K2C Biosphere News

In April 2019, Kruger 2 Canyons (K2C) started an Instagram page which has currently 230 followers with 72 posts. The K2C Instagram account is a bit different from the other K2C social media accounts because its objective is to showcase the beautiful K2C Biosphere. This includes the different activities and wildlife as well as the society that lives within the biosphere. We call for good quality pictures from everyone who takes nice shots of and within the landscape to send us so that we can best showcase the biosphere region. If you are on Instagram, make sure to tag us on  #k2cbiosphere  or  @k2cbiosphere . We will surely give credit to all the pictures that are sent to us. You can send your pictures to  intern@kruger2canyons.org Please like and follow us on: Facebook: Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region Twitter: @kruger2canyons Instagram: @k2cbiosphere and #k2cbiosphere Kindly follow this link:  https://www.instagram.com/k2cbiosphere/

Since October 2018 the Blyde Restoration Custodianship (BRC) team has been hard at work clearing alien invasive trees in Mariepskop that suck up our water and displace natural plants and animals. The role of the team is to support the restoration of the grasslands, forests and wetland back to its natural state thus contributing to water security for people in the Lowveld. The team has managed to clear over 150 ha of Alien Invasive Plants over the past year. This is a big achievement for the team because they work in challenging terrain at high elevation areas and they encounter many challenges form the unpredictable weather conditions to the dangerous slopes. “Our job is challenging, but the reward at the end is so beautiful because we get to see the beautiful view of the forest that no one else has seen before” said Pontsho Phale, one of the team members. The project not only supports current efforts on invasive alien plant (IAP) control and Ecosystem restoration in the larger Blyd

On the 10 th  of September 2019, the WWF held a 3-day workshop in Tzaneen on Community Engagement. The workshop aimed at exploring the different approaches and strategies, particularly to promote alternative livelihoods in the context of illegal wildlife trade in the GLTFCA. The 3-day workshop had over 90 participants and organisations from all over the country in attendance, including government authority institutions like LEDET; as the custodian of environmental affairs in the Limpopo province.  The facilitation of the workshop was in such a way that presentations were done by respective participants under different themes, and the K2C had an opportunity to present on its implementation of DEFF’s Environmental Monitors program under the theme of ‘Youth Development and Skills support’. This was really a great opportunity to outline the successes that have emerged from the project over the years with an emphasis of the data collection, the impact it has had on both the socio eco

The Bapedi Ba Dinkwanyane Water Stewardship Project is funded by Flanders State of the Art. As per project agreement between K2C and the Hoedspruit Hub, the role of the Hoedspruit Hub is to support smallholder farmers in the Bapedi Badinkonyane area with agro ecology training. The first week of theoretical agro ecology training kicked off on 19 August 2019 and continued for four days until the 22nd. The training took place at the Thorometshane Primary School in Phiring, where there is a class facilities and where a site is being converted into a demonstration garden. There was a good turnout from the farmers who signed up for the training (22 farmers), with the Environmental Monitors (EM) attending too (6x EMs). With the group’s significant age differences, we saw fit to create an atmosphere of participation. We created five groups with five participants in each group. One EM was placed with each group to facilitate discussion within the groups and also to help with explanat

Sitting in the room with 18 young upcoming entrepreneurs is one of the most profound moments in one’s life. It is amazing to see their faces light up as they explain their business ideas to you. The passion oozes from them and you feel yourself getting excited about being part of their journey.  The Thuma Mina Initiative is a partnership between the K2C BR, Hoedspruit Chamber of Commerce, Mopani District Municipality and the Maruleng Municipality. We have identified 23 youth entrepreneurs that passed a series of tests to be part of our semi-final group that will be undergoing Business Entrepreneurship training through the SEED Training program facilitated by Mr Rest Kanju.  From here on the entrepreneurs will still need to go through one final test; the “lion’s” den. They will have to pitch their business idea to a panel of mentors and business leaders to win 1 of 10 mentoring opportunities with a mentor in their line of business.  Some of these entrepreneurs have already starte

CONSERVATION SOUTH AFRCA (CSA) contracted the Kruger2Canyons Biosphere Region NPC (K2C BR NPC) to implement and conduct a 5-day Green Economy opportunity training course for a total of 100 youth between the ages of 16-24 years during August 2019. The Training took place in 5 locations in our landscape: In the North East, in the North West, the central, the South East and South West. The Training introduced unemployed youth to the World of Work in the Environmental Sector. The Training pursued the following Learning Objectives as per approved Training Plan: ·         To explain what role nature and biodiversity conservation play in the local economy ·         To name different types of eco-friendly jobs ·         To relate how to live their life and run a business in an eco-friendly way ·         To relate how to apply for green Internships and Learnerships    On Day 1, we dealt with restoring our Land of Opportunity. Participants were a bit shy in the beginning but loo

