WESSA Annual Review 2022

The membership regions are as follows:

activities in Algoa Bay from arranging kids’ rocky shore education during Marine Week to coastal clean-ups and alien hacks to talks of the history of Algoa Bay, to convening a local coalition of environmental groups focused on the ocean. Western Cape: inputting into various EIA’s and national policy positions, convening sessions on catchment management, operating Knysna’s nature reserve and publishing their regular newsletter, helping facilitate resolution of local environmental conflicts We have currently engaged in re-imagining and re-thinking what WESSA membership is and does, how best we organise active citizens at a local level, and we feed into, and support programmes run from the national office by our WESSA staff. Our membership numbers have stabilised at just under 800 persons , and while our activities attract hundreds of volunteers, those don’t convert into signing up as members. The question we will seek to answer in the next year is how can we leverage that interest into driving advocacy, education, and action as we seek to stem the tide of climate change and short-term exploitation of our natural resources.

Northern Areas Region (covers Gauteng, North West, Free-State, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga Highlands): they do a lot of work on species such as aloe-rehabilitation, Queen of the North cactus control, a Magaliesberg Vulture hide, Eco-ranger snare collections, anti-firewood programmes, and Hartebeespoort Dam clean-ups Lowveld: Focused on activities such as cleaning up and rehabilitating the White River Nature Reserve, a Bat-Hawk citizen science monitoring project, and convening a symposium on sustainable use and hunting KwaZulu-Natal: Very active youth groups across the region including an Eco-Therapy youth camping trip, involvement in local (environmental) leadership programmes, annual flower walks in the Sani pass, inputting into the Durban Waste Indaba, helping clean up beaches after the recent floods, and educational rocky shore events at Treasure Beach Eastern Cape: Makanda talks and walks that include a Witpoort Formation field trip and supporting a local river-rescue initiative, various

working across a range of activities 23 WESSA