The Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve management team advocates linking nature, education, and life skills in order to inform and inspire people to live in Harmony with Nature. The CWBR supports eco-educational overnight outings through ongoing collaboration and partnerships.

The CWBR joined De Hoop again this year in assisting them with their Social Outreach Programme, to expose children who have never been to a pristine environment, in particular, the wild Rocky Shores and open plains with roaming wildlife at De Hoop Nature Reserve. 14 children and 2 teachers from the local community took part in the weekend filled with adventurous activities.

The mobile educational unit STEAM-Y came along and was the backdrop for a screening of the day’s events (as captured by the children with a camera) in the evening.

Check out the video to see the activities of the weekend!

Invasive plants represent one of the most pressing threats to the biodiversity and water security in the Western Cape. While gains have been made in addressing this in certain areas, conservation agencies and landowners remain on the back foot, with invasive species spreading their reach in many areas. In high altitude, hard to reach mountain areas, this challenge becomes increasingly acute. In the rugged mountains of the Limietberg Reserve, pine and hakae infestations are spreading into some of the last bastions of pristine Cape Mountain fynbos.

 In recognition that a massive, multi-stakeholder initiative is required to deal with this challenge, the Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve has been active in supporting research into invasive management in the Cape Mountains. To date this support has been through its drone mapping support work. This year the CWBR sought to take a further step in supporting the collective effort, getting involved on the ground with clearing efforts. 

In collaboration with Cape Nature, the CWBR has developed a pilot initiative that seeks to address invasive encroachment in high altitude regions of the Limietberg Reserve. The key principle underpinning this work, is that there are huge wins to be made by acting early. When trees are young and population densities are low, the effort involved in clearing can easily be cut 10-fold. This means that acting swiftly to hold the line against encroachment can mean big long-term wins in the joint effort to save the Limietberg and other mountain catchments.

A target area of 700ha was identified which will be used to test a model of using volunteers supported by CWBR staff.

In the first trial, a team of five volunteers and CWBR staff started work on this section over the course of a weekend resulting in 40ha of pine and hakea being cleared.

In the lead up to this, a collaborative effort from the biosphere reserve team helped to source all the necessary equipment and supplies. This included light weight chainsaws and other mechanical clearing tools. This equipment is now available and will make future efforts of the CWBR much easier.

Having tested this volunteer-based model and established relationships with landowners, the next steps in this process will be to resume clearing efforts with an expanded team of volunteers in the spring. Using a base camp model, in which more experienced team leaders who were involved in this first effort will recruit and manage teams of their own friends and family. Using this model of training volunteers through practical working weekends, and then resourcing the most experienced of these to then lead their own teams in future, we hope to be able exponentially ramp up our impact.

The next clearing effort is earmarked for late October when we hope to triple our efforts with three teams setting off to take the next bite out of the 700ha pilot site identified.

Those interested in joining the CWBR’s volunteer efforts in future action should add their names to this list here.

A NASA Biodiversity field campaign in the Greater Cape Floristic Region of South Africa

The Greater Cape Floristic Region will be mapped from space! Scientists from the US and South Africa, with the assistance of NASA, are embarking on a campaign to map the abundant biodiversity of the Greater Cape Floristic Region. It is the only biome to be contained within a single country in the world.

Technology will be used to collect remotely sensed data which will be combined with existing and new observations of the spatial distribution of species, ecosystems, “and their traits to enable high-resolution mapping of biodiversity, functional traits, and three-dimensional structure across environmental gradients and times-since-disturbance”. BioSCape

Find out more about the initiative, visit BioSCape

The campaign is organized around three major themes aimed at understanding:

1.        the distribution and abundance of biodiversity,

2.        the role of biodiversity in ecosystem function, and

3.        the impacts of biodiversity change on ecosystem services.

“By mapping this, the hope is to show the important link between ecosystems that people depend on with the flora in the region.” GetAway article

Watch the Presentation

King Protea

Photo credit: B Thomas

In June 2021, two Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve Educational team members were honoured to attend the Cape Leopard Trust (CLT) Teacher Development Workshop. The workshop aimed to share Environmental Education resources, tools, and available services with like-minded teachers and educators.

This initiative also fosters a valuable network of support to build more awareness of Environmental Education available that can be added to the classroom experience and compliment the curriculum.    

“Environmental education (EE) connects individuals and communities to the natural world around us. It raises awareness of issues impacting the environment upon which we all depend, as well as actions we can take to improve and sustain it… It has the power to transform lives and society; it informs and inspires; it influences attitudes and motivates action.” Cape Leopard Trust

In addition to CLT sharing their EE Programme, WCED, SANBI, CapeNature and CTEET, attended the event to share their resources and services with workshop attendees. Western Cape Education Department opened and closed the Workshop with an introductory presentation and words of thanks.

Due to the success of the Workshop, more will be held in future which we look forward to attend!

To find out more, read the Cape Leopard Trust Article: Sharing is caring – teachers and NGO’s join hands to improve environmental learning

Cover photo: Photo collage by Cape Leopard Trust

Title photo credit: UNESCO Website, Shutterstock

UNESCO has launched a series of reports that reveal the impact of COVID-19 on the culture sector. Based on recent surveys and research, these reports provide insight across 5 areas: World Heritage; living heritage; cultural and creative industries; museums; and cities.