On Thursday the 29th of July, the Rhino Convention Centre hosted a Positive Purchasing workshop as a part of the fRfR (From the Region, For the Region) campaign. The fRfR campaign is collaboratively driven by the Kruger-to-Canyon Biosphere (K2C) non-profit company, Activating Africa and other partners, funded by the Government of Flanders. Its aim is to stimulate intra-regional trade towards greater economic and environmental sustainability in this very special bio-region. Positive Purchasing, in the context of this workshop, is when regional retailers, restaurants and lodges opt to buy their products and services from locally based suppliers. This focus, when effectively managed, holds immense potential for the economic empowerment of local businesses, farmers and service SMMEs according to a study that was part-funded by the Flanders Government and led to the establishment of the campaign. The fRfR campaign, and this workshop, is a discussion around the issues, solutions and imp

Iconic species, such as the Rhino, are part of our heritage and we dedicated National Heritage Day in the Mnisi Tribal Authority by raising Anti-Poaching Awareness and building relationships between Conservation Agencies and our people.  The Acornhoek-Mhala SAPS coordinated the planning of an event to raise awareness to the residents of Mnisi communities following rhino poaching incidents that were affecting Sabi Sand, Manyeleti and Timbavati game reserve including the Kruger National Park. The event took place in Clare A at Salani Primary School on the 24 th  of September 2019. About 500 people attended. Amongst them was the Chief (Mnisi), indunas, KNP, Sabi Sand, MTPA, K2C Rhino Ambassadors, Local Municipality, Community Policing Forums, Community Development Forums, Schools and community members. Previously the residents felt unaffected by rhino poaching. This event served as an eye opener. Poachers coming from other SA provinces and neighbouring countries found temporary res

There is a strong relationship between the health of humans, animals – be that domestic or wild – and the environment.  Where is there a better example of this “One Health” concept than in communities that live at the interface of expansive conservation areas, such as the Bushbuckridge community? One 10 th  August, a group of lecturers from the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases (DVTD), from the University of Pretoria (UP), hosted a One Health workshop with learners from Mungena High School. The Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty of UP runs the Hluvukani Animal Clinic, a community clinic that provides veterinary services to the people of Hluvukani and surrounds. The Mungena High School is a close neighbour of the clinic and was therefore approached to host the workshop.  Forty learners from various grades were asked to prepare posters on various topics, such as cattle, dogs, humans, drinking water, and the environmental health beforehand. The learners had to identify aspects o

The Kruger 2 Canyons Biosphere Region hosted the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) workshop on the 6 th  of September 2019 in Hoedspruit at the Rhino Convention Centre. The workshop was attended by 27 different organisations that are working with communities, schools, tribal authorities and other stakeholders in the K2C landscape. The Workshop was facilitated by Vusi Tshabalala, a Project Manager for the DEFF funded Environmental Monitors (EM) programme that works in 74 communities, 31 partner organisations, through 170 EMs by doing environmental education with schools, community meetings, awareness campaigns, animal rehabilitation, data collection, river monitoring and much more.  The purpose of the K2C ESD is to provide an informal but semi-structured platform for the coordination, alignment, co-learning in Environmental Education linking to the formal conservation and education sectors by using the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme principles. The desired outcome

From 21-23 August 2019 the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region was privileged to be invited to attend the 2 nd  Sub-regional UNESCO Man and Biosphere Meeting help in Maputo Mozambique. The meeting focussed on the role Biospheres play in supporting the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and was attended by representatives from a number of Southern African countries.  K2C was identified to attend due to the diversity of environmental and social programmes we manage, implement and support and the potential learning around these experiences. In particular, the lessons learnt around the model of a Not for Profit Company managing the implementation of the MAB programme was of interest with a presentation made on this topic which was very well received. Overall, the most important take home message was the need to foster partnerships and strengthen co-operation and by doing this Biospheres can only improve on the crucial role we play in supporting sus

