Members of the KwaJobe community near Mkhuze Game Reserve are seizing the opportunity to become environmentally conscious.
Through the Greening Your Future Programme run by the NGO the Wildlands Conservation Trust, community members are planting indigenous trees on their land in exchange for goods to the value of R2 per tree they plant. They nurture the trees and receive further compensation if the tree is still in good health each quarter thereafter.
Workshops were held to add meaning to the work they are doing, to create an understanding of why the trees are being planted and of the effect indigenous trees have on their immediate environment.
Manqoba Sabela, environmental educator for the Wildlands Conservation Trust, said of the workshops: “We want to make the community aware of environmental issues in their area and the role they are playing, and discuss the steps they can take such as recycling, dealing with soil erosion, and why planting the trees is important in relation to climate change.”
The use of natural resources was discussed, as for many people in this area chopping down trees for firewood has been a way of life. Alternatives such as using trees that are already dead as sources of wood were discussed, as well as the use of solar energy in order to burn less fuel. The value of trees and forests was explained in erosion prevention and provision of wind protection. Climate change was explained and the role of trees demonstrated in absorbing carbon dioxide and providing oxygen.
Khumbulani Jobe is a facilitator and monitor with the Wildlands Conservation Trust working in this community and attended the workshop, and said he saw how many of those doing the tree planting have changed their views: “We learnt that using the same paths every day for the cattle and walking makes erosion bad, so it is good to use different paths,” he said. “The landowners say they want to plant more trees as they have learnt that trees are saving our lives by absorbing the carbon that is destroying the ozone layer.”
The Wildlands Conservation Trust runs two programmes in this community, supported by Rand Merchant Bank. Indigenous Trees for Life sees indigenous trees grown from seed to a certain height and then exchanged for goods, and Greening your Future which aims to restore natural forests with the long-term goal of creating “carbon sinks” for carbon sequestration.
The planting of indigenous trees in KwaJobe is helping to restore a 30 kilometre stretch of riverine forest along the Mkhuze river which borders the north eastern fringes of the Mkhuze Game Reserve, creating livelihoods support for a needy community as well as restoring eco-system functioning which brings back much of the naturally occurring biodiversity.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)