Plankenbrug River receives lifeline from Stellenbosch Citizens

Citizens of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape recently gathered to raise awareness around the importance of Rivers and Wetlands in an overwhelmingly well supported River-clean-up day along the banks of the Plankenbrug River. 96 school children, municipal workers and staff from local businesses in the area joined Wildlands for a water themed “Citizen Day”.

Wildlands focuses on the creation of “green jobs” for long-term environmental sustainability. The national Land Use Incentives programme (LUI), funded by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) employs teams of people across the country to remove alien plants and plant millions of indigenous trees along sites like the Plankenbrug River catchment. In March 2015 Wildlands Stellenbosch LUI team, led by Lydia Willems, will be planting 4000 trees along the river.

The event introduced learners and teachers of the neighbouring Kayamandi Secondary School to what the Wildlands team was doing to restore the river; along with numerous donors and stakeholders including Wildlands Spier team, Cape Nature, Department of Water Affairs & Sanitation, DWA Resource Protection, Distell, Stellenbosch River Collaborative, Municipal officials, the Million Trees Project, Living Lands and WWF. Learners left with goodie bags and cool drinks – thanks to local businesses Chill Beverage and Distell. We also received donations of baseball caps and water bottles for everyone from the Department of Water Affairs & Sanitation.

In keeping with Wildlands uBuntu Earth Ambassadors’ philosophy Ms Willems urged the attendees to “be the change they wanted to see, as in working together more could be achieved”. Ubuntu Earth Ambassadors host Citizen Days throughout the year, as part of their mandate of effecting Good Citizenship across the country.

Teams were grouped into 5 and allocated sections of the river to clean with the guidance of LUI team and supervisors Thandokazi Daweti and Vernon Gqabaza for safety purposes. A water quality demonstration was also conducted by members of the Department of Water Affairs.

“We raised awareness by inviting members of the industry to see the work we are doing here, and the stakeholders of upper Eerste River got to see how bad the Plankenbrug River is, which flows into the Eerste River further down”, said Willems. “All are committed to continue their support of Wildlands efforts”, she said.

Councilor Pietman Retief, responsible for greening and beautification in the Stellenbosch area said: “We are supporting this initiative through one of our partners in the Million Trees Project – Wildlands, and we will continue to support efforts to plant trees and clean up the rivers”.

Simone Dale, Deputy-Director uBuntu Earth at Wildlands said; “this Citizen Day is exactly what our uBuntu Earth Ambassadors initiative is striving for. All spheres of a community coming together to create lasting change. It starts with us. We’d like to thank our Donor Rand Merchant Bank for their belief in this work”.

Sustainability Partnership in Acornhoek making waves

Acornhoek is a rapidly growing rural centre situated in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality in Mpumalanga. It lies next to the greater Kruger conservation area and is part of the Kruger2Canyon (K2C) UNESCO Biosphere. The extended Acornhoek community is severely impoverished, characterised by high unemployment, HIV Aids prevalence rates and poor education and health infrastructure.

Nedbank has partnered with Wildlands and Kruger2Canyon to catalyse and support a unique partnership that will enable the transformation of the Acornhoek community into one that is cleaner, greener, and more sustainable, whilst empowering local residents. Several initiatives are being introduced, including the Wildlands Trees for Life, Recycling for Life, Greening your Future and uBuntu Earth programs.

“Working at the point where environmental conservation and human well-being converge, Wildlands’ guiding principle is the belief that healthy, robust and resilient ecosystems underpin human well-being. If this is achieved, it has the potential to provide a sustainable future for all,” says Dr Andrew Venter CEO of the Wildlands Conservation Trust.

The Partnership is anchored by financial support from Nedbank, ENGEN and the National Department of Environmental Affairs, who collectively contributed over R 6 000 000 to initiate the Project, and a further R 2 000 000 per annum over the next two years. A network of local non-profit organisations has committed their local management resources and networks to lead and enable project implementation, under the guidance and mentorship of Wildlands and Kruger2Canyon. The partner organisations are the Global White Lion Protection Trust, Klaserie Eco-Training, the Timbavati Foundation, Nourish and Hlokomela.

