| Date : 2009-08-26 |
MEDIA RELEASE: July 2009
It’s all in a day’s work:
West Coast locals find steady employment while cleaning up the environment
Lea Filander worked in a packing shed and had a stint as a nursery school teacher but she never imagined that she would end up running her own business. Now with branches piled behind her and the sound of a chainsaw buzzing loudly in the background, she smiles broadly as her team nears the end of another satisfying days’ work.
The small business opportunity arose when Lea heard that the Verlorenvlei Working for Wetlands Project was looking for contractors to manage the clearing of invasive alien plants on farms within the planning domain of the Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Corridor where she lives. Her curiosity piqued, she collected all the information and went through the application process. After completing a skills development programme, she was awarded a contract to manage a team at the CapeNature/Working for Wetlands project at Verlorenvlei which lies 25km south of Lamberts Bay on the West Coast of South Africa.
Most of her work is on privately owned farms where a contract has been concluded with the landowner. The teams do an initial clean up and two follow up visits removing impediments which cause the build up of sedimentation and reduce water flow and clearing alien vegetation like Port Jacksons, and Rooikrantz trees. World-wide alien invasive plants are recognised as significant threats to biodiversity conservation. One of these threats is that they affect indigenous ecosystems by changing fuel properties making areas more vulnerable to unpredictable fires and that they consume more water than indigenous vegetation.
Lea gathered her crew from her home village of Eendekuil. She manages 2 chainsaw operators, 4 herbicide sprayers and 6 workers who cut down branches. She says that initially she was nervous about how successful she would be.
“Even now, after six months of doing this, we sometimes arrive at a new farm and just stand there staring at the huge job in front of us. But when the trees are all down and we’ve cleared all the blockages we can actually see the water flowing more easily! In our training we learned that wetlands are like a big sponge; when there are heavy rains, the sponge will keep the water inside but when it’s dry, the sponge releases the water slowly. The people I work with all grew up here. They have worked on the lands for years but none of us realised this before. In our training it was pictures on the wall, now we can see it with our own eyes! It gives a feeling that what we do is not just work but that it makes a difference for the future of this place where we live - that our children won’t end up living in a desert!”
And that is the stark reality explains Jenifer Gouza, Project Coordinator for The Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Corridor. Verlorenvlei is one of the most important and sensitive wetlands in the world: It is one of the largest wetlands and one of the few estuarine lakes in South Africa; it is home to hundreds of bird species including pelican and flocks of flamingo; it is a Ramsar declared wetland, meaning that it is a wetland of international importance and it is the life-giving centerpiece of the arid Sandveld potato and rooibos growing region, yet it is threatened on all sides!
Gouza says the impacts of climate change on human livelihoods and natural systems will become more apparent over the next decades: ‘This is why we have to pull out all the stops to counter the additional man-made threats: Invasive plants that guzzle water, over-abstraction of groundwater, the canalization of wetlands and farming too close to wetlands. Most importantly we need space, a natural passage, for people and animals and plants to flourish and move freely in a healthy habitat. This is what the Corridor concept is all about.”
Leah’s broad smile speaks volumes about people who are flourishing because they have steady work and hope for the future.
END
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jenifer Gouza, Project Coordinator, Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Corridor Tel: 0229313244 or email: jsgouza@gmail.com or
Johan Burger Senior Project Manager: Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Corridor
Working for Wetlands Velorenvlei Tel: 022 931 2900
Issued by:
Liesl Brink
Public Relations and Media Liaison Officer
CapeNature
Tel: 021 659 3446 Fax: 0865040659 Mobile: 072 488 6768
Email: lbrink@capenature.co.za
Photo Caption:
Lea Filander, Working for Wetlands / Cape Nature Contractor
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