Closed Projects

Changing Lives Through Nature

Nature Connect

1 January 2021 – 28 February 2024

This project forms part of Nature Connect’s Changing Lives Through Nature campaign which provides a variety of valuable platforms for school learners and youth to develop not only environmental knowledge, skills and pro-environmental behaviours but also confidence, self-esteem and a range of leadership skills. To ensure the reduction of environmental issues and threats to the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), children and youth need to consistently engage in pro-environmental behaviours, through various immersive experiences. Through these experiences, a social-identity and a self-identity is fostered, giving rise to a sense of pride. The unique power of Nature Connect’s efforts to effect change stems from their multiple engagements with their beneficiaries, a real investment as opposed to once-off lessons or presentations. TMF is only funding a portion of this project.

Youth citizen science on the rocks: the LIMPET marine monitoring programme

Centre for Conservation Education

1 February 2021 – 31 March 2024

The aim of the LIMPET (Long-term Monitoring through Participation, Evaluation and Training) programme is to build appreciation for nature, ecological understanding and conservation values, while at the same time, generating valuable data to assess ecological changes on the coast. LIMPET develops teaching resources, holds teacher training workshops, and facilitates school outings on the rocky shore, during which Grade 10 learners are involved in “real” scientific monitoring surveys that are designed by marine scientists. This includes ecological surveys (of species, populations and biotic communities), as well as litter collection and classification surveys, which contribute data to various national databases. To deepen the experience and impact, LIMPET educators visit schools before and after each outing to give introductory lectures and involve learners in data visualisation and interpretation.

Breede Estuary Landscape Support: enabling self-sustaining, effective management

Conservation Outcomes and Birdlife South Africa

This Breede Estuary Landscape support project aims to generate a ripple effect, where the existing protected areas have an opportunity to synchronize their management and vision for the broader landscape. This will in turn provide a strong foundation to include and work with other landowners in the area towards Biodiversity Stewardship. The last ripple is through the Breede River Estuary Forum by ensuring adequate representation of landowners with input from BirdLife South Africa and Conservation Outcomes. The goal of this project is to enable self-sustaining, effective management into the future through collaboration and a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by the area. There will be a series of collaborative workshops, enabling capacity building and network strengthening of management authorities. It will be essential that there is continuous work investigating landowner willingness to expand the Protected Area Network, as well as to expose landowners to the different categories of Biodiversity Stewardship. This project will also look to gain an understanding of the organisations involved in the Lower Breede River and to investigate opportunities and challenges being faced to ensure synergy and collaboration with other stakeholders. This is to better inform decision-making and open communication channels.

Making threatened habitats personal: the world’s first Cape lowland botanical garden displays

Stellenbosch University  

1 October 2020 – 1 October 2023

The aim of the project is to create at least two new threatened Cape Floristic Region (CFR) habitat display beds that replicate the appearance and composition of Endangered or Critically Endangered Cape ecosystems in Stellenbosch’s popular public and teaching botanical garden. These beds will be accompanied by aesthetically pleasing interpretation labels and boards. A key concept is the use of habitat substrate geology in the surrounding retaining wall construction, providing holistic and deeper understanding of our landscapes, and bringing our “mini rainforests” to eye level. Engaging displays that relate meaningfully to an otherwise abstract landscape are a critical foundational resource to make the diversity of unique plants and substrates tangible and personal for future decision makers, the general public, local and regional students, and even environmental professionals.

This project provides opportunities for targeted education of both recreational tourists and academia alike. This includes the future generation of agricultural land-owners likely to have a significant impact over fynbos in the future.

Girls and Conservation: Daring Disas

Brave Rock Girl and Cape Leopard Trust

1 September 2020 – 31 October 2023

This project is a joint initiative between BRAVE and Cape Leopard Trust and aims to empower a group of informed, resilient South African girls, ages 14-17 years, to become champions for their own rights and the natural environment of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, within which they live. Through weekly workshops and visits to Edith Stephens Nature Reserve, this project will assist vulnerable girls in gaining the skills and confidence required to become decision makers and to speak up to protect the environment and themselves, urging their families and communities to join them.

