WESSA - 90 Years of People Caring for the Earth

•••Ntsubane Forest Complex Management & Sustainable Livelihoods project, Wild Coast The Ntsubane Forest Complex is a belt of indigenous forest, broadly categorised as Scarp Forest, but with Montane, Coastal Lowland and Dune Forest characteristics, covering a land mass of approximately 4 661 hectares of the Pondoland Centre of Plant Endemism between Port St Johns and Mbotyi on the Wild Coast of South Africa. Its geographical position locates it in the critical ecosystems highlighted in the Maputoland-Pondoland-Albany corridor, which is internationally recognised for its biodiversity and identified as a conservation priority. Funding from the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (CEPF) was secured by WESSA, and in April 2012 the Collaborative Approach to Ntsubane Forest Complex Management & Sustainable Livelihoods project was launched. There is increasing socio-ecological pressure on the forest resource as a result of expanding communities and their timber related needs, an increase in the prevalence of invasive alien plants, as well as understory damage and impact from livestock. Forest management challenges have further contributed to forest loss through deforestation and degradation. The Ntsubane Project aims to slow forest decline and empower forest communities for improved natural resource management. Forty-eight beneficiaries were selected for training for the eradication of invasive alien plants (IAP) and forest restoration practices at four pilot sites around the forest complex. The teams worked according to the Community Works Programme (CWP) model of eight days a month, allowing alternative livelihood practices to be pursued by beneficiaries. Further village based training addressed alternative livelihoods, land use practices and community based natural resource management (CBNRM). Formal integration of the beneficiaries into the Community Works Programme was achieved by the end of the one- year funding period and coincided with WESSA securing a follow-on CEPF grant for the expansion of the work in the forest complex. The project, Strengthening Land Use Practices, Management and Local Economic Opportunities in the Ntsubane Forest Complex (Wild Coast), involves WESSA working in collaboration with CWP, Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA), traditional leaders and the communities of fifteen forest villages, as well as 5 schools, to elevate conservation efforts of forest resources. •••Rhino Initiative Rhino poaching has reached crisis levels in South Africa and the main objective of the WESSA Rhino Initiative, established in early 2010, is to raise funds and awareness in order to help curb rhino poaching, and to contribute towards a number of important national intervention strategies to secure wild rhino populations, forever. WESSA is actively involved in implementing and supporting anti-poaching interventions at several levels. These interventions are proactive and aimed at lasting solutions that will benefit rhinos as well as other wildlife. WESSA supports all custodians of rhinos, and acknowledges the sterling work being done by conservation authorities. WESSA has done work across many of the major rhino populated provinces. A particular focus area is in Kwazulu- Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces (Kruger National Park complex) which, when combined, houses the majority

of the world’s rhinos. Every day we are learning more about the current rhino situation and thus, whilst being proactive, we need to be flexible and innovative in our selection of interventions. WESSA also needs to continue working with a number of other credible and like-minded organisations to prevent duplication and to achieve maximum conservation benefit. The aim and challenge is to keep the public involved and informed through communication and actions in line with WESSA’s mission of public participation in caring for the earth. •••The Jobs for Carbon Project, Klein Karoo Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) is an iconic plant of subtropical thicket and of the Klein Karoo. Subtropical thicket (or spekboom veld) is a global biodiversity hotspot comprising more than 8 000 species, of which at least 23% are endemic. Unfortunately, 80% of spekboom veld is moderately to severely degraded, with resultant soil erosion, reduced veld productivity, increased run off and water loss. These factors undermine ecosystem services such as erosion and flood control, water infiltration, biodiversity, nature-based tourism, carbon capture and storage. These in turn cause rising costs, lower farming returns, chronic unemployment, and a depressed rural economy. Cognisant of the above, the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve partnership developed a project called ‘Jobs for Carbon’ which is being implemented in the Vanwyksdorp area of the Kannaland municipality (Southwest of Oudtshoorn) through collaboration between WESSA, the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve (GCBR) and the Rhodes Research Restoration Group (RRRG), and in association with Assegaay Bosch Ranch. The overall goal of the project is to improve the rural economy and ecosystem health and resilience of the Klein Karoo by exploring carbon farming as a sustainable use of spekboom veld. Spekboom veld does not recover naturally, but can be very effectively restored by dry-planting of cuttings. This triggers the return of other indigenous plants and animals and the thicket slowly recovers. As veld recovers, Spekboom shrubs accumulate significant stores of carbon dioxide in underlying litter and soil, and in above-ground biomass. The benefits of restoration work include restored natural capital, improved ecosystem services, job creation, and potential new income streams. •••Working for Ecosystems Programme, KwaZulu-Natal The Working for Ecosystems (WFE) programme, facilitated by WESSA, is a poverty relief/sustainable development programme aimed at providing job opportunities to communities while improving the natural environment. This KwaZulu-Natal project, which aims to restore ecological integrity and resilience of ecosystems through control and eradication of invasive alien plants (IAPs), has been an acclaimed success. IAP populations in existing project areas have already been significantly reduced. The programme is required to maintain the existing follow-up control practices in areas previously cleared, as well as roll out to other pre-determined sites. Numerous jobs have been created and training provided. Programme workers attend a basic three-day IAP training course presented by WESSA. This training specialises in identification of IAPs, methods of eradication, as well as the importance of biodiversity and removal of IAPs.

34 | 90 years of people caring for the earth

35 | 90 years of people caring for the earth

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