ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE & SUSTAINABILITY

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1 ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE & SUSTAINABILITY

2 We help achieve water neutrality targets through removal and rehabilitation projects We support carbon neutrality initiatives and reduce carbon emission impacts through rehabilitation projects We promote NEMBA compliance with the Invasive Alien Species Regulations of 2014 We help corporates achieve their Corporate Social Investment targets Our work leads to poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihoods through job creation OUR RESULTS We contribute positively to the green economy through skills development and training, and the creation and support of SMMEs WHY PARTNER WITH WESSA? Our work leads to improved biodiversity We contribute to improved water quality and quantity We improve landscapes for ecotourism Our work helps with climate change mitigation and adaptation More than 400 jobs created annually More than 2,400 hectares of land cleared annually 300 hectares of land rehabilitated annually

3 RESTORING ECOSYSTEMS FOR TOMORROW WESSA has become a go-to implementer of ecological infrastructure projects which address the most critical environmental challenges South Africa is facing: At least R6.5 billion worth of ecosystem services and habitat are lost every year as a result of invasive plant species Currently only 18% of high water yields areas (our water factories ) have any form of formal protection 48% of wetland ecosystem types are critically endangered (NBA, 2011) We identify areas throughout South Africa where the environment has been severely affected by invasive plants and other forms of degradation, then plan and implement effective alien clearing and ecological restoration projects. These initiatives lead to improved biodiversity and water security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and long term sustainable natural resource management solutions. Our work contributes to practical skills development, local job creation and sustainable livelihoods.

4 OUR APPROACH We partner with all spheres of Government, with a strong focus on local municipalities, to support their mandates and help them improve service delivery. We work with state owned companies, corporates, large-scale private landowners and conservancies, and other environmental organisations. Industry consumes high volumes of water and we are able to offer corporates a positive solution. We partner with them to help them reduce their environmental footprint and become water and carbon neutral by implementing projects in local communities on their behalf. These initiatives create measureable benefits for the environment as well as for our partners and the local community. We also help organisations become compliant with NEMBA (the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity - Act 10 of 2004) by helping them identify and declare invasive species, and work with them to implement their invasive alien plant management plans for the control of these species on their property. We remove invasive alien plants which rehabilitates the ecological infrastructure, allowing it to perform its functions better as a result of improved biodiversity and water quantity and quality. We also focus on the rehabilitation of broader landscapes including wetlands, natural forest, grasslands and other forms of ecological degradation. REHABILITATE REMOVE RESTORE Through this combined approach the landscape is restored to a higher status of functionality so it can provide people and the environment with goods and services, and support the built infrastructure for better service delivery. This work provides employment opportunities, and creates an environment that is conducive for the growth of the green economy. RESTORE

5 OUR RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS WORKING FOR ECOSYSTEMS PROGRAMME Implemented on behalf of the ethekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, the Working for Ecosystems Programme is a poverty relief and sustainable development programme aimed at providing job opportunities to communities, while improving the natural environment through the control and eradication of invasive alien plants species. By year two of this highly acclaimed 3-year programme, invasive alien plant control was achieved in 14 separate areas within the municipality, with more than 2206ha and a total of 54 IAP species controlled. To date, 14 SMME s were developed and more than 390 job opportunities were created for women and youth. SAPPI/WESSA ABANAKEKELI PROJECT The Sappi/WESSA Abanakekeli project aims to ensure that NEMBA compliance is met by clearing invasive alien plant species. This project provides employment in invasive alien plant control for the local community around the three Sappi mill sites within KwaZulu-Natal. To date the project has achieved NEMBA compliance through invasive alien plant control in a combined area of 100Ha and has created more than 50 jobs within the project area. JOBS FOR CARBON PROJECT Funded by the European Commission and the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), the Jobs for Carbon project has addressed the restoration of more than 300ha of degraded thicket as a means to revive the rural economy, by developing carbon farming as a sustainable use of natural Spekboomveld in one of the most vulnerable and marginalised areas in the Western Cape s Little Karoo. The benefits of the restoration work include restored natural capital, improved ecosystem services, job creation, and potential new income streams. HEALTHY RIVERS FOR CAPE TOWN WESSA has worked with the City of Cape Town and with funding from The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, to clear and rehabilitate a section of the Diep River. The Healthy Rivers for Cape Town project has achieved the removal of aquatic alien invasive plants and visible rubbish which negatively impacted the flow of water and severely compromised the general ecological health of the riverine systems. The project has created employment opportunities for 15 previously unemployed members of the local community who worked to clean an 18km reach of the river.

6 CONTACT US CAPACITY FOR CATCHMENTS PROJECT Through the Capacity for Catchments umngeni Ecological Infrastructure project, in partnership with WWF and funded by Maas Maasen, we are working in the umngeni and Upper umvoti catchments in KwaZulu-Natal to secure the ecological infrastructure in the area. This is being achieved through building the capacity of the key role players - including traditional leaders, municipal officials and members of other key organisations - to become responsible custodians of the umngeni freshwater ecological infrastructure. to discuss a potential strategic partnership that will create measurable environmental, social and economic benefits in support of South Africa s development path. WESSA ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE & SUSTAINABILITY ecosystems@wessa.co.za Tel FOLLOW US