Month: April 2007

Friday 13th April saw the launch of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s Kids and Parks initiative at Sibaya Casino and Entertainment Kingdom, an extremely exciting development for the province.  Kids and Parks is about giving children, who would never likely have the chance, an opportunity to experience a day in one of EKZNW’s spectacular Game Reserves, something most of us take for granted.  Wildlands Tree-preneurs will be some of the lucky-one’s.

In keeping with the essence of the initiative, jeans and t-shirts was the dress code and guests were treated to plenty of enthusiastic and energetic performances by the kids (the first group to have the “Kids and Parks” experience) and local African musicians and dance groups.

Mr Mtholephi Mthimkhulu, MEC for Agriculture and Environmental Affairs and keynote speaker of the evening, expressed the department’s support for the initiative.  “Kids and Parks is testimony that we in KwaZulu-Natal can proudly stand at the forefront of pioneering efforts, steering our province into landmark achievements.  When you have positively changed the life of a child, then you have positively changed the life of a nation”, he said.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s CEO, Mr Khulani Mkhize reiterated this point and said: “[Kids and Parks], a full day’s environmental education for the children, will serve as a catalyst for every child who doesn’t want to forget his roots”.  The day outing for the children will expose them not only to the beauty of nature and the importance of formal conservation in the province, but also to their history.  More than this, it gives the children a sense of possibility.

Wildlands, a donor of Kids and Parks through funds raised from the Wild Series, will be giving its Tree-preneurs (tree growers from the Trust’s Indigenous Trees for Life programme) the opportunity to be part of the initiative.  Tree-preneurs will be able to “buy” the experience with their trees as part of Indigenous Tree’s for Life Tree Stores bartering system.  One of the aims of Indigenous Trees for Life is to give tree-preneurs a better understanding and appreciation for nature and Kids and Parks provides the perfect gateway for that.

“Viva, Kids and Parks, Viva”!

Although Land Rover Gear has been available for a number of years through Land Rover dealerships, the company launched their first retail store in the Gateway Shopping centre on the 19th of March this year. For the company’s Co-Directors, Chester Foster and Terry Flack, this has not only been a significant step in their ultimate vision for Land Rover Gear, but has also allowed them an excellent platform for promoting the company’s “Nurture Nature” approach to business, says Flack: “We’ve both got an extensive love for the outdoors and come from a background where conservation is very important to us, and because of that we have a strong environmental crusade for the business. Looking at a business’ carbon foot print has to become more relevant than ever before.”

The company obviously has close ties with Land Rover itself, and in particular Land Rover Gear is keen to emulate some of their many environmental and conservation projects, such as Land Rover’s collaboration with Climate Care, an organization that ensures the carbon neutrality of all Land Rover vehicles for the first 45,000 miles; and their Ugandan stove project, which aims to install 20,000 new, more efficient stoves per year in and around Kampala. Land Rover Gear also have their own environmental plans, explains Flack: “We aim in the next year or two to become a completely carbon neutral business and to make sure that we stick to all the policies that make a business a good clean living business.” This is an ambitious undertaking but the company feels that it is best to start as they mean to continue: “We are a fairly young company, but it makes sense to get this right from the very beginning.”

Another very important aspect of this environmental vision was the achievement of becoming the first (and thus far only) company in Africa to register with 1% For The Planet. Once registered they had a choice of 3 (already registered) non profit organizations with which to collaborate but they chose instead to approach the Wildlands Conservation Trust and ask them to register because they felt Wildlands would be a natural fit with their company. Land Rover Gear is a KZN-based organization, as is Wildlands; and as both Foster and Flack are outdoor and sporting enthusiasts they were also well acquainted with Wildlands through the extreme sporting challenges Wildlands runs annually as part of their Bonitas Wild Series. The company also clearly sees the necessity of conserving the environment and thereby conserving the type of outdoor adventure ‘Land Rover Lifestyle’ that many of their customers engage in or aspire to, as Simone Dale, Wildlands Media Manager explains: “If we don’t conserve the beautiful areas and natural resources that we have, there won’t be any places for outdoor sports enthusiasts to do these kind of events.”