 The UNESCO Multi-Sectoral Regional Office for Central Africa in partnership with the UNESCO MAB Section responsible for Biosphere and Heritage of Lake Chad (BIOPLAT) and the Africa commission of the World Heritage Centre hosted a workshop on the application of new technologies for the monitoring and evaluation of natural resources in Biosphere Reserves and World Heritage sites. Our very own K2C Data Capturer and GEF PA intern Keneilwe Mmushi was among the 30 participants that represented 20 different African countries, this was a week-long workshop that took place in Cameroon from the 9th to the 13th of September 2019.  The main objective of the workshop was to build capacity of participants on using new technologies for better management of natural resources from protected areas who face high natural and human pressure affecting their state of conservation. The participants got trained on regulations and application of drones; drone configuration, drone flights, capturing images d

Working together with Dr Anthony Swemmer from South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) Ndlovu Node and my K2C colleagues, Dimakatso Nonyane and Romy Antrobus-Wuth, I have managed to install 3 Diviner 2000 Probe tubes in Mariepskop as part of my MSc being undertaken with the University of Venda. The study is looking at the different land use and land cover types and their influence on the soil moisture content in Mariepskop.  The Diviner 2000 probe is a specialised piece of equipment used to measure soil moisture content in different land cover types. Cylindrical PVC tubes are installed in the ground in wetland areas to a depth of 170 cm and the top part can be opened and closed. To get the soil moisture measurements, the probe is inserted into the installed cylindrical PVC tubes and slowly dropped down, as the probe moves to the bottom of the tube it calculates the moisture content at regular interval of 10cm. The same process is done when the probe is pulled out. T

At the prestigious “Women in Environment Dialogue” event, attended by 307 women from the Environmental Sector, an award was bestowed on the K2C Biosphere for “Outstanding contribution to Women Empowerment”. “It was such an honour to receive this award on behalf of the Women in our Landscape!” Ms Shoki Mafogo, GEF5 Protected Area Effectiveness and Environmental Monitor Project Manager, who attended the conference with her colleague, Ms Keneilwe Mmushi, K2C GEF Data Manager, said. The Deputy Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Ms Maggie Sotyo has called on the environment sector to be inclusive and promote meaningful participation. “The K2C BR is doing just that!” Keneilwe said. “This means we need to start in earnest to mainstream gender in education, and at the same time, integrate environmental issues into school curricula, where young girls are encouraged and motivated to become scientists, in meteorology, biology and botanic studies,” said Deputy Minister Sothyo.

Since its initiation in 2018, the Greater Kruger Strategic Development Framework (GKSDF) has been steaming towards finalisation of the initial concept, planned for early 2020. Through this ambitious initiative, funded by the GEF Protected Area Programme, the aim is to see how the Greater Kruger Conservation Area can contribute to the ecological; economic and social wellbeing of the landscape in which it is nestled. Several thematic Expert Task Teams were formed, of which the Land Use Planning Group was one. Integrated Land Use Planning underpins the ability of the landscape to achieve socio-ecological wellbeing, and as such a Land Use Expert Group was established to help guide the GKSDF development process. The group had a very successful think tank session on the 17 th  of September, led by the Buffer Zone Coordinator for Kruger National Park and consultants (Urban-Econ), and attended by various critical role-players in the landscape (including municipalities, provincial government

Two years back in 2017, UNESCO launched and hosted its first International MaB Youth forum in Italy, which was attended by 128 young people from 92 countries in Italy Po Delta Biosphere reserve. South Africa managed to send 10 of its young people almost representing all the biospheres we have in our country. The event was so successful that it had to happen again. One of the outcomes of the first summit was a declaration that carried commitments from young people in biospheres to continue playing a role in saving our biodiversity, partnership, exchange knowledge and best practices. One other commitment was that this type of gathering would happen every 2 years, as UNESCO recognizes youth as an equal partner in implementing all the actions and playing their roles in helping their countries achieve their ACHI targets and sustainable goals. As we move towards the fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 15), which will be held in China

On the 21 st  of June 2019 the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD) together with the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region (K2C BR) held training on Climate Change to educate the current Department of Environmental Affairs Forestry and Fisheries funded EMs on Climate Change and its effects on Human life, Agriculture and the Environment. The EMs were given a chance to participate and engage in some activities to help them to better understand the concept and impact of Climate Change.  From these activities the EMs identify the effects in which Climate Change has on their areas from the previous years to currently, by comparing changes in temperature and rainfall. Graphs were drafted and it was clear that the months in which we used to experience rainfall were shifted and also minimised whilst for temperature it was found that the temperature levels were excessively increasing over time reaching day temperatures of up to 45°C, resulting in many issues in the environment