Noël Isaacs is already well-known to his Living Lands colleagues. During the past two years, Noël has assisted numerous PRESENCE students in the Baviaanskloof in providing local knowledge as well as helping with Afrikaans translation when students engaged with community.  Alongside his previous job, Noël invested much time and energy in establishing the tourist hiking trail at Sewefontein with fellow community members. His drive and passion for nature in the Baviaanskloof naturally caught the attention of Living Lands and the team is excited about having the chance to learn much from Noël’s local knowledge.  “Since I came from PE (Port Elizabeth) back to the Baviaanskloof…for me…I am in a paradise now, in heaven,” explains Noël.  “For me, it is better for me to stay in the Baviaanskloof…because it is a beautiful place. There are a few things which make it special – nature and the people in the Baviaanskloof are more free, they feel safe and actually live longer than people in the cities. And that’s why I prefer to stay here.

– I love the plants,  beautiful birds and everything around here in the environment and that’s why I said to myself I must learn these things. That was also at the time when I didn’t have a job.”

Over the years, Noël has taken every opportunity join other more knowledgeable locals (such as his cousin) into the field and learn about the nature, e.g. about how to identify and track various wildlife.  “For me, I love nature, I love the Baviaanskloof…so I must follow their footsteps. I don’t want to do any funny stuff and keep all the information to myself. From what I know and have experienced, I actually feel I want to share it  with the community so we can all take care of nature and come back with beautiful ideas to make their own business.”  Noël has been interested in working with Living Lands for some time. He recalls, “The first time I was working with students that came from the PRESENCE Learning Village into the Baviaanskloof [Noël first assisted student research in 2007 as a translator], you see, I noticed to myself, “No man, this work that they are doing is very interesting because it is about nature and it is about learning about the people in the environment”. And I thought that I like what you are doing and would actually like to help you guys with what you are doing because it is about nature education and to try to  bring nature back in the ‘kloof and it’s about letting people know about nature and letting people take care of nature….And you make use of your ideas and turn it into something which is actually valuable for people. Ja, that’s why….”

Living Lands looks forward to being able to support Noël’s own motivation for learning and to assist in realising his ambitions for nature and tourism in the Baviaanskloof. Noël’s initial role with Living Lands will be as manager of the PRESENCE Learning Village with complementary activities in restoration monitoring in the Baviaanskloof and eyes4earth youth education.

Like most of his Living Lands colleagues, Bart van Eck has his educational roots in Wageningen University where he studied aquatic ecology and water quality management. Bart brings a wealth of new experience to the team with a strong background in water sanitation, environmental technology and sustainability innovation. Bart also spent one year in Portugal looking at the effects of non-native crayfish on local rice fields. Since graduating in 2004, Bart has worked for the Delfland Water Board in facilitating multi-stakeholder cooperation and ‘people processes’ for building consensus and a shared vision.  Bart’s motivation for uprooting his Dutch life and coming to South Africa is driven by his desire to work in an international environment. But it is more than that:  “I have always been frustrated at seeing how millions of euros are invested in (e.g. sanitation in) The Netherlands leading to only an improvement of 1-2% but if the same funds were invested in Africa you could give an entire community or even country a complete working system,” says Bart. “So I feel my knowledge could be better used here.”  Bart believes that providing a community with better health services can be a catalyst for other things. “You can then create a change of mindset which will also profit the environment.”  Bart’s primary role with Living Lands is to act as research coordinator for the PRESENCE Learning Network.

Last but not least, Silvia Weel – one of Living Lands’ and EarthCollective’s founding members – has returned after taking six months out to pursue a job opportunity in Brazil.  This time away was a valuable learning experience for Silvia and, amongst other activities, she had an opportunity to understand the dynamics of deforestation in the Amazon Forest first-hand as well as getting the chance to present the case for REDD (avoided deforestation) at  the Copenhagen Climate Summit last  December. Whilst Silvia’s former role with Living Lands was as geo-spatial analyst (with a focus on remote sensing), Silvia’s focus will now be oriented more toward wildlife management and conservation in close cooperation with local partners. “My time away was valuable and I learnt many new things including that the working environment here with Living Lands is special and something I am very grateful to again be a part of.”

With such diverse backgrounds, Living Lands is excited about having Noël, Bart and Silvia’s motivation and experience to strengthen our collaborative efforts.

Living Lands is a registered South African not-for-profit foundation and is secretariat to the PRESENCE restoration learning network.  Living Lands is the ‘institutional home’ for EarthCollective activities and positive ideas in South Africa.  Both PRESENCE and Living Lands are initiatives of the EarthCollective network.