Although the exact use Land Rover Gear’s annual donation is yet to be decided, both parties are leaning towards Wildland’s Indigenous Trees for Life Campaign, which not only contributes to the restoration of the region’s forest eco-systems, but also provides a sustainable livelihood for the 2000 ‘treepreneurs’ who grew over 250 000 trees last season. The trees are planted in urban greening projects in eSikhaweni, Sokhulu, Mbonambi (all in Richard’s Bay), Khula (St Lucia area) and Waterloo (Umhlanga). Trees will also be used to create pilot carbon sink projects associated with the restoration of the Mkhuze Riverine Forest and Ongoye Scarp Forest. The project connects nicely with Land Rover Gear’s concerns about carbon neutrality, and also fits the company’s bias towards specifically environmental projects, as Flack explains: “In South Africa there hasn’t been a clear enough delineation between environmental awareness and conservation. I think conservation will always be key because its one of our most important resources but business, especially South African business, now needs to awaken and realize that we’ve got such incredibly beautiful environmental resources and they need to be protected too.”

According to Wildland’s CEO, Dr Andrew Venter: “Land Rover Gear’s commitment to 1% For The Planet is pioneering.  We were very excited when they approached us and are proud that we are now one of Africa ’s four 1% For The Planet registered environmental organisations.  We’re also hoping to use Land Rover Gear’s example to recruit a number of other SA businesses to the much needed cause of environmental protection.” One can only hope now that more environmentally conscious companies like Land Rover Gear heed the call.

To register with 1% For The Planet visit the website at www.onepercentfortheplanet.org and to find out more about Land Rover Gear’s environmental initiatives and to view their product range visit their website on  www.landrovergear.co.za.
* Reproduced with kind permission from the Weekend Witness.

This week the Jobe community with the help of the Wildlands Conservation Trust, planted the first of hundreds of thousands of trees along the Mkhuze River floodplain.  This will form what is scientifically known as a carbon sink, a concentration of newly planted vegetation that will offset the stripping of vegetation, and excess burning of fossil fuels in other parts of the world.

‘Greening Your Future’ is the aptly named title of the initiative.  It grew out of Wildlands’ very successful livelihoods programme, Indigenous Trees for Life.  The aim of the initiative is to develop ‘carbon offsets’ or sinks that allow underprivileged communities to utilise local knowledge and resources to improve their livelihoods, whilst mitigating climate change.

Once refined, these methods will then be rolled out into other local areas (three other sites have already been identified) and then internationally through Africa and South East Asia  in partnership with the Living Lakes Foundation.  The development of this methodology is being made possible with support from global conservation agency WWF, and with funding from the Rand Merchant Bank Fund (through the First Rand Foundation). “Two years of planning has come together this week and it’s shifted the project from a great concept to a reality on the ground”, said Wildlands CEO Dr Andrew Venter.

The Indigenous Trees for Life programme was first piloted in Jobe, Zululand and so it seems fitting that this breakthrough development is cited in this area as well. Indigenous Trees for Life is centred around a network of ‘tree-preneurs’ who grow indigenous trees, which they then sell back to Wildlands or barter for donated goods.  Previously this project was supported mostly by corporate donor funding but with the introduction of the ‘Greening Your Future’ concept, a more sustainable solution to the programme has been created.

The concept is really quite simple.  Trees that have been grown through the Indigenous Trees for Life programme are being planted out into pre-determined sites owned by the Jobe community members, which will collectively form a carbon sink.  The first site identified belongs to Mrs Sbongile Myeni, a subsistence farmer who will plant and care for the indigenous trees.  Mrs Myeni and the other land-owners are paid for each tree they plant and for every tree that survives per year thereafter.

