No hibernation this winter

Eastern Cape (SA): It has been an active South African winter for members of the EarthCollective team involved in PRESENCE. Starting in early July, EarthCollective and partners TerraPi organised a dynamic few days of presentations and field trips for students from the United States who were visiting South Africa as part of their summer education programme. Students were introduced to invasive species clearing sites, vegetation rehabilitation programmes, innovative programmes for nature education through outdoor adventure, landscape restoration and the implications of the carbon market for activities on the ground, ecosystem services and our perceptions of the value of nature and an informative tour of the Kouga Dam kindly led by Leon. In August…

…EarthCollective’s Climate Culture initiative (under the eyes4earth programme) helped to ‘green’ the Interfaces Forum in Oudtshoorn. The first ever Interfaces Forum sought to combine the Arid Zones and Fynbos Forum to better stimulate networking and scientific interdisciplinarity. Climate Culture was present to allow participants to invest in ‘living landscapes’ for multiple benefits: carbon storage; biodiversity; and opportunities for community employment. Climate Culture also launched the concept of ‘Elemental Equity’ as an innovative (and intuitive) interface for ‘mainstreaming’ the concept of payments for ecosystem services. The 10min presentation showcased how Elemental Equity & Elemental Earnings can be leveraged as a charitable investment which could align itself alongside South Africa’s Working for Water programme. Elemental Equity offers four natural capital funds: ‘Earth’ – for investing in the conservation of biodiversity; ‘Water’ – for removing alien species to improve water security; ‘Wind’ – for planting native trees to store carbon and improve climate; and ‘Fire’ – for supporting private land owners in the responsible fire management or renewable energy options for community. This concept is currently being elaborated in a scientific article.
Later in August, Dieter Van den Broeck and Matthew Zylstra (both from EarthCollective & Wageningen University) were invited to attend a CSIR workshop on Restoring Natural Capital. They report that it was a privilege to be involved with such an inspiring, refreshing and motivated group of people. Dieter and Matthew outlined the ongoing role, activities and insights gained through their involvement with PRESENCE to date to assist the CSIR team in formulating their own objectives for the three-year multi-million rand Restoring Natural Capital programme.
Still in August, Dieter and Matthew presented ongoing PRESENCE activities and results at the annual Thicket Forum held at Thomas Baines Reserve near Grahamstown. The presentations introduced participants to the concept of the PRESENCE, the organizations collaborating and future visions for the network. In addition, preliminary results from the PRESENCE pilot project in the Baviaanskloof were discussed. The PRESENCE pilot project has primarily involved visiting students from Wageningen University (WUR) whose dedication and enthusiasm as been instrumental in allowing PRESENCE to gain a better understand of land owner and community perspectives on restoration. Their work has provided valuable insights into willingness of land owners to restore/reforest their land (and thus the ‘natural capital’), the diverse values (economic, ecological & socio-cultural) embedded in various landscape uses, the policy and institutional frameworks surrounding the emerging markets for carbon and water…and the importance of building trust and social capital in any stakeholder-driven initiative.
During September, EarthCollective attended the South African Wildlife Management Association (SAWMA) conference held near Port Alfred. In addition to some valuable networking, Dieter & Matthew gave two presentations: 1. Insights from PRESENCE in the Baviaanskloof – which whilst similar on content to the previous presentation at the Thicket Forum was adapted to the new audience and included some of the latest emerging results; and 2. The Vegetation Monitoring Programme which a number of members of EarthCollective completed earlier this year in the Great Fish River Reserve. Finally, a number of (WUR) student prepared PRESENCE posters were on display. EarthCollective would like to congratulate Emmanuelle Noirtin for winning runner-up prize for best poster on display at the SAWMA conference.
As winter wound up, EarthCollective continued in presentation mode in preparing for the possible highlight of the year: The IUCN World Conservation Congress in to be held in Barcelona, Spain between 4-11 October.