Pollinating Pride in People

Ingcungcu Sunbird Restoration

1 November 2020 – 31 December 2023

Pollinating Pride in People is a collaborative project between Ingcungcu Sunbird Restoration and Amava Oluntu. Collectively, these programmes aim to promote fynbos conservation through hands-on experience, skills development, entrepreneurial opportunities for youth and community engagement. Pollinating Pride in People has two components, namely the:

• Pollinator Garden Programme led by Ingcungcu. The Pollinator Garden Programme will facilitate the establishment of two nectar-rich fynbos community gardens in Vrygrond and Muizenberg with the aim of reconnecting these communities to nature while providing “filling stations” for birds and thereby contributing to the sunbird corridor. The intention is to provide training and mentorship to a small group of interested and committed community members who will become multipliers and volunteers for the project within their respective communities; and the
• Young Entrepreneurship Programme led by Amava Oluntu. The Young Entrepreneurship Programme will offer entrepreneurial training for youth/young adults focusing on communication, design and print- making skills to promote fynbos conservation and encourage the development of micro-businesses.

Green Communities Initiative

Lwandle Hiking Club

1 September 2020 – 31 October 2023

The Lwandle Hiking Club aims to promote conservation in previously disadvantaged communities by connecting disadvantaged youth with nature. The organisation has a strong focus on environmental awareness and in educating the youth about South Africa’s biodiversity, their immediate surrounding environment and their responsibility towards protecting it as a means to ultimately improving their social wellbeing. This project specifically aims to provide environmental education programmes for the youth, school learners and young women in three disadvantaged communities of Strand, where there are high levels of unemployment and a lack of skills development; namely, Lwandle, Zola and Nomzamo. The intention is to instil a sense of pride for the surrounding fynbos areas through class lessons, environmental initiatives and environmental day trips and excursions with the hope that this is transferable to the learner’s homes and surrounding environment.

Bag the Change 

Project executant: Sandveld Republic (PTY) LTD 

1 February 2022 – 31 March 2023 (early closure of project)

This project aims to produce and sell water sports bags and accessories that incorporate a significant proportion of single-use plastics. The post-consumer waste required to produce the bags will be collected through a fynbos-specific environmental education programme that targets the youth via schools. An appropriate and replicable incentive programme will be developed in collaboration with environmental specialists and educators to encourage broad and sustainable participation.  

Assessing climate change adaptation corridors for Table Mountain National Park: Integrating fine-scale taxon-based vulnerability assessment with Protected Area Planning

Executant: Wilderness Foundation Trust
1 February 2019 – 28 February 2023

Protected area managers have to respond to a range of pressures and threats. One of the most challenging is appropriately responding to climate change. This project seeks to apply the IUCN’s trait-based approach for assessing species’ climate change vulnerability at a scale meaningful to the protected area. This involves systematically considering species’ exposure to climate change and the biological traits or characteristics in Table Mountain National Park (TMNP).The aim will be to produce a species-level climate change vulnerability layer that can be used to inform TMNP planning and steer high intensity activities away from sensitive areas. This will also enable evaluation of appropriate management actions at species level, site-scale and landscape-scale. IUCN methods will be adapted and tested at fine scales, and available global species distributions will be validated locally.

Re-valuing the contribution of private nature reserves to the Western Cape Protected Area Network

Conservation Outcomes
1 January 2019 – 31 August 2022

The Western Cape is home to biodiversity assets of international importance, much of which is located in private ownership. As a result, many landowners have in the past secured their properties as “private nature reserves”, prior to the promulgation of the Protected Areas Act in 2003. Unfortunately, many of these private nature reserves do not have the necessary legal requirements in place as now required by the Act, placing their biodiversity security at risk. This TMF funded project is allowing Conservation Outcomes and CapeNature to target those properties declared prior to the Act, to assessment and in effect regularise these private nature reserves to ensure compliance with the Act, a key component of the Western Cape Protected Area Expansion Strategy (WCPAES).

Ensuring the Survival of Iconic Species on Table Mountain 

Executant: Endangered Wildlife Trust
1 November 2018 – 30 April 2022

The Critically Endangered Table Mountain Ghost Frog (Heleophryne rosei) is restricted to only a few streams on the eastern and southern slopes of Table Mountain. The primary threats facing the species are reductions in steam volume, increased unreliability of water flows, erosion and siltation, loss of fynbos habitat as a result of alien vegetation and water abstraction. Through this project, the EWT will partner with all relevant local stakeholders to directly address these threats through improved habitat management to bring about a recovery of the Table Mountain Ghost Frog – a flagship for Table Mountain conservation interventions, which will benefit many other endemic species. 

