Children’s Green, Sport and Arts Affinities

THE GREEN TRUST

The Green Trust was cofounded by Nedbank and WWF-SA in 1990 and represents a mutually beneficial partnership that supports nature conservation projects through communitybased programmes. Much of the work of The Green Trust takes place through community-driven projects and conservation efforts aimed at ensuring that natural resources are sustained for the benefit of people and communities. Since its inception The Green Trust has funded over 150 conservation projects across South Africa, most of which have been in the areas of marine conservation, conservation education, species conservation, ecoregions and freshwater programmes.

Nedbank has donated more than R90 million to The Green Trust since its inception, over R65 million of which has gone into conservation. In 2008 Nedbank donated R5,35 million to The Green Trust (2007: R5,28 million).

Some of the projects supported during 2008 were as follows:

SOUTHERN AFRICAN SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD INITIATIVE

In 2008 the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI), one of the most successful projects supported by The Green Trust, received the Mail & Guardian’s Greening the Future Award in the ‘Environmental best practice for a not-for-profit organisation’ category. Since its inception in 2004, SASSI has been informing and educating all participants in the seafood chain, from wholesalers and restaurateurs to seafood consumers, about the critical need for sustainable fishing and seafood consumption. Four years later SASSI has spread its net far and wide, with a growing number of seafood consumers, retailers, restaurants, chefs and seafood chains adopting SASSI’s guidelines.

SASSI has also achieved laudable buy-in from retailers, and three major retailers – Pick n Pay, Woolworths and Spar – have joined the SASSI Retailer Charter. What this means is that they are committed to providing more sustainable seafood to their customers. Some seafood franchises have come on board too. John Dory’s Fish & Grill, which has 21 outlets countrywide, signed up with SASSI early in 2008. Seafood consumers across South Africa have responded with enthusiasm to SASSI’s multipronged awareness-raising programme, including the innovative FishMS, an sms service (079 499 8795), which now has over 10 000 consumers using this service.

Restaurants and chefs have also been very responsive to the campaign, which encourages them to include green-listed species on their menu. It is all about expanding their customers’ palates away from the old favourites like kingklip, sole and prawns (all three are orange- listed) and encouraging them to order delicious, green-listed species like Dorado, yellowtail and snoek.

 

GREENCHOICE

Launched on 22 May 2008 GreenChoice is an innovative programme that addresses the way that food is produced, processed and consumed in South Africa throughout the value chain. This includes all food and beverage products, as well as fibre (the wool industry) and flowers (harvested wild flowers). GreenChoice encourages farmers to adopt environmentally sustainable initiatives, which include reducing chemical fertilisers, ensuring soil health and water conservation, preventing overgrazing and practising predator-friendly farming. The project then helps the farmers with market uptake for their products.

 

EMERGING ENVIRONMENTAL PROVIDER SUPPORT PROGRAMME

As part of its conservation education programme, The Green Trust supports the Emerging Environmental Provider Support Programme (EEPSP). This skills transfer programme, managed by the Wildlife & Environment Society of South Africa’s (WESSA) SustainEd division, has been instrumental in assisting emerging environmental education and training organisations to become SAQA-accredited. Thus far, EEPSP has helped four emerging organisations in this regard, all of which have a track record of working in environmental or conservation fields.

Khanyisa Projects in KwaZulu-Natal is involved in environmental programmes relating to water conservation, health and sanitation in urban and rural communities. Khanyisa teaches people about the water table and that water is precious and should be protected. It also teaches people about deadly diseases like cholera, which people can get from polluted water.

Project Safety in Pietermaritzburg focuses on environmental health and safety in business and industry.

Schools Environmental Education and Development (SEED) is an environmental NGO in Cape Town that helps schools develop sustainable food gardens and environmental awareness.

Emfundisweni Skills Development and Resource Centre in the Eastern Cape provides a range of courses in sustainable agriculture and small-business development.

All four are now working towards SAQA-accreditation and have developed learning programmes, assessment guides and learning support material.

THREATENED SOUTH AFRICAN FROG PROJECT

Frogs are essentially the ‘thermometer’ of the country’s environmental health, which is why the rapid decline in frog numbers is cause for concern. South Africa is home to 117 species, of which 17% are listed as threatened. Responding to this crisis The Green Trust is funding new research to assess the situation countrywide and produce a conservation action plan for the 20 threatened frog species in South Africa.

 

Contact details:
Thérèse Brinkcate, 16 StellentiaAve , Millennia Park, Stellenbosch
Tel: 021 888 2836	Email: tbrinkcate@wwf.org.za
Website: www.thegreentrust.co.za	www.nedbankgreen.co.za