Author: Buyisiwe

At the end of 2014, the Gumbi Community made history by being the first community owned game reserve in South Africa to introduce a pack of endangered African Wild Dog onto their land. The pack settled in well and their success was cemented as the alpha female gave birth to the packs first litter earlier this week.

Since introduction late last year, the pack have had some great successes, but also some tragedy. After establishing their hierarchy, the alpha female (dominant female who leads the pack) was caught in a snare one night. This snare was not put out specifically for dogs but rather to target small antelope for subsistence poaching of meat. Unfortunately wild dog are particularly susceptible to snaring as they cover large areas when hunting and also fan out as a pack, thus increasing the likelihood of encountering a snare. She was found first thing in the morning by the wild dog monitor on the reserve but unfortunately the snare had killed her.

Shortly after this incident, there was confusion in the pack as hierarchy was once again contested. One of the other females had left the pack briefly during the night and was caught and killed by a leopard. She was found the following morning with bite marks to her head and leopard tracks in the area.

These two fatalities have left the pack extremely vulnerable, with only a single female left with the two males. The incidents have, however, resulted in a stabilisation in the pack dynamics and they have settled down well. It was with great excitement that the new alpha pair were seen mating and, several weeks later, the female was seen inspecting warthog burrows around the reserve. She eventually settled on one near a drainage line which offered good cover and soft soil in which to dig. Wild dog typically gestate for just under two and a half months and when the monitors noticed her spending more time at the den site and less on the hunt, the excitement started to grow.  Over the weekend of the 16^th of May, Axel Primmer, the wild dog monitor from Wildlife ACT Fund, noticed her to be visibly thinner and also heard chirping noises coming from the den itself. “She had been venturing out with the males less frequently, relying more heavily on regurgitation from the males for food,” commented Axel.

“This is an extremely happy time for the reserve and the painted dogs of Somkhanda,” stated Nkosinathi Mbhele, Reserve Manager..

“With the introduction and success of this pack of African wild dog, Somkhanda and the Gumbi community are contributing significantly to wild dog conservation in the country, not only increasing the number of wild dog in the country, but more importantly increasing available habitat for, and pack numbers of, this endangered species,” commented Mark Gerrard, Wildlands’ Threatened Species Coordinator.

For more information on wild dog conservation in the province or for information on Somkhanda Game Reserve, please contact Mark Gerrard on markg@localhost/import-data-post

On the 21^st of May 2015, Unilever and Wildlands hosted a Bright Future Activation Day at the Sports Grounds in Ndwedwe, Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal. At this Activation, which drew members from the surrounding community, 68 Tree-preneurs received 122 hampers as part of a unique barter model.

Developed as part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, the initiative seeks to improve the livelihoods of the consumers that utilise Unilever’s products. “This distinctive exchange initiative demonstrates the power of collaboration in ensuring a brighter future for all South African inhabitants,” confirms Nakagawa Marcos, Vice President Brand Building: Foods.

The Wildlands’ model involves the trade of indigenous trees for hampers that are made up of a prescribed list of Unilever’s health and well-being products, such as Sunlight, Lifebuoy, Domestos, Rajah, etc. together with a few products purchased through its partnership with MassCash, providing tinned fish and baked beans. According to Marcos, “Unilever aims to create sustainable communities and through our partnership with Wildlands, communities are empowered and given a purpose.”

The hampers are bartered in exchange for indigenous trees (amounting to over 450 000 trees) from approximately 2 000 Tree-preneurs across Wildlands’ network of 80 communities nationally.

Unilever’s contribution to the Activation leverages funding received from national and provincial government to enable the barter of this large number of hampers. “Wildlands packs and distributes approximately 10 000 hampers across their communities over the course of 2015,” said Marcos, “the number of lives improved by these hampers is staggering.”

The premise of the system is to change the perception of getting a ‘hand-out’, showing these communities how they can better their lives through entrepreneurial ventures. According to Wildlands’ CEO, Dr Andrew Venter, “We promote entrepreneurship with our barter – reward model, based on national greening activities. When partners like Unilever come forward with items that can add value to the lives of our hard working Tree-preneurs, we are extremely appreciative and grateful.”

Unilever and Wildlands aim to roll-out approximately 20 Bright Future Activation Days throughout 2015, where the Wildlands Activation Unit will carry out health and well-being product demonstrations, covering subjects such as handwashing, tooth-brushing, sanitation and nutrition. The Bright Future Activation Days began in early May 2015 and, since then various Activations have been held in communities such as Uthungulu and Dududuku in Northern KwaZulu-Natal and were a great success.