Klein Dassenberg: Securing critical conservation benefits

Executant: Wilderness Foundation Trust
1 October 2018 – 31 May 2022

The Klein Dassenberg Small Holdings Area (KDSHA) spans roughly 7 000 ha of farmland south-east of Atlantis between the N7 highway and the old Mamre road. This stretch of lowlands encompasses the southern portions of the Dassenberg Coastal Catchment Partnership (DCCP), one of the province’s key climate change adaptation corridors for biodiversity conservation. Significant effort has gone into establishing connectivity corridors through the area with at least 15 private conservation sites registered to date conserving nine Critically Endangered species on the very brink of extinction. The challenge lies in restoring the degraded Fynbos systems within these connectivity corridors to an ecologically functional state. The first step in this process is invasive alien clearing and fencing off remnants from grazing animals to allow for the unhindered passive recovery of the indigenous vegetation communities, but also active restoration efforts. Fencing and alien invasive species clearing however is a technical, time-consuming and costly activity that land owners struggle with. The availability of dependable, external funding for the initial and first follow-up clearing of these alien, woody Acacia’s is crucial to the success of this initiative. The provincial Department Agriculture: LandCare programme has consistently part-funded a roaming alien clearing team that have to date cleared over 100 ha with an additional 50 ha planned up until 2020. To achieve this target a few funding gaps in the project needs to be addressed. Items such as replacement tools, protective clothing and daily chainsaw consumables have become a constant struggle as the project scope widens to incorporate more properties. The Table Mountain Fund has consistently been able to plug the gaps on an ad hoc basis in the past, but as of 2018, have committed to a 3-year partnership between the City of Cape Town: Biodiversity Management Branch, Wilderness Foundation: Africa (project implementation agent), the Department Agriculture: LandCare programme and the various participating land owners to help expand the project influence.

Re-assessing the biodiversity and status of marine resource use in the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area

Shark Spotters
1 November 2018 – 31 March 2022

The Table Mountain National Park marine protected area (TMNP-MPA) was established in 2004 to protect marine biodiversity and exploited species. However, it is not known if the MPA is fulfilling its goals of safe-guarding the sustainable use of marine resources. SANParks will conduct dive surveys, use baited remote underwater video cameras (BRUVs) and drones to assess the status of biodiversity, exploited marine species and resource use, to determine the extent to which the TMNP-MPA meets its objectives. This information is essential for enabling adaptive management, improving planning, justifying additional or different resource allocations and promoting accountability with regard to management effort and outcomes. Only by assessing how well the MPA is doing can it be managed effectively and contribute to the overarching goals of biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of marine resources and an improved quality of life for coastal communities.

GASPP: Grootvadersbosch Aquatic Species Protection Project

Grootvadersbosch Conservancy Trust

1 November 2018 – 30 June 2022

The Grootvadersbosch Aquatic Species Protection Project (GASPP) will work with partners to protect aquatic species, with particular focus on the critically endangered Tradouw redfin. The project has two key objectives: support long term monitoring of data in the Grootvadersbosch Conservancy Rivers and increase stakeholder awareness on the importance of freshwater ecosystem to sustain water for environmental, agricultural and municipal use. The project will support the implementation of important conservation actions to protect freshwater ecosystems.

Using drone technology to supplement stewardship capacity in the Little Karoo

Executant: Fourie, de Villiers and Associates
1 November 2018 – 31 October 2021

There are a large number of stewardship sites in the Little Karoo, but limited conservation personnel to provide a good extension service to them all. Biodiversity monitoring is an important part of extension but is time-consuming. This project will investigate the usefulness of a Phantom 4 Proquadcopter in filling this gap at some of the Little Karoo stewardship sites that are part of the CapeNature’s Leslie Hill Succulent Karoo Trust Stewardship Project. Monitoring of erosion, threatened plant populations, vegetation cover and invasive alien plants will be tested.

