Research has, for many years now, shown that improved biodiversity, sometimes called “Rewilding” or “regreening,” as an urban renewal strategy, can demonstrate tangible improvements in quality of life, social cohesion, well-being, and public safety. This aligns directly with the vision of Nature Connect: connecting people with, and through, nature.  

Growing a new partnership 

Nature Connect are thrilled to have been invited to join the Welgemoed CID, in securing a Biodiversity and Sustainability Manager that will be pivotal in the restoration of the critically endangered Swartland Shale Renosterveld in these urban green spaces in the City of Cape Town. This role will include facilitating community and schools’ involvement, social upliftment, and maintaining sustainable, accessible, and engaging urban spaces where the community and nature thrive.  

Nature Connect are excited to be including this new City Improvement District to their portfolio, given the success of the Paarden Eiland CID which has been in the Nature Connect stable since 2017. The Paarden Eiland CID is a leading example of a public private partnership, facilitated by Nature Connect, between the City of Cape Town and the local business community. 

An urgent agenda 

Living in the southwestern corner of South Africa, a global biodiversity hotspot, technically known as the “Cape Floristic Floral Kingdom,” brings benefits and responsibilities. Very few people know that there are more plant species in the Table Mountain National Park, than across the entire British Isles. They are unaware that these ecosystems are highly specific, with a narrow distribution range, meaning that the indigenous plants often overlooked in their backyard, can be seen nowhere else on earth.  

The Swartland lowlands have almost disappeared, supplanted by croplands, mostly for wheat production, although the Swartland region is now receiving international acclaim for its unique wine-making potential.  

Less than 5% of the Swartland Shale Renosterveld remains on Planet Earth. Everyone, from civil society through to government agency, both residents and the foreign tourist, has a part to play a part in the rescue of the assemblage of life that constitutes the Swartland Shale Renosterveld. 

A world first 

Nature Connect recently had the pleasure of visiting the Sluysken Park in Welgemoed. This is a one-of-a-kind park, re-creating the critically endangered Swartland Shale Renosterveld habitat in the landscape, and showing what can be done with a band of dedicated volunteers, and a passion to do things differently. As has been mentioned in these posts before, the world can no longer conduct “business as usual”. 

Expertly identified and collected, to ensure they are derived from the remnant local indigenous genetic pool, these plants were lovingly plant and cared for by a crew of equally local residents.  

Leading the way 

Nature Connect are excited to be part of this journey which aims to demonstrate the impact of urban habitat restoration: improving nature and improving community.  

Leveraging off ecological restoration, this partnership with the WCID will advance Swartland Shale Renosterveld conservation. It will develop local knowledge and environmental education. It will create additional restoration sites that link with other high biodiversity value spaces, and it will remove invasive alien species along the way.  

In partnership with the Welgemoed CID, Nature Connect will strive to take the public and the private sector along for the ride, as the network of green spaces for play are linked through pedestrian, animal and insect-friendly roads and pathways. Changing lives, through nature.