“Through partnerships such as the one we have with Wildlands, Unilever continues to create a brighter future for communities like the people of Ndwedwe by empowering them to improve their own lives and inspire their children,” concludes Marcos.

Wildlands Conservation Trust, in partnership with Unilever – Knorr, held a successful event at Copesville Combined Primary school on the 29^th of April, where underprivileged learners were handed re-purposed educational kits made from Knorr soup shelves.

Also partnering with Knorr on this initiative is MH Moosa Protective Workshops.  MH Moosa Protective Workshops is an employment facility for approximately 150 mentally challenged people under the auspices of the Pietermaritzburg Mental Health Society.

This is an exciting initiative which will provide schools with upcycled educational material made from Knorr Soup shelves. Thousands of these cardboards used in stores around the country to display soup have been ‘re-purposed’ to create teaching aids for underprivileged schools. The Knorr units were pre-printed with numbers, letters and sums before going into stores for the big winter soup season in 2014.

By re-purposing and distributing used point-of-sale shelves, Unilever aim to substantially reduce their contribution to landfill and at the same time make a difference in the lives of school learners. To kick off the roll out of this project this year, 637 children from Copesville Primary school and their teachers received Knorr kits to be used at home and in the classrooms as teaching aids.  As part of the festivities, children were also served a delicious hot chicken stew meal made with the tasty flavours of Knorr Soup.

“Wildlands will work with the most disadvantaged of these primary schools to distribute the Knorr re-purposed shelves,” said Wildlands’ Director of Sustainability, Partnerships and Marketing. “We are thrilled to be able to network and partner with other organisations in the community to make this project happen. This way, our waste materials become a valuable commodity which empowers communities and protects the environment at the same time.”

“Today is an honour and a privilege for me to be witnessing such kindness and generosity for these children of my school. Thank you to Knorr and Wildlands for putting smiles on our learners faces and giving them tools to build them up to become our future leaders,” commented Mr Mhlophe, the Principal of Copesville Primary.

At the end of May 2015, the official launch of the “Ocean Stewards Programme” will take place. This will give 15 Marine and Ecological Science students from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to experience catalytic marine science under the guidance of key marine scientists and leading sector managers. The initiative is part of the greater African Coelacanth Ecology Programme (ACEP) which is funded through the National Research Foundation and carries out vital marine research off the South African coastline.

With ongoing development locally and globally, our marine environments are under increasing threat. Overfishing is exacerbated by habitat degradation (often linked to seabed mining, the oil and gas industry and trawling), alternative energy requirements, pollution, aquaculture, invasive alien species, acidification and climate change.

The health and prosperity of future generations depends on halting this negative trend, and recognising the crucial role that healthy oceans play in providing essential ecosystem services such as food and oxygen, and buffering coastal communities against increased intensity storms. In addition, many coastal communities are impoverished and extremely vulnerable to further degradation of the natural systems on which they depend directly. Unfortunately, there remains a profound lack of public understanding about the crucial link between human prosperity and healthy marine ecosystems and their species. Development must be allowed to continue but with proactive input from marine ecologists.

In South Africa, the ability to meet these challenges and provide practical solutions is being compromised by insufficient human capacity within the marine science and conservation management sectors. This is exacerbated by a paucity of accessible infrastructure to conduct science, effective governance and law enforcement. These shortfalls are linked to slow transformation, lack of career-guidance at schools, and the fact that very few undergraduate marine science students continue on to post-graduate level. Furthermore, owing to the lack of affordable ship-based platforms, most students who do complete marine science degrees have limited ocean fieldwork experience.

The Ocean Stewards Programme aims to address this key challenge by providing catalytic marine science, management and industry exposure to a new generation of emerging Ocean Stewards. The 2015 cadre of Ocean Stewards consists of 12 undergraduate marine ecology university students, and three Honours level marine science students. The selection process placed emphasis on selecting students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Ocean Stewards element of the greater programme has been enabled through the Blue Fund, a partnership established between Grindrod and Wildlands (a leading environmental NPO) which aims to fund vital marine and coastal conservation work. Through this funding, the 15 students will take part in a formative, experiential journey that will give them unique insights into marine conservation and inspire them to pursue marine science as a career. They will also be mentored by the one PhD and three masters students who are currently funded through ACEP and SANBI.

Students will also be given the opportunity to compete for one of three post-graduate bursaries through ACEP.  These bursaries will allow 3^rd year students to undertake their Honours studies in 2015, and two of these students will be offered further support to proceed to an MSc level. Wildlands and Grindrod hope to expand their bursary support through Grindrod Limited’s Skills Development activities.