SCLI Cape Floristic Corridor Revival and Training Programme

Executant: Natural Bridge Communications
1 November 2018 – 31 October 2021

The project entails the establishment of a network of north/south conservation corridors along selected river systems – Groot Brak, Kaaimans, Touws, Knysna and Goukamma – in the Southern Cape. The selected corridors represent crucially important remaining natural land available for biodiversity connectivity and conservation in the Southern Cape. Through an interactive land management framework, the factors that inhibit corridor flow will be determined and landowners will be trained to develop Invasive Alien Plant Control Plans for their respective properties. The Invasive Alien Plant Control Plans include densities of invasive alien plants, age classes, species, person days to clear, methodology, prioritisation and tracking of clearing efforts.

Nature’s Valley Trust Small Grant Facility

October 2017 – November 2020

Nature’s Valley Trust (NVT) has a rich heritage of engaging, training and releasing small community projects in the Bitou region. A small grant facility will build on this reputation, enabling NVT to identify new entrants to the conservation sector that aim to make a tangible difference to local communities and their environments. In particular, NVT aim to support projects that reduce waste to landfill, improve home-based community food generation, development of community eco-venture enterprises, and that see improved management of local coastal and marine biodiversity.

Grootbos Foundation Small Grant Facility

October 2017 – November 2020

Through a small grant facility, the Grootbos Foundation aims to identify new entrants to the conservation community in the Overberg and to support projects for creating sustainable livelihoods, social enterprise development, conserving the natural environment, environmental education and marine and coastal conservation.  Projects supported can be in the form of a once- off intervention, or part of an on-going initiative. 

Emerging Leaders South Africa Small Grant Facility

October 2017 – November 2020

Emerging Leaders South Africa’s (ELSA) junior programme LEAD NOW is designed for children aged 8-13 years old and carries the mandate, ‘to invest and equip a generation of productive youth citizens with the mindsets and skills to lead their lives and work together towards a sustainable planet’. The ELSA small grant facility will enable the LEAD NOW school participants to use their newly learnt leadership skills to run an environmental project at their school, enabling them to put into practice many of the skills that they have just learnt. With this funding, these children can learn what it means to take on the role of a leader in creating a sustainable environment for their future and their heritage.

Cape Town Environmental Education Trust Small Grant Facility

October 2017 – March 2021

The Cape Town Environmental Education Trust (CTEET) is changing lives through nature from crèche to career. There are three main pillars making up CTEET; the Environmental Education Programme, Training and Development Initiatives, and the Nature Care Fund. The latest addition to the Nature Care Fund is a small grants facility that will focus on working with communities around the natural areas in Cape Town. This project aims to create a greater awareness, strengthen leadership roles, capacitate youth, and grow and develop new entrants into the conservation space with the long term focus on the new entrants venturing into the Green Economy.   

Dassenberg Coastal Catchment Partnership Small Grants Facility

October 2017 – November 2020

The Dassenberg Coastal Catchment Partnership (DCCP) is a landscape-level collaboration between various agencies in a priority climate change corridor. The strategic objectives for this conservation partnership incorporates collaborative efforts to promote climate change resilience and adaptation, conserving the cultural and natural heritage of the area, water security and unlocking socio-economic opportunities. This small grant facility aims to support civil society involvement in conservation by attracting new entrants linked to the Dassenberg corridor whilst aiming to catalyse local economic development and innovation in tourism and environmental protection.

Wolseley Water Users Association Small Grant Facility

October 2017 – November 2020

The Wolseley Water Users Association (WWUA) was established in 2008, in terms of the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998), as a co-operative association of individual water users in the upper Breede River of South Africa, who address issues posing a risk to the resource for the mutual benefit of all its members and the communities downstream. This small grant facility will aim to address the critical role of water as a key enabler for future economic growth and environmental sustainability, as identified in the recent upper Breede River Environmental Resources Protection Plan (BRERPP). It aims to achieve this through bottom-up economic incentives linked to alien biomass and environmental awareness initiatives focused on recognising the value of ecosystem services.

Whale Coast Conservation Small Grant Facility

October 2017 – November 2020

Becoming a TMF small grant facility has enabled Whale Coast Conservation (WCC) to use its considerable expertise, experience, partnerships and network of community contacts, to connect with and motivate people in historically disadvantaged communities in the Cape Whale Coast region to undertake projects that are related to the natural environment, and have the potential for initiating sustainable small enterprises. WCC is in a position to offer project development and mentoring, leading to capacity development in communities that are currently hampered by funding constraints from participating in environmental conservation.