“Wildlands already has such a good relationship with the Jobe community, and that’s what’s going to make this project successful”, says Sarisha  Ramanand, who joined the Trust in June last year as their ‘Carbon Sink Development Manager’.  The project also addresses the socio-economic needs of the area as Ramanand explains, “the benefits to the community are of course the income which is so desperately needed, but in the long-term the rehabilitation of the river banks ensure their soils and crops are protected from the periodic flooding in the area as well”, she said.

In terms of the science Ramanand had this to say: “This is obviously a steep learning curve, but there are established methodologies generated from research in the Amazon and central Africa forests, so it’s really just a matter of adapting these to the different vegetation and to include the community aspect and the smaller plots of land”, she said.  “Our priority is ensuring that the methods we use are scientifically solid because the validity of future calculations and results depends on this”.  The next big step will be the measuring the same sites in four years’ time to see how much carbon has accrued, i.e. how much has been absorbed by the soil and vegetation, thereby reducing the amount in the atmosphere.

“To the best of our knowledge this hasn’t been tried anywhere else in the world”, said Dr. Venter, “there have only been large scale planting projects.  It’s definitely the first of its kind in South Africa and is without a doubt one of the most innovative and exciting conservation initiatives in this country, we hope there will be many more that follow us and learn from it”, he said.   Venter went on to mention their key involvement with the Climate Action Partnership (or CAP), a partnership of six of SA’s leading conservation NGO’s who aim to raise awareness and share learning to advance the mitigation of climate change in the country.  Other projects he said that were researching the carbon offset potential of land-restoration include the Spekboom project in Baviaanskloof run by the Wilderness Foundation and a Peace Parks initiative in southern and East Africa looking at the carbon value associated with the effective management of large scale transfrontier areas.

‘Greening Your Future’ is a really good indicator of what is possible and as the old English idiom goes, “mighty oaks from little acorns grow” (or in this case mostly acacia’s from little seeds).  This project might just be the seed that grows a forest for South Africa’s contribution to climate change.

GO BACK

The Wild Series took athletes off the beaten track with its first official event of 2007: the Didima X-Treme Challenge.  A fitting start for the Series, the Didima X-Treme was certainly wild and certainly a challenge!  Athletes were pushed to the max, traversing across the beautiful northern section of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg National Park on a 29 km run and 37 km cycle. The Didima X-Treme forms part of the new Wild Series – a series of 12 sporting challenges aimed at testing limits, creating an appreciation for our incredible natural heritage and raising funds for conservation.

A grey and chilly dawn, the clouds begrudgingly shifted to reveal the majestic Monks Cowl and Champagne Castle overlooking participants preparing for the challenge.  With the mist rolling in over the slopes of the Little Berg the runners took off at 06h30 up the first of two gruelling climbs to summit the Little Berg above Stables Caves.  On reaching the summit they were met with spectacular views of thick clouds below them, clear skies and the peaks of the Drakensberg above.  The last 3km’s of tar to the transition area – at the entrance to Cathedral Peak Nature Reserve – brought slight relief to tired legs after the unyielding rough terrain of the mountain path.

The first runner to enter the transition area was local athlete Petros Hlongwane, a Team Wild Development member, in a time of 3:01:58.  Following closely on his heels was individual participant Bruce Arnett in a time of 3:06:05.

With 34km of the cycle leg still to go, the individual participants felt the toll of the Mike’s Pass, an incredibly tough 10km climb before descending to the finish. Fastest man Graham Bird won the Individual section in a time of 5:50:49, with Jeanette Walder winning the Individual ladies section in a time of 6:49:38. Sakkie Meyer and Iain Don-wachope (a Team Wild member) came home in a time of 4:50:07 to win first team entry.

A huge thank you goes out to the event sponsors namely Bonitas, Powerade, Verbolt, Ray Olivier, Medi-clinic – PMB and PVM.

For more information on the Didima X-treme Challenge please visit www.wildseries.co.za or e-mail ianf@localhost/import-data-post