Nowadays, when Living Lands employees, interns and students finish an office day at the Learning Village and go ‘for a run up to the dam’, the sight looks increasingly grim. Kouga Dam is sitting at 38% capacity (see picture) and falling.  The looming water disaster is a sober reminder that there has never been a more urgent time to take landscape restoration seriously.  It is time to turn restoration research into action on-ground. Living Lands is making every effort with PRESENCE network partners to accelerate this process in the Baviaanskloof as well as in adjacent catchments (Kouga & Gamtoos). But naturally,  true social-ecological restoration is more than just planting trees and re-creating wetland areas.  It requires changes in mindsets and behaviour. It is a whole process of renewing our ethic towards the land. It means re-thinking the way we have always done things and aligning our thoughts and actions toward more sustainable futures.  This is much more than a few organisations can do on their own. Collective efforts  - from resident to farmer to researcher to government –  are needed to effectively improve long-term water security and ecosystem health.

Some of those collective efforts were witnessed last weekend when 3000 people  descended upon the Kouga Dam in an event not seen in recent years.  Farm labourers, farmers and  residents from near and far (including Patensie, Hankey, Loerie, Jeffrey’s Bay and Port Elizabeth )  joined in solidarity to pray for rain.  With 500 people originally expected, the high turnout  in heatwave temperatures (a high of 44.5 degrees was recorded this week in Patensie), was a remarkable sign of the shared concerns and exasperation facing the region.  The gathering was guided by local pastors form the Dutch Reformed (NG) Christian Church, one who remarked, “Now we can only wait on the Lord to see if He will send us some rain.”  (Source: adapted/translated from ‘Kouga Express, 11^th February 2010: pg 4)

Meanwhile, in the city of Port Elizabeth, residents are demanding that other sources of water (in addition to their current three sourcing dams) be found. It is alleged that nearby Gariep Dam is overflowing at full capacity and water should be piped in from there. There are also calls for abundant fresh water supplies from artesian wells to be extracted and utilised. However, the possible ecological implications from such a move may be significant.  Even on economical grounds alone, some believe that such a move makes little sense. “Why spend R10-million on geologists and drilling for water when you can spend R1-million on advertising and campaigns to encourage people to use less water?” asks Barry Martin, director of water and sanitation at Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. (Source: adapted from ‘The Herald, 27^th January 2010: pg 2)

In January, rain did reach upper reaches of the Baviaanskloof valley.  A tiny area experienced another flash flood during a deluge delivering  over 30mm of rain in under 30 minutes. Access roads were washed away and the river flowed fiercely for a day and night before returning to its dried up state. These more extreme and unpredictable weather events seem to be more frequent in recent years. And restoration researchers and implementers must engage with the question of if and how actions such as rehabilitation of wetlands and  reforestation of slopes may help in mitigating  – or ‘softening the blow’ – of damage caused by such extreme weather events.  Restored areas may also aid in holding the water in the area longer.

Whatever the above scenario or actions to be taken, we need to urgently look at how to we can ‘institutionalise’ an equitable incentive scheme which can reward those adopting sustainable practices in catchment management.  Living Lands – through the PRESENCE network-  is actively investigating viable options for implementing an incentive scheme to encourage the wise use of land, water and wetlands across the Baviaanskloof Mega-Reserve.  So whether it is Praying or Paying for Ecosystem Services, the time is now – more than ever – for everyone to offer their “helping hands for healing lands” and secure the region’s future.

Living Lands offers the ‘Elemental Equity’ Natural Capital Fund for interested investors in landscape restoration. Elemental Equity provides investment options in Air (Carbon reforestation); Water (Invasive species tree removal); Earth (Wetland rehabilitation / erosion control) and Fire (Fire management and renewable energy options).  For more information contact marijn@earthcollective.net

But Odi is no stranger to the Baviaanskloof area.  Last year, he joined the Living Lands team for eight spent weeks during his student MSc internship with the Dutch Agricultural Economics Institute (WUR-LEI). In joining Living Lands, we asked Odi to tell us a bit more about his background and motivations for joining the team:

Odi: “During my Bachelors degree at the University of Limpopo (in northern South Africa), one of my main motivations for wanting to finish my degree as soon as I could was to get a job and start weathering into city life and all that comes with it. This idea stayed in my head until I was about a month shy of completing my degree. Things changed. And after a rather ‘not-so-easy’ battle, I won a scholarship to study in Wageningen University (The Netherlands), which brought about a whole new dynamic to my future plans. Towards the end of my studies, I started looking for something inspiring, and different.”

“While doing an internship with LEI, an Agricultural economics institute in The Netherlands, looking at water productivity in the Inkomati basin in northern South Africa, plans changed and I ‘accidentally’ ended up at the Kouga Dam with Living Lands – still looking at water productivity  but this time in the Kouga catchment. At the time, I was only here for eight weeks doing my internship, and I had no idea that I would be coming back to actually work with the organization, although I thought it was very inspiring and full of energy here. From that moment on, I thought it would actually be great to come back. I enclosed the word ‘accidentally’ in the inverted commas because the accident turned out to be one of the greatest opportunities, not only to work in a great environment, but also to work and meet with great people. And here I am – the excitement grows by day!”

Living Lands shares Odi’s excitement and looks forward to his having his dedicated work ethic, sharp intellect and warm easy-going personality to strengthen the team.