The cost of implementing the Ocean Stewards programme for 2015 is just under R1 million. ACEP has committed R 582 000 towards the costs of the programme, with emphasis on underwriting the expedition and research related costs. The Blue Fund has committed a further R 400 000 to enable the actual Ocean Steward engagement, support and mentorship process. It is supported by a mentorship team including many of South Africa’s pre-eminent Marine Scientists. “There are very strong partnerships behind this program,” said Wildlands’ CEO Dr Andrew Venter. “Wildlands are very excited to be part of this professional team consisting of Grindrod Limited, ACEP and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife representatives. We all share a vision for the youth of this country and look forward to assisting them in igniting positive change within the marine sector.”

On the 9th of April almost 100 volunteers, including Stellenbosch Executive Mayor Conrad Sidego and Councilor Pietman Retief, gathered along the banks of the Plankenbrug River to take part in a Tree-a-thon which aims to contribute significantly to the rehabilitation and restoration of this seriously degraded water source.

“Wildlands Conservation Trust and the Stellenbosch Million Trees Project signed a Memorandum of Agreement in September 2013 and have a successful partnership aimed at greening and restoring the ecosystems that underwrite the health and livelihood of communities that fall within the Stellenbosch Municipal boundaries,” said Director of Partnerships, Marketing & Sustainability at Wildlands, Louise Duys. “Klapmuts received more than 1000 indigenous trees during last year’s tree planting marathon and another 1000 trees, grown by Wildland’s Tree-preneurs, were planted today – at the foot of the Papegaaiberg along the Plankenbrug River.”

Both the Papegaaiberg Nature Reserve and the Plankenbrug River and its tributaries perform an important function as part of an integrated group of ecosystems that determine the health of the entire catchment and is a core conservation area of the biosphere reserve. It is for this reason that this area has been chosen by Wildlands to focus the efforts of its Greening Your Future team where twenty individuals from the local Kayamandi community, employed through the DEA NRM Land User Incentive Scheme II programme, have been tasked with restoring the area back to its original state.

The Tree-a-thon will make a major contribution towards the reforestation of the riparian zone of the Plankenbrug River and Papegaaiberg Nature Reserve, right in the heart of Stellenbosch’s industrial area. The removal of invasive species will contribute to higher water flow and indigenous trees will suppress invasive alien plant growth, all vital components of river restoration.

The volunteers that gave up their day to contribute to this worthy cause included – staff from Remgro, Spier, PSG, Distell and Reliance (who also donated compost). Volunteers also arrived from the UNASA Stellenbosch Chapter, Greenpop and Eco-maties, while Chill Beverages and Engel and Volkers staff generously sponsored water and cold drinks to maintain the energy levels of the planters during the scorching hot day!

Heidi Newton-King (Sustainability Director at Spier) said: “Sometimes issues and concerns seem daunting but when everyone pulls together through partnerships and collaboration, many things are possible.”

“PSG is pleased to have supported the Wildlands Tree-preneurs initiative. Not only is the initiative in itself commendable, but we also believe that we share the same objective of growing and preserving wealth,” commented Lerato Motang (Marketing Project Manager for PSG).

Distells’ Sonja Morkel (Social Investment Controller) said: “It has been great to participate in a day where so many stakeholders; companies, government representatives, students and NGO’s have come together for the greater good in the area in which we do business.”

“It was great for our staff to be involved in the Tree-a-thon yet again this year. We believe that it is a good initiative and it is amazing to be able to give back to our communities,” said Cheryl Farao (Community Project Manager) of Remgro.

“The compost we are using today was in fact recycled from green waste, from the city of Cape Town and Stellenbosch, and we are all using it to plant a greener future!” said Jana Cilliers (Marketing Coordinator at Reliance)

Greenpop, Ecomaties and UNASA (Stellenbosch) refer to themselves as “young people having fun planting trees!”

Matthew Koehorst of Greenpop said: “Greenpop is about reconnecting people with people and people with their Earth. We plant trees and have fun while we do it!”

Alida Visser (UNASA) “The United Nations Association of South Africa (UNASA) – Stellenbosch Chapter is a student society that focuses on the practical application of the UN’s objectives and the sustainable development goals in our local community,” commented Alida Visser of UNASA. “UNASA Stellenbosch participated in the 2014 Tree-a-thon and we are excited to be supporting this initiative again in 2015!”

