Reconnecting People and Biodiversity in the Amathole Mountains

INVITATION to share your views, feelings and concerns about the natural environment in and around Hogsback and your understanding of the relationship between biodiversity and climate change.

The aim of this project is to empower people in the Upper Tyume Valley and Hogsback to understand the natural environment around them, their interconnectedness with their natural environment, and thus to be motivated to restore and protect it.

amaTrac uluntu has been granted funding for an environmental/climate change awareness project – “Reconnecting People and Biodiversity in the Amathole Mountains”, which