Month: May 2013

Sixty local Tree-preneurs in Luphisi went home smiling earlier this month, when Cathsseta, together with the Wildlands Conservation Trust and Qhubeka, gave them 60 bicycles for their 6000 trees as part of the Wildlands “Trees for Life” project.

“This is a really awesome project where communities are encouraged to be hands on. It has brought out their eagerness to achieve and they have a lot of fun,” said Hlengiwe Mthembu of Wildlands. “We are confident that this will continue to encourage our people in all the communities to keep their environment green and we will also keep empowering them with the bicycles as well. There are already 231 people in the area benefiting from this Wildlands project and they have received food, clothing and other livelihood support items.”

One of the bicycle beneficiaries, Ms Qoshiwe Mazibuko said, “The project has taught us a lot, especially about taking care of our environment and planting trees. I for one had no idea how to look after a tree but today through their assistance I have been able to plant 1 760 trees, which is a good thing indeed.”

CEO for Cathsseta Mr Mike Tsotetsi said the project was more of an educational and empowerment tool and with the bicycle donation they wanted to encourage people, especially in the deep rural areas, to lead a healthy lifestyle through sport. He said, “We are the sport, education and training authority (Seta). We deal with transformation and all our programmes and projects are geared to educate and encourage people in so many ways.” Tsotetsi added that the project also aimed to develop and change the lives of primary and pupils who had to walk long distances to and from schools. “This is a great initiative with a positive impact on teaching and creating more awareness of cycling as a sport in our remote areas,” he said. The MEC for culture, sport and recreation, Ms Sibongile Manana, said she appreciated both Cathsseta and Wildlands, “This is a meaningful contribution in our community and as a government that is promoting a healthy living through sport, we believe that this will make our people realise a bicycle is not only a mode of transport, but can also be used for exercise.”

The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) recently allocated R33 million over 3 years to the Wildlands Conservation Trust, to implement an environmentally beneficial greening project, through the Natural Resource Management Land User Incentives Programme.

The vision of this programme is underwritten by two complimentary objectives. The first is to restore a total of 2160 ha of degraded land across 5 District Municipalities (uMgungundlovu, uThukela, uMkhanyakude, uThungulu and eHlanzini) and 2 provinces (Kwazulu-Natal and Mpumalanga) through the planting of 2 700 000 indigenous trees (average of 900 000 trees planted every year for 3 years) and related restoration activities.

The second objective is focused on stewardship and improved management of over 50 000 ha in the corridor separating the Royal Natal and Cathedral Peak Reserves, which are instrumental in effectively setting up a community carbon sequestration model (i.e. climate change mitigation) focussing on grassland soil carbon. Land interventions include donga rehabilitation, burning regimes and improved grazing practices.

It is estimated that each hectare restored will sequester approximately 3 tons of CO2 emissions per annum, which in plain terms means for every hectare of trees planted we will be removing 3 tons of carbon from the atmosphere. This Carbon (Carbon Credits) will be traded through the Trust’s existing Corporate network for a minimum of R100 per ton, allowing for annuity income to the communities of R 300 per ha. The restoration work will thus support a ‘Payment for Ecosystems Services’ scheme that will provide a sustainable source of income and livelihood support to poor communities. Secondly, a community soil carbon initiative will be piloted in the Mweni and Mazizi communities living adjacent to the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site. Through restoration activities, stewardship interventions and the development of a Carbon Baseline, a source of annuity income will be created for these communities through an Ecosystem Services Lease Agreement based on the soil carbon that can be traded though Wildlands’ existing corporate network.

In addition to its ecological impact, the project will create 246 green jobs and a total of 186 960 person days during implementation, and, very importantly, also create a sustainable source of annuity income to the participating communities through trade in carbon stock.

“The primary ecosystem service which this project will provide will be the sequestration of Carbon, i.e. climate change mitigation,” comments Project Manager Fezeka Mbele. “Secondary services will be the restoration of biodiversity, climate change adaptation and watershed services. Wildlands also has an excellent track-record in restoration activities that support local livelihoods and sustainable development, and this programme will also result in community upliftment,” says Mbele.

The Natural Resource Management Land User Incentives Programme will target marginalised communities and the poorest and most desperate persons within communities as project beneficiaries. These persons will be provided with decent jobs as well as training and capacity building opportunities that will enable them to escape the poverty cycle they are currently trapped in. This will be done through dedicated Enterprise Development and related skills development training.

“DEA and Wildlands are excited about the huge environmental and economic investment they are set to make over the next 3 years, and with measurement models in place the success of the programme will be monitored and reported on,” concludes Fezeka Mbele of Wildlands.