The CAPE legacy project. SANBI.

April 2018 – May 2021

Cape Action for People and the Environment (C.A.P.E.) is a partnership of government and civil society – 38 organisations strong – formed around a 20 year vision for conserving and restoring the biodiversity of the Cape Floristic Region and the adjacent marine environment, while delivering significant benefits to the people of the region. With the timespan of the partnership’s founding vision nearing completion, the C.A.P.E. Legacy Project will enable a learning process for partners through a stakeholder-driven evaluation that looks back on the past in order to inform the future direction.

Pride of Place

Green Renaissance Productions 

1 October 2020 – 30 September 2021

Through engaging and authentic human narrative stories, this project aims to utilize the medium of film to showcase the deeply rooted human emotion of pride. We feel proud of something when it means something to us, when we are able to relate. The question is – how do we generate pride for a region, place or area? These stories will be told by “ordinary” people in our communities in the Cape Floristic Kingdom and will be centred around a personal human story whereby the character shares his/her connection with nature. The aim is for the films to motivate and inspire the viewer to seek out their own experiences, in their unique way, within their local environment.

Using Environmental Education to Create Change Makers

Cape Leopard Trust

1 November 2018 – 31 October 2021

In the Cederberg human-predator conflict is the biggest threat to leopard survival and a people-centric approach is required to educate and empower the communities that share their living space with leopards. This project aims to change mind-sets and behaviour through novel environmental education activities that encourage local people to understand and take ownership of their natural heritage. The focus is to engage directly with communities to build capacity for improved husbandry practices that will reduce livestock depredation by predators, which in turn will minimise the risk of retaliatory killings of leopards.

Fynbos for the Future

The Greenpop Foundation

1 November 2018 – 31 October 2021

Fynbos for the Future is a collaboration between three urban greening organisations (Greenpop, Communitree and Ingcungu) in Cape Town with the aim of expanding fynbos ecosystems and preserving the Cape’s natural heritage through urban greening and environmental education. The overarching objective of this collaboration is to develop a Fynbos Corridor Strategy that will inform and link school and community gardens in order to create urban green corridors within Cape Town. This strategy will include mapping the envisioned biodiversity corridor, planning for additional potential planting sites and creating protocols for how other greening organisations could contribute to expanding this corridor. In addition to this, the project seeks to create long-term relationships with under-greened schools/ community centres (nodes) by helping to develop modular fynbos gardens that can act as interactive outdoor classrooms where learners and community members can be equipped with skills and knowledge to become lifelong stewards of their environment.

Educator Empowerment Programme

Knysna Basin Project

1 November 2018 – 31 October 2021

We believe in the ability of great teachers to change lives and through the Educator Empowerment Programme we will provide life sciences training to high and primary school teachers in Knysna. This programme will provide them with the knowledge, confidence and resources to inspire their learners. This is a collaboration between the Knysna Basin Project, Environmental Learning and Teaching, Fundisa for Change and Rhodes University.

CTEET Learnership project (2017 – 2019)

Cape Town Environmental Education Trust

1 September 2016 – 31 July 2019

The Cape Town Environmental Education Trust, together with the City of Cape Town (CoCT) aims to provide learnership opportunities to individuals with limited educational opportunities from communities adjacent to the nature reserves. The learnerships not only offer much needed employment, but the participants would have a formal qualification and work-place experience and be able to take up entry level positions within nature conservation in and around Cape Town. TMF are assisting in this programme (which is in its second cycle) by providing funding for a mentor for these learners. The mentor will bridge the gap between the learner and the reserve manager. It is believed that the having a mentor in the first cycle has enabled CTEET to realise a 93.5% successful completion of the training programmes by the learners to date.

Greater Kromme Stewardship Initiative

1 September 2016 – 31 October 2020

TMF is supporting Conservation Outcomes with the implementation of the Greater Kromme Stewardship initiative. The primary objective of this partnership between renewable energy developers (Wind Energy Collective) and the St Francis Kromme Trust (civil society) is to secure critical biodiversity and eco-system services on private, communal and state-owned land by: establishing formal conservation and protected areas through the Biodiversity Stewardship mechanism; and providing professional support in order to ensure the effective management of under-protected biodiversity.

