste-preneurs’ collect recyclable material and receive credit according to the weight of the material. Wildlands then ensures the trees are planted back into the community or used in reforestation projects and the various streams of waste are recycled.

Procurement Manager for the Wildlands Conservation Trust Debbie Farley says the project requires funding and donations to provide goods for the green-preneurs to purchase with their credit. “The products purchased range from basic foodstuffs such as sugar, rice, cooking oil and tinned goods, to bicycles and Jojo tanks for rainwater harvesting.”

The South African Sugar Association (through their Development Department) runs the Sugar Donation Programme.  This Social Investment initiative focuses on providing monthly sugar donations to NGOs working with people who find themselves in persistently poor circumstances. The focus is on people without sustainable support to overcome problems of homelessness, emotional instability, household food insecurity, substance abuse and unemployment.

The South African Sugar Association (SASA) donated 11 000 kg of sugar to the value of R68 671 to Wildlands Conservation Trust in 2010/2011 and this has helped Wildlands supply one of the most popular items at Green Futures Stores.

Thandeka Mazibuko, Programme Administrator for SASA, said “Wildlands contributes by addressing the challenges of household food insecurity while also improving the environment. The programme contributes to sustainable development and supports vulnerable groups, this is important to SASA, particularly for those individuals residing within the sugarcane growing communities.”

Over 180 people from Pietermaritzburg and Richards Bay have been trained to set up basic vegetable gardens at their homes. In an expansion of its Sustainable Communities Programme, the Wildlands Conservation Trust has started a “food-preneur” programme to develop top performers in their “tree-preneur” and “waste-preneur” programmes.

Tree-preneurs grow indigenous trees from seed and exchange them for goods such as food, clothing, bicycles and other items. Waste-preneurs collect recyclable material and also trade it for goods. Wildlands is adding the food-preneur programme as part of their enterprise development goals to identify and develop entrepreneurs within its projects.

“Super-growers” and “super-collectors” will be selected in the 23 communities across South Africa in which Wildlands operates. The top twenty collectors in a community qualify as super-collectors, and have usually collected over 1 tonne of waste. Super-growers are those that have grown and traded more than 1000 trees in a year. These people have shown the initiative and dedication needed to be entrepreneurs, and so will be given the chance to provide vegetables for their families, and possibly develop a business if they grow enough surplus to sell on to market.

The first training took place in February and March, in the Willowfontein, Sweetwaters and SWAPO communities in Pietermaritzburg, as well as at eSikhaweni and Mbonambi in Richards Bay.

Ncamisile Hlatswayo is the project manager for the food-preneur programme, and says the training has gone very well: “We supply a starter pack of 30m of chicken mesh, seed strips and a 10 litre watering can. The first day of training is in sustainable crop production, and day two is a demonstration and training in creating the garden,” she said.

Timefreight, one of South Africa’s leading road express businesses, is donating two vehicles to support the project. Etienne van Ravesteyn, CEO of Timefreight, said “We choose to partner with the Wildlands Conservation Trust’s Food-preneur project because we share a goal of creating or contributing towards sustainable development programmes in rural communities. Through our synergy with Wildlands, we believe we achieve this and importantly the project reaches, on a sustainable basis, hundreds of people in rural communities”.

The project looks set to take off: “We already have some of the “food-preneurs” enjoying their vegetables and even selling to their neighbours, after just a month or two of getting their seeds in the ground,” said Hlatswayo.

Vo Julia Mchunu, “food-preneur” from SWAPO in Pietermaritzburg, has a thriving vegetable garden

Picture credit: Ncamisile Hlatswayo / Wildlands Conservation Trust

On a rainy night in London far from the sun of South Africa, auction bidding for world-class African getaways and a stunning bespoke 18-carat gold ring raised enough money to put another 70 threatened rhino under constant and potentially life-saving 24-hour GPS surveillance.

Local charity the Wildlands Conservation Trust raised £37,000 (approximately R407 000) at Sunday night’s Christie’s private view and auction in aid of the country’s beleaguered rhinos – two of which were killed by poachers that day.

The total will be boosted by a minimum of £20,000 (R220 000) thanks to the generosity of South African sculptor Dylan Lewis, whose final collection of animal bronzes – including a life size white rhino – will be auctioned on Thursday (June 16th).

The sculptor made his own auction pledge to donate the proceeds from the sale of his white rhino maquette – valued at between R220 000 and R330 000 – to Wildlands.

Each GPS tracking implant into the horn of a living rhino costs around R10 000. The auction now allows the charity to expand its rhino protection programme across South Africa, beginning in the Zululand Conservation Corridor which houses more than 160 rhino.

From the left H E Dr Zoya Skweyiya, South African High Commissioner in London; Mr Andile Ncontso; Mr Hugh Edmeades, Auctioneer; Dr Andrew Venter, CEO, Wildlands Conservation Trust; Mr Robert Fincham, Trustee, Wildlands Conservation Trust in front of South African sculptor, Dylan Lewis’s life-size White Rhinoceros to be auctioned at Christie’s South Kensington Thursday June 16th. © Dominic Nicholls

The new GPS monitoring system could prove a lifeline for South Africa’s rhinos. With poaching now driven from a higher level, new monitoring technologies and increased man power are vital as a deterrent to poachers and to help track the horns if an animal does get killed and its horn removed.