Living Lands is a registered South African not-for-profit foundation and is secretariat to the PRESENCE restoration learning network.  Living Lands is the ‘institutional home’ for EarthCollective activities and positive ideas in South Africa.  Both PRESENCE and Living Lands are initiatives of the EarthCollective network.

“Enabling this kind of activity has been a rich mutual learning experience” reflects Matthew Zylstra. “It’s rewarding to have been able to facilitate this kind of cross-cultural collaboration and witness the ways in which those involved have grown personally and professionally. And naturally we remain very grateful for all these collective contributions made to further our aim of getting positive ideas happening.”

Some new observations which emerged from the trip:

1. Some parts of the valley in the Baviaanskloof have evidence of what used to be wetlands. A widely taken position is that the disappearance of those wetlands was primarily a result of poor land management. However, a revelation to the contrary emerged that the process of wetlands drying up and reforming may well have been going on long before humans inhabited this area.

2. Prof. Ellery put forth an unconfirmed hypothesis that donga erosion (gullies) does not primarily form as a direct consequence of lack of vegetation – which is often traced back to overgrazing – but that these commonly assumed causes are actually a catalyst that speeds a process which would have happen eventually over time anyway.

To an outsider, to was highly interesting to observe the various methodologies used in collecting such an array of information!

Text: Odi Selomane

This move is part of the broader catchment restoration strategy being coordinated by Living Lands as part of the Dutch Government’s Water for Food & Ecosystems Programme and the South African Government’s Working for Water and Subtropical Thicket Restoration Programmes.

Piet Kruger, one of two farmers who have agreed to the planting on their property says, “I feel very privileged that these spekkies [spekboom, Portulacaria afra] are being planted on my land”. The other 14 hectares slated for restoration will be on the farm owned by Willie van Rensburg who recalls, “All of this land used to be covered with spekboom so if it was up to me I’d restore the whole farm.”  Both Piet and Willie agree that these actions are important contributions to the long-term process of total catchment restoration in the Baviaanskloof.

The spekboom planting will be carried out by Working for Woodlands teams as part of the South African Government’s poverty relief initiatives. Four teams with 48 persons in total will be employed this January which is a positive start to their and their families’ year. Living Lands’ close partner Gamtoos Irrigation Board is responsible for coordinating and managing the teams.

Current conservative estimates indicate that at least 6000 tonnes CO2 will be sequestered through this particular phase of  planting. Some calculations indicate it could be as high as 12 000 tonnes CO2 equivalent. However, consideration must be given to risks of tree mortality through drought, wildlife predation, soil type or other factors.

Living Lands, Eastern Cape Parks and the farmers have made this cooperation official by signing an agreement which will ensure that the land receives its necessary rest from stock grazing for at least ten years.

More information, please contact –
Marijn Zwinkels
Programme Coordinator
Water for Food & Ecosystems in the Baviaanskloof
E: marijn@earthcollective.net

]]> http://www.earthcollective.net/new-year-new-trees-new-jobs/feed/ 0 http://www.earthcollective.net/809/ http://www.earthcollective.net/809/#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:13:12 +0000 EarthCollective http://earthcollective.net/?p=809 Benelux (EU): Our collaborative quest for landscape restoration in the Baviaanskloof has recently recevied national exposure in the Dutch and Belgian media. The prime-time news, radio and press items highlighted PRESENCE activities as inspirational examples in the lead-up to the 2009 United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen.]]> Benelux (EU): Our collaborative quest for landscape restoration in the Baviaanskloof has recently received national  exposure in the Dutch and Belgian media.  The prime-time news, radio and press items highlighted PRESENCE activities as inspirational examples in the lead-up to the 2009 United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen.

The various news items  focused on the potential for spekboom reforestation to capture CO2 and assist in retaining water in what has become an extremely dry and drought-affected area in recent years.  English translations of the various media release headlines include: ‘Spekboom saves dry South Africa‘   and  ‘An example for Copenhagen‘ . The latter refers to PRESENCE’s spekboom restoration as being an ideal CO2 sequestration project for Copenhagen inspired investment.

Living Lands and the PRESENCE network has received a lot of positive feedback since the releases and is looking forward to carrying the momentum into 2010.  More spekboom planting and wetland restoration is being planned with local PRESENCE partners including Working for Water/Woodlands;  Eastern Cape Parks;   Gamtoos Irrigation Board; and Rhodes University. PRESENCE in the Baviaanskloof is co-funded through the Dutch Government’s Water for Food & Ecosystems Programme and Wageningen University.

Please follow the links below to NOS, VRT,  Trouw & YouTube websites to view the documentary and read the full news articles:

NOS JOURNAAL: “Spekbomen planten in Zuid-Afrika” (in Dutch)

VRT News (DEREDACTIE.BE): “Een voorbeeld voor Kopenhagen” (in Flemish)

TROUW: “Spekbomen redden droog Zuid-Afrika” (in Dutch)

YOUTUBE: “A Humble Tree for Climate Change (Jeffrey Barbee’s Blog) (in English)

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