Breedekloof Wine and Tourism alien clearing.

Executant: Breedekloof Wine and Tourism
1 October 2018 – 31 January 2020

The Biodiversity and Land Use (BLU) project is implemented by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) together with its partners including the Table Mountain Fund (TMF), with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Invasive alien plant clearing in the Ceres Mountain Fynbos Nature Reserve.

Executant: Witzenberg Municipality
1 November 2018 – 31 January 2020

The Biodiversity and Land Use (BLU) project is implemented by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) together with its partners including the Table Mountain Fund (TMF), with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Table Mountain’s urban fringes: toxic ecological traps or biodiversity buffer zones?

The Cape Leopard Trust

1 November 2018 – 30 June 2019

Cities around the world are expanding rapidly and where they interface with natural areas there are increased risks to wildlife, including poisons, disease exposure and vehicle collisions. This project aims to identify potential benefits and quantify the costs of living at the urban edge for a charismatic wild cat species, the caracal or rooikat, which is the apex predator on the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. Caracals will be tested for the presence of a range of environmental pollutants associated with human-transformed landscapes, and together with spatial movement data this will contribute to understanding how urbanisation impacts caracal population ecology and persistence, as well as informing and promoting local biodiversity conservation.

Bridging Support for Nature Reserve Declarations

CapeNature
1 February 2016 – 31 January 2020

This project will facilitate a smooth continuation of the Nature Reserve declaration process enabling priority areas which are currently ready for declaration to be secured. The declaration process comprises three components: public participation to ensure local community support; drawing up accurate survey diagrams to ensure that the areas declared as Nature Reserves are properly delineated and notarial support for submission of deeds and agreements. Each component has associated external costs. CapeNature is able to cover the costs of the public participation but requires short term bridging finance to assist with the costs of external notaries and surveyors.

Facilitating Protected Area Expansion within the City of Cape Town

Wilderness Foundation in partnership with the City of Cape Town
1 September 2016 – 1 September 2019

Protected area expansion within the City of Cape Town is guided by the Biodiversity Network (BioNet), which is the fine scale conservation plan for the City of Cape Town. Currently 60% of the BioNet is conserved, with the City aiming to increase this to 65% by 2019, through various mechanisms including stewardship, acquisition, off-sets, land banking and conservation of priority State land parcels. In order to do this effectively and efficiently, funds are required for essential pre-negotiation and proclamation processes, including but not limited to, legal fees, property valuations, drawing of Surveyor-General (SG) Diagrams, Title Deed restrictions etc. This project is facilitating this Protected Area Expansion through funding the pre-negotiation and proclamation processes.

Green conservation corridor from Walker Bay to Cape Agulhas Agulhas

Grootbos Foundation
1 September 2016 – 1 September 2019

TMF has funded the Grootbos Foundation’s flagship “Green Corridor” project which is focused on developing a link between the Walker Bay Fynbos Conservancy and Agulhas National Park; thereby preserving the critically endangered lowland fynbos of this unique region in the Overberg. It is envisaged that this Green Corridor will develop into an ecologically functional and economically viable zone within five years, providing measurable positive conservation results and tangible positive impacts for local communities in a vulnerable region of exceptional conservation value.

Protected Area expansion in the critically endangered renosterveld in the Overberg wheat-belt

Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust
1 September 2016 – 1 September 2019

Lowland Renosterveld is one of the most threatened habitats on Earth and is in dire straits. TMF has granted the Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust funds to secure large remnants of intact Lowland Renosterveld within the Overberg wheat-belt for conservation in perpetuity. This will be achieved through the development of the Conservation Easement model which the ORCT initiated as a means for achieving crucial conservation targets which cannot be met using existing ‘stewardship’ mechanisms. It is hoped that this initiative will make significant inroads into securing significant portions of Western- and Central-Rûens Shale Renosterveld in this biodiversity-rich, severely-threatened landscape.

Enhancing conservation NGO involvement in protected area expansion. BirdLife South Africa.