One hundred and eighty four rhinos have been killed in South Africa this year (one every 20 hours). One of the two rhino killed on Sunday was a black rhino, a species that is critically endangered.

On auction was a selection of world-class African getaways, including a rhino darting experience, and a stunning bespoke 18-carat gold ring embellished with black, cognac and white diamonds by South African jeweller Kirsten Goss, which fetched the highest bid on the night of R110,000.

Wildlands CEO Dr Andrew Venter spoke of rhino as ‘a global symbol of nature’s right to life’ and said that their protection depends on everyone. The South Africa High Commissioner, H E Dr Zoya Skweyiya stressed the importance of wildlife and rhino in stimulating his country’s rural economy.

The auction was conducted by UK’s foremost auctioneer, Hugh Edmeads, renowned for his commitment to the charitable causes of Prince William and Prince Harry.

The event was supported by Investec UK, and Wildlands’ local partner, Save the Rhino International. To make a contribution to the initiative, visit www.localhost/import-data-post.

Over eleven thousand trees were planted by learners at 47 schools across Zululand in April and May, bringing much needed funds to the schools and creating an awareness of the environment amongst thousands of young people.

This project is part of Game Stores’ commitment to planting 40 000 trees during 2010 and 2011 as part of their Let’s Grow initiative while uplifting communities in need. Schools earn a fee of three rand per tree planted, and a further fee for nurturing the trees which will be awarded after six months if the trees are well looked after. Most of the schools have opted to barter these earnings for stationery, which they will purchase at Game stores.

A range of indigenous trees that include the Natal Plum, Maroela, Ankle Thorn, Coral, Weeping Boer -bean and Powder-puff trees were planted with the assistance of the Wildlands Conservation Trust, Game Stores’ implementing partner.

The Sustainable Communities Programme run by Wildlands creates the opportunity for children and adults in rural and township communities to grow indigenous trees from seed and trade these for goods such as groceries, schools books and uniforms, and bicycles. All the trees planted have been grown by these “tree-preneurs”, and Wildlands’ staff was on hand at schools to demonstrate the best way to plant and care for the trees.

Mr Cyril Khuzwayo, headmaster of Ndlovini Primary school near Mtunzini, said that 1000 trees were planted at his school and the learners are now taking turns to do the watering and caring for the trees. “We have had a campaign at the school teaching about the value of trees to us, now and in the future, thereby explaining what conservation is and why it is so important.” he said.

“The Let’s Grow initiative, which aligns with our CSI focus on boosting early childhood education, also signifies our commitment to being more environmentally-responsible citizens.” said Jan Potgieter, Game Stores CEO.

Programme Manager for Wildlands’ Sustainable Communities Programme, Charmaine Veldman, said: “Game Stores’ commitment to greening South Africa and encouraging school pupils to be involved is commendable, and the schools have done a great job of taking up the challenge and learning about the environment.”

Schools in Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Johannesburg and Nelspruit will be given the same opportunity to plant and care for trees in September.

Picture: Learners at Ntokozweni CP School in Tembe recently planted trees to green their school and learn about the environment while earning funds for the school.

Picture credit: Wildlands Conservation Trus

The Matjele Community Project based in Mapetla in Soweto works with vulnerable children, supporting over 130 people with a feeding scheme and other services. The project is about to expand to include the Indigenous Trees for Life Programme run by the NGO the Wildlands Conservation Trust, where participants will be taught to grow trees from seed and trade them for goods.

Support by law firm Webber Wentzel has helped Julia Mokoena to develop the Matjele Community Project, which provides a feeding scheme for vulnerable children, as well as counselling, HIV and TB education, and assistance in adherence to medicine regimes. The project also helps with access to grants and assists people apply for documents such as birth certificates and identity documents.

Webber Wentzel has now committed support to the environmental NGO the Wildlands Conservation Trust to set up the “tree-preneur” project whereby the community are afforded the opportunity to earn by growing trees. Wildlands runs the programme as part of their Sustainable Communities Programme, and project manager Hlengiwe Mthembu from Wildlands will work with Julia Mokoena and the Matjele Community Project to appoint and train facilitators, who will then teach participants how to propagate trees from seed.

“Once the facilitators are in place, training of tree-preneurs should take place in July so that seeds can be in the ground during August. We are excited to be spreading the project further in Gauteng, after a project we started in Vosloorus was such a success.” Hlengiwe Mthembu said.

The Indigenous Trees for Life programme first took root in northern KwaZulu Natal, and now has 23 projects across KwaZulu Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape.

“This project will allow the children and adults to set goals. To decide they want to grow trees in order to buy food, school uniforms and things, will be very good. It is not handing people fish, but teaching them how to fish for themselves,” said Julia Mokoena, head of the Matjele Community Project.

Picture: Zanele Makitla is a “tree-preneur” at the Vosloorus Indigenous Trees for Life Programme. This innovative livelihoods programme will be starting up in Soweto, through the Matjele Community Project.

Picture credit: Hlengiwe Mthembu/ Wildlands Conservation Trust