“It is important to remember that this all started with the million trees vision of the Executive Mayor Conrad Sidego,” said Duys. “He has also been a consistent contributor to the cause, not afraid to get his hands dirty and enthusiastic about helping Wildlands build a sustainable model for these areas.”

“This is a repeat performance of last year’s 1000 tree planting exercise in Klapmuts, Let us set a 50,000 goal for the next tree-a-thon,” said the passionate Executive Mayor Conrad Sidego. “This can be the next, achievable, step in reaching our one million tree goal. We can gain momentum by tackling this task in increments like this. With an army like we have to here today, 50,000 trees is possible! This movement must move from GREAT to REMARKABLE as a result of its cumulative impact. This Million Tree movement must impact the community members in Stellenbosch. Our people do not deserve to live in an undignified manner. Thank you to Wildlands and all the corporates who have gathered here today to play their part as a corporate citizen. Let us plant 1000 green statues of hope today.”

“None of this would have been possible without the support of local corporates, the Stellenbosch Municipality and our hard working staff. Thank you for your time, passion and tree planting skills,” concluded Louise Duys of Wildlands.

Dubbed the world’s most beautiful marathon, the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon (OMTOM) attracts local and international athletes, offering a tough challenge against a backdrop of spectacular scenery. Everyone taking part in the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon relishes the opportunity to challenge themselves and each other, but the race is more than a great test of mental and physical endurance. It also gives participants and their supporters a chance to make a difference.

Mokaedi Dilotsotlhe, Chief Marketing Officer at Old Mutual, says: “The Run For More Than Yourself campaign enables generous and community-spirited South Africans to join Old Mutual in raising funds for causes close to all our hearts. It starts with caring enough about other people’s struggles to do something and it involves us acting together for positive change.”

Wildlands, a leading environmental NPO, were the official beneficiary of OMTOM 2015 and partnered with Old Mutual in their activations at the exhibition and on race day.

The OMTOM exhibition was held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) from 1 to 3 April. Old Mutual, together with Wildlands, created an impressive, attention-grabbing stand in the exhibition hall with a large, nearly life-size rhino sculpture. In exchange for a small donation, expo visitors could colour in a spot on the rhino. This was a huge hit with all the children and by the time the expo came to an end, the design on its hide (of Table Mountain and the Two Oceans route) was full of lively colour.

A 44-year-old fisherman and father of three from Lamberts Bay in the Western Cape, Marius Brown, offered to run for Wildlands in the very heavy head of a rhino suit. Dubbed “Rhino Kop” on social media, he ran the gruelling 56km with a heavily laden head – creating a buzz and raising awareness around the rhino poaching crisis.

This was not the first Marius has run for more than himself. Last year he ran from Cape Town to Durban to raise awareness around the destructive impact of absent fathers on families and communities.

For the first time in 14 years, the women’s race was won by an ecstatic 32-year-old South African woman, Caroline Wöstmann, in a time of 03:41. The men’s race was won by a Lesotho national, Motlokoa Nkhabutlane, in a time of 03:10.

“It was an amazing experience to be part of such a prestigious and well organised event,” said Wildlands Strategic Marketing Manager Lauren van Nijkerk. “We would like to thank Old Mutual for their sponsorship and commitment to our organisation. Together we can make a huge difference and contribute to a greater future for all!”

Visit www.morethanyourself.co.za for more information. Run For More Than Yourself supporters can continue to raise funds through Old Mutual’s other upcoming endurance sponsorships: the Comrades Marathon, the Soweto Marathon, the joBerg2c mountain bike challenge and the Wild Series.

The Wildlands Conservation Trust have built a solid reputation through their “Trees for Life” and “Waste for Life” projects, which see community members (referred to as Tree-preneurs and Waste-preneurs) across the country collect recyclable waste and grow indigenous trees which they then barter with Wildlands for livelihood goods. Some of the popular barter items include Jojo tanks, grocery hampers, bicycles and education support.

Wildlands are excited to add another project to their list of life changing initiatives – “Clothes for Life.” This project is proudly supported by Makro and Timefreight and involves Clothes-preneurs. Tree-preneurs and Waste-preneurs, often based in poverty stricken communities, will now be able barter their trees and waste for bundles of good quality, second hand clothing, collected by schools all over Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

Westville Senior Primary School (WSPS) started collecting clothes at the beginning of March. “It is Westville Senior Primary School’s policy to support communities less fortunate than us and to help deserving charities,” said Sharon Dickens WSPS PRO. “We believe it is important to teach our learners to help and serve at all times.” WSPS handed over an impressive 100 bags of clothing to Wildlands on 27 March2015 to distribute to Clothes-preneurs.