September 2016 – November 2018

This new project seeks to draw on BirdLife South Africa’s experience in Biodiversity Stewardship and protected area expansion, both in the Western Cape and nationally, to better understand the challenges faced by various organisations involved in protected area expansion, and provide potential solutions to overcome these challenges. The project will also investigate new, developing options being applied in protected area expansion, such as “green servitudes”, and document the costs and benefits of such approaches, as well as best practice for their implementation. Ultimately aiming to facilitate further protected area expansion work in the Cape Floristic Region, leading to increased conservation of our birds and biodiversity.

Garden Route Biosphere Reserve

TMF has supported the establishment of the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve by funding the Bitou Valley Foundation for the production of four key strategic documents to guide the establishment and management of the Biosphere Reserve. The final application to UNESCO to have the Garden Route recognised as a Biosphere Reserve is currently sitting with DEA and will be submitted to UNESCO for consideration by the end of September 2016.

Langeberg Biodiversity Initiative Eco-trail Network

In 2014, TMF granted the Grootvadersbosch Conservancy funds to establish a landscape initiative. The project, which comes to an end in early 2017, aims to support the conservation of fragile ecosystems and aid sustainable livelihoods of the adjacent local communities through the creation of green jobs and ecotourism opportunities. The project entails the construction of both mountain bike and hiking trails as well as the training of field guides.

The Stanford Mill Stream improvement project

The Mill Stream is degraded, polluted and suffers algal blooms in the dam. A thorough study of the system will result in an environmental improvement plan that will address these issues by providing research based recommendations. It is intended that sources of pollution in the system are identified through various assessment methods. The Overstrand Municipality have agreed to partially fund the initial implementation of the improvement plan. The project also foregrounds community conservation with the inclusion of stakeholders through engagement and monitoring processes.

Fire risk assessment of the urban-wildland interface for the West Ward of the Cape Peninsula Fire Protection Association

The need for urban development and the reality of urban sprawl in a fire-prone area results in a wildland-urban interface (WUI) along-which the risk of fire to assets and to human life is of real concern. With funding made available by the Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS), NCC Environmental Services (Pty) Ltd – assisted by the Cape Peninsula Fire Protection Association (CPFPA) – will identify, assess, map and prioritise the wildfire risks in the CPFPA’s West Ward. Management interventions to reduce the risk in hotspot areas will be defined and all similar assessments conducted around the CPFPA WUI will be consolidated into a single database, to be made accessible to interested stakeholders. This assessment utilises similar methodology to that of the 2010 National Veldfire Risk Assessment conducted by the Council for Scientific Research (CSIR) for Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF).

Vergenoegd Water Bird Habitat and Water Quality Project

The Vergenoegd Water Bird Habitat and Water Quality Project leverages landowner interest in water bird conservation through habitat rehabilitation, in order to achieve improvements in water quality and hydrological functioning in agricultural landscapes in the Western Cape. This innovative approach includes building floating islands that are introduced to and used to rehabilitate existing water bodies (eg. irrigation dams) on private properties. One of the aims of the projects includes socio-economic upliftment through the creation of entrepreneurial income-generating opportunities in rural farming communities. This project was piloted on Vergenoegd Estate (known for its use of Indian Runner ducks to control the pests in their vineyards) and is a collaborative effort between BirdLife SA, NCC Environmental Services, CapeNature, The Department of Agriculture’s LandCare Programme and private landowners.

Toad Nuts

In many of the Cape suburbs, in which the Western Leopard Toad lives and breeds, crossing the road can be life-threatening. With the ever-increasing urbanisation along the Cape coastline, breeding ponds are now surrounded by roads, and the gorgeous leopard toads use these roads to walk to the ponds. Over the years hundreds of toads have been squashed by unobservant motorists on winter nights. In 2014 Toad NUTS (Noordhoek’s Unpaid Toad Savers) partnered with Table Mountain Fund to erect temporary toad barriers alongside two of the busiest roads in Noordhoek – Noordhoek Main Rd and Silvermine Rd, as well as one road in Tokai. The goal was to temporarily delay toads from crossing the busy roads during rush hour and to wait until a volunteer carries the toad over the road to the pond. The result has been an almost zero roadkill rate on these sections of road. The next stage of this project dubbed “ROMP: Road Mitigation Project” is to experiment with existing storm water culverts to see if toads will cross UNDER roads if directed into the drains. All results will be carefully monitored.