The initial Partnership objectives are:

• The establishment of networks of Tree-preneurs and Waste-preneurs throughout the Acornhoek community, growing trees and collecting recyclable waste to be bartered for livelihood goods.

• The establishment of Tree-preneur and Waste-preneur inspired schools (and school children), enabling them to generate income on a sustainable basis to progressively improve their facilities.

• The expansion of the Eco-schools and Star Lion Eco-cubs Projects across the community.

• The greening of Acornhoek and restoration of the Blyde River area in partnership with the Moletele Community.

The partnership was initiated in September 2014. Since then the partnership has:

• Enabled the creation of 42 full-time jobs, facilitating the establishment of the Tree-preneur and Waste-preneur networks, and greening and restoration activities;

• Activity in 24 Schools, 3 Creches, 1 Old Age Centre and the Hloklomela HIV /AIDS Support Group.

• The recruitment of 423 Tree-preneurs, who have propagated over 60 000 Indigenous Trees and 19 500 Moringa seedlings;

• The establishment of a pilot Waste-preneur based recycling network.

• The recruitment of 10 Eco-Schools and 5 Star Lions Schools.

The seedlings and recycling will be bartered for a range of livelihood support goods including,
product hampers, education support, building materials, bicycles, water tanks, solar equipment and Hippo Water Rollers. The seedlings will be planted out through the Acornhoek greening and Blyde River Restoration activities, and the recycling will be bulked and sold.

“The project has helped the empowerment of participating individuals who were once marginalised from the local economy to become viable small businesses in their own right. Nedbank is proud to be part of this ground-breaking partnership which aligns so closely with our vision of integrated sustainability,” concludes Nina Wellsted, Sustainability Manager at Nedbank.

Ambassadors fired up to “Be the Change”

Wildlands’ Ubuntu Earth Ambassadors are fired up to effect change in their communities, after this year’s first Indaba recently held at the Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve in Howick. The “Ambassadors Indaba” is a 5-day Good Citizenship programme funded by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) Land User Incentives programme (LUI) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) Green Fund.

The sessions, facilitated by Green Leadership Manager Manqoba Sabela, focused on leadership skills and innovative ways to increase environmental awareness in the broader Wildlands community network. The 27 Ubuntu Earth Ambassadors form part of a team of 42 who will be actively spreading the message of “good citizenship” across the country.

‘Leading by example’ is one of the founding principles of the programme and the workshops began with a personal SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis to help the Ambassadors develop self-awareness. “This psychometric exercise helps ambassadors acknowledge their strongpoints and improve on their weaknesses,” said Manqoba Sabela of Wildlands. Other leadership activities included creating a leadership shield, solo time, and practicing their workshop facilitation skills.

Water was a key theme at the Indaba. This was fitting as the Ambassadors gear up for celebrations of World Wetlands Day and World Water Day coming up. The ambassadors performed MiniSASS tests in the Umgeni River stream which was led by Empangeni NRM (Natural Resource Management) Supervisor Nokuthula Mdletshe. A MiniSASS (Stream Assessment Scoring System) test is a citizen science river health monitoring tool.

Wildlands Project Information Manager and DUCT (Dusi uMngeni Conservation Trust) board member, Kirsten Oliver, also gave a talk highlighting South Africa’s looming water challenges as this precious resource continues to be degraded. Oliver said, among other things, that mining, litter and solid waste contaminate water hotspots (catchments), which feed into the rest of the country. “Some simple solutions would be cutting back on fossil fuel use and also exploring alternatives such as solar energy systems taking into cognizance the livelihood of species in that particular area,” she added.

Gandhi’s words “You must be the change you want to see in the world” are the inspiration behind the Ubuntu Earth Ambassadors movement and it was evident that the ambassadors took them to heart. Curtis Maninjwa, Port St Johns NRM Supervisor, said: “Listening to inspirational quotes and meeting other ambassadors who possess such insight has touched something in me. The magnitude of this work means that I can earn money in the spirit of changing the world!” Nokuthula Mdletshed, Empangeni NRM Supervisor, explained “My environmental knowledge and awareness keeps increasing because of the platforms such as this Indaba – a meeting of greet minds to seek solutions to environmental challenges in our communities. Learning about the looming water crisis in the country has empowered me to pass on this information and be an exemplary leader.”