The entrepreneurial reference used to describe a Clothes-preneur is due to the fact that they can use the clothing to create an informal store, and essentially use profit generated from the sale of this clothing to buy more stock, as well as generate an income for themselves.

“We are appealing to schools, companies and the general public to run their own clothing collections,” said Bronwen Bainbridge, Wildlands Partnerships Manager. “Much like Wildlands’ existing glass and paper recycling efforts with schools, any organization collecting clothes for us will benefit from this project as well! Makro are sponsoring vouchers in return for your donation. There are also loads of prizes to be won – and these are all rewards you will receive for helping local communities and contributing to environmental sustainability!”

Timefreight is contributing to the logistical costs of the project which will help Wildlands transport clothing to the individuals who need it most.

“Wildlands Green-preneurs Pty Ltd would like to thank its sponsors, Makro and Timefreight, as without them initiatives such as these would never be possible,” concluded Bainbridge.

For more information visit www.localhost/import-data-post or email BronwenB@localhost/import-data-post

The Old Mutual Sunday Tribune Three Cranes Challenge, part of the Old Mutual Wild Series, held this past weekend – the 27th of February until the 1st of March, is a 3 day challenge of more than 100km which raises funds for conservation efforts in and around the Karkloof Nature Reserve.

This year’s event proved to be full of surprises, the first of which was announcing that the route on Day 1 would include a 45 minute zip-line courtesy of Karkloof Canopy Tours above the second largest indigenous forest in the country. Kai Schulz, Managing Director of Karkloof Canopy Tours, briefed the runners on safety precautions and what to expect. “The youngest person to ever do one of our zip lines was three years old and the eldest 90,” said Schultz. “If they could do it – so can you!”

Co-title sponsor for the event, Sunday Tribune, also challenged Schulz saying that should he get an individual over 90 years of age to partake in a Canopy Tour, they will feature them on the front page of their next issue. “Challenge accepted,” said Schulz with a smile. All participants raved about the Canopy Tour zip line and sincerely hope it is included in the route again in 2016.

This year saw Eric Ngubane take first place in a time of 08 hours and 56 minutes, followed closely by Lucky Miya only 2 minutes behind – which made for some healthy competition. Third place was awarded to Frank Kienhöfer in a time of 10 hours and 8 minutes. Helen Squirrel – Armstrong was the first lady to cross the finish line in a time of 11 hours and 26 minutes, followed by Helen Buley and Ankia Kienhöfer.

The funds raised from this event are split between Wildlands and Karkloof Conservancy for their conservation efforts in the area. “We rely heavily on this funding to carry out our work,” said Charlie MacGillvary of the conservancy. “We focus a lot of time and energy on environmental awareness in the local farm schools in the Karkloof Valley. Partnerships are key to our work and allow us to conserve the biodiversity of the valley including all our three Crane species.”

“We are moving away from funding ad hoc small-scale conservation projects,” said Deputy Director of Conservation SPACE at Wildlands Kevin McCann. “We are investing in building a business around conservation landuse, in this case running a herd of Nguni livestock to generate sustainable income to manage the reserve.” These conservation investments are only possible with the support of the public and key donors such as Old Mutual.

“It is so exciting to be here,” said Karen Thomas, Head of Brand at Old Mutual. “Old Mutual is now the title sponsor of the Wild Series, so we have hit the year running and it is awesome to be out here. One of the core pillars of our sponsorship is endurance and it is quite amazing to see all these people out here that are so passionate. Part of our brand vision is to help people to do and achieve great things. It is about having these personal connections and relevance with our customers. It is all about building a relationship with them and engaging with them in this beautiful setting.”

Dr Andrew Venter, CEO of Wildlands, addressed the participants on Friday evening saying, “Old Mutual have come on board because they really believe in what we do and want you to experience some of the most spectacular areas of our country, while contributing to conservation efforts.”

“The conservation work we carry out here year after year in this area would not be possible without our event sponsors Old Mutual, Sunday Tribune, Powerade, ABI, Radox and Racefood,” said event co-ordinator Hilary Bruss. “Powerade and ABI kept everyone on route hydrated, while Racefood kept the energy levels up!”

Another surprise was the official unveiling of an exciting new look and feel for the Wild Series. New logos, new events and a new, easy to navigate website – check it out at www.wildseries.co.za, better yet, enter one of these unique events!

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”.

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.