Mitigating the impacts of wild medicinal plant harvesting in Cape Town through research, engagement and inclusive partnerships with Rasta herbalists

Herbanisation aims to green streetscapes in economically marginalised areas while contributing to the livelihoods and cultural practices of local Rasta and Khoi herbalists and reconnecting community members with medicinal plants and indigenous knowledge. Originating in Seawinds (an area of high unemployment and many social ills, such as gangsterism, drug abuse and violence) Herbanisation was born through a collaborative effort involving the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation and Neville van Schalkwyk, a Rasta bush doctor and community elder. Since inception of the pilot project in 2012, consisting of an open-access street garden of 250 medicinal plants (and with subsequent funding from the Table Mountain Fund) the project has grown to include approximately 4,500 plants in three street gardens, and hosted ground-breaking engagement between Rasta bush doctors and conservation stakeholders. Furthermore, the project has released a range of useful guidelines for supporting the development of conservation, cultural and economically viable landscape rehabilitation within the fynbos biome.

#SPEKKIES – Mitigating Climate Change and Land Degradation through Enterprise Development

#spekkies is a Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve (GCBR) project that will build on existing spekboom restoration efforts in the Klein Karoo through the sale of sustainably harvested spekboom (Portulacaria afra) cuttings in biodegradable pots. The project will empower individuals from the Van Wyksdorp area through training and job creation, whilst also promoting the restoration of degraded thicket and the value of spekboom’s carbon sequestrating abilities.

Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Corridor Small Grant Project

Funding was granted to CapeNature, for a 4 year period ending in January 2017, to strengthen relationships between civil society and local communities within the Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Corridor. This will be achieved through providing support and advice while capacitating civil society to effectively manage priority biodiversity.

Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve Small Grant Project

Funding was granted to the the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve for a period of 3 years, starting from June 2013 to August 2016, to focus on the conservation priorities of the Cape West Coast. The aim of the project is to stimulate sustainable development, bring about a heightened environmental awareness and enhance environmental management skills through the use of natural resource management within previously disadvantaged communities of the West Coast region.

Cape Flats Nature Partners Fund Small Grant Project

In the last quarter of 2013, TMF in partnership with the South African Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) launched the ‘Cape Flats Nature Partners’ Fund’ offering small grants for projects that are innovative and spark community nature conservation action on the Cape Flats. A key focus of the ‘Cape Flats Nature Partners’ Fund’ is not just to award small grants but also to build the capacity of interested community members to engage with the Fund through innovative ideas for conservation.

A few of the innovative projects of the Cape Flats Nature Partners’ Fund include:

Princess Vlei Forum: Rehabilitation and management of indigenous vegetation in the greater Princess Vlei conservation
Funding was granted to the contractor for a period of 6 months, starting from May to October 2016 to rehabilitate and manage the Greater Princess Vlei. The aim of the project is to rehabilitate and manage indigenous vegetation in the Greater Princess Vlei Conservation area by introducing knowledge to local school learners through various activities, so that they actively contribute to nature conservation in the Cape Flats.

The Anglican Church: Creating a link between nature and script
Funding was granted to the contractor for a period of 6 months, starting from May to October 2016 to create a link between nature and scripts within 15 Anglican churches of the Cape Flats. The aim of the project is to mobilise the Anglican Church of the Cape Flats to become involved in environmental care.

Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve Small Grant Project

Funding was granted to the contractor for a period of 4 years, starting from February 2014 to January 2017 to select community based organisations, located within the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve, to be the beneficiaries of these small grant. The aim of the project is to capacitate organizations through building sustainable income generating activities.

Integrated restoration of the Jakkals River Ecosystem (phase 2)

The Jakkals River ecosystem is threatened by alien dominance, debris pollution and erosion. The shape of the river has changed over time and continues to change to a vulnerable shape. Due to an integrated alien vegetation clearing programme (TMF are currently funding a project within this programme), water volumes have increased and the eroded river, cleared lands and river banks are vulnerable to flooding and further channelising of the river. In this phase, TMF will be funding the production of a Jakkals River Management Plan and a mentorship and training programme that will be implemented in order to assist stakeholders and farmers to realise the recommendations in the management plan.