“The pandemic is disrupting lives, communities and businesses around the world, and has deeply impacted the entire cultural ecosystem. At the same time, the crisis has further revealed the important role of culture as a major resource for resilience, connection and recovery” UNESCO

The reports show “that the cultural and creative industries have fared consistently worse than national economies overall” and highlight the role of digital technology as a means of innovative adaption for visibility and survival.

The UNESCO report reaches out to the public to support the approximately 104,000 museums around the world as attendance has dropped as much as 70% for some since beginning of 2021. “The report urges the implementation of digitization policies to inventory collections and support education and outreach”.

The core of Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve (CWBR) consists of the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage Site, the smallest of six recognized floral kingdoms in the world and home to over 9000 plant species of which much of the diversity is associated with the Fynbos biome, unique to South Africa.

Through the CWBR Edulink Project, in partnership with Athénée Action Humanitaire, outings and activities are conducted in collaboration with museums, education-based NGO’s, NPO’s, and research institutions in support of exposure to and shared knowledge of art, culture, and eco-education.

To follow updates on CWBR projects and to find out more read our News page

View full UNESCO article:

Disruption and Resilience: UNESCO reports reveal new data on impact of COVID-19 on culture

Individual Articles:

World Heritage in the face of COVID-19

Living Heritage and the COVID-19 pandemic: responding, recovering and building back for a better future

Cultural and creative industries in the face of COVID-19: an economic impact outlook

UNESCO report: museums around the world in the face of COVID-19

Cities, culture, creativity: leveraging culture and creativity for sustainable urban development and inclusive growth

UNESCO Creative Cities' response to COVID-19

Cape Floral Region, Boland Mountains

30 aspiring ECD teachers at IZIKO Museum

For youth month, the Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve facilitators teamed up with partners and went out to communities and a local Franschhoek Highschool with the mobile educational unit. The versatile space has become a vehicle for implementation of exciting hands-on out of classroom learning, complementing the curriculum.

Career Opportunities and Support

A brainstorming workshop was held with Action Volunteers Africa [a non-profit organisation that empowers youth to be ready for the world of work] to implement their new initiative, the Mobile Career Café. This is a collaborative project with the CWBR. The purpose is to assist youth in how to be resourceful and identify opportunities/resources in their immediate community. This includes CV building, interview skills and preparing for the job interview, hands-on activities in the mobile education unit introducing youth to possible careers, and open discussion around different employment opportunities and careers.

The first event took place in Worcester on the 16th of June, Youth Day. Thirty-two young participants took part in the day.

The mobile unit, as the Career Café served as a space for exploring fields in conservation, agriculture, horticulture, and more through discussion with a CWBR facilitator. The participants were also encouraged to take a closer look at soil and the immediate life that calls it home through magnifying glasses. The participants were introduced to the rich life that soil can contain when cared for and how to work with it for a mutual nurturing relationship. 

Introduction to the days activities

Identifying resources that assist with employment

During an interview, a participant expressed that the Career Café Workshop helped him identify what a career is and what he would like to study one day.

Celebrating Youth Day with USIKO

The CWBR team joined USIKO Stellenbosch for the second event with the Jamestown community at the USIKO Hub for Youth Day celebrations. The CWBR facilitators discussed biodiversity, why it is important, the cycle of water, and the importance of man and nature living in harmony. The children were given the opportunity to look through a telescope and binoculars. A demonstration on how to fly a drone was also done, and a few children were lucky to operate the remote.

Franschhoek High

The CWBR in collaboration with USIKO Stellenbosch held a Workshop with psychology students from Stellenbosch University. The students were introduced to the unit and tried the activities showcased in the space including binoculars, telescopes, magnifying glasses and the mobile CWBR library. 

Teachers from schools within the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek areas also attended the Workshop, and as a result, the CWBR team was invited with the mobile unit to Franschhoek High for eight workshops spanning over two weeks, complementing the curriculum and sharing different perspectives about topics learned in class.

Students and the USIKO team trying out activities

Observing rich life that soil supports up close

The students rotated between three different stations which included:

River Health Learning to use minisass as a means to monitor the health of rivers. The students explored the biodiversity in the river next to the school, discovering it bursting with life and instilling the importance of looking after water sources and rivers. 

Learning about Minisass

Life supported by the river found by the students

Mobile Unit Understanding biodiversity, the man and biosphere programme, what does it mean, each individuals important role in looking after the environment, the role of recycling and how waste is managed and treated, as well as utilizing magnifying glasses, binoculars and telescopes. Many children and youth do not have the opportunity to see many places in the world. Through exposing the youth to different types of magnification they were reintroduced to their immediate surroundings, opening their eyes and perceptions.

The the mobile educational space

Curiosity and enthusiam for new experiences

Technology Introducing drone technology and having an open discussion about related careers available to flying drones, as well as the important role it has in monitoring and research in conservation. Discussion also included a broader outlook of technology available today from cellphone apps to space exploration. Each student was given the opportunity to operate the drone under controlled conditions.

The students giving each other support

Discovering talent for flying amongst the learners

These outings were made possible through the partnership with Athénée Action Humanitaire and contribution from the US Consulate.