WESSA - 90 Years of People Caring for the Earth

into Malcolm and Edith’s house at Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve was the cherry on the top. This was the start of four fantastic years where I worked with all the WESSA regions scattered across South Africa. It was over this period that climate change and the negative effects of global warming became front page news. WESSA worked closely with the top environmental NGO’s in the country to form the Climate Action Partnership (CAP) where I represented them. I was also part of the Mondi Wetlands Programme steering committee and it was wonderful being part of this incredible initiative, the highlight being the last meeting of each year taking place in an exotic location as a means of saying thank you to the sponsors. Destinations like Rocktail Bay on the Northern KZN coast, Pafuri Camp in northern Kruger National Park and Thanda Thula in the Timbavati, being the most memorable. I was also elected chairman of the National Committee of the IUCN-East and Southern Africa and it was at these meetings that the challenges facing Africa as a continent became very evident. I travelled to the IUCNWorld Conservation Congress in Barcelona, Spain in 2008 where I represented WESSA as one of the founder members. At that stage Vali Moosa was the President of the IUCN, and we were all very proud to have a South African at the helm of such an important global organisation. During my tenure at WESSA, I also sat on various other steering committees and working groups such as the Forestry Stewardship Council National Working Group, National Elephant Research Programme of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, TRAFFIC (The Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network) of East and Southern Africa, and was a member of National Environmental Advisory Forum (NEAF) advising the then Minister of DEAT. I also worked with many of the WESSA Friends Groups most notably at the amazing wetland at Nylsvley and with CoastWatch who looked at issues on our coast line and BergWatch looking after the mountain habitats. The trips to the Wild Coast were always very special and the issues about the proposed N2 Toll Road placement and possible mining at Xolobeni were always on the WESSA radar. While stationed at WESSA, I was also the chairman of Kwazulu-Natal Region of the Game Rangers Association of Africa (GRAA) and got to know many of the game ranger stalwarts, not the least of which was Dr Ian Player who was always willing to offer support and advice. The fact that he lived close by in the Karkloof helped. I also appointed Chris Galliers in this time to develop and run an Ecological Impact Assessment (EIA) for WESSA along with

other conservation related activities. When I left WESSA to work for African Parks in Rwanda, Chris was appointed as the regional chairman of the KZN region after he had become a member at my insistence. Chris has risen through the ranks and is one of the most successful chairmen of the GRAA in its history. In 2008 WESSA endorsed my participation in the Toyota sponsored Conservation Outreach into Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana for a month as a professional member of the GRAA. The following year in 2009, WESSA was invited as the official partner to have a Toyota-sponsored Enviro Outreach into Malawi and Zimbabwe. Environmental Education materials were handed out to conservation officials after practical demonstrations. These epic adventures in both 2008 and 2009, with the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) as our partner were covered by television crews and live radio show crossings daily, for SAFM and RSG, providing WESSA with tons of media coverage and exposure. After taking part in the Conservation Outreach and Enviro Outreach visiting various African countries north of our border, I had written a song on one of these trips and Dianne Perret who was a WESSA Board member, tasked me to write a song for WESSA. The song was recorded with the original music for WESSA. I have written extensively in African Wildlife magazine over the years both with feature articles and book reviews, until WESSA decided at the end of 2009 to amalgamate with other environmental NGO’s, to form the new Environment Magazine, to which I have also contributed. WESSA is one of the oldest andmost respected environmental NGO’s in South Africa. I feel truly blessed that I was able to be involved for the length of time I was. What makes WESSA so special is the calibre of people who work there and especially the founders who had the foresight to take steps to protect the wildlife more than 90 years ago. The Wildlife part of WESSA needs to get more attention especially in light of the poaching onslaught on our rhinos, elephants and lions throughout Africa, not to mention the smaller animals like pangolin that are also in crisis. WESSA has always been a major player in the environmental NGO arena and I trust that it will continue caring for the earth for the next 90 years!

24 | 90 years of people caring for the earth

25 | 90 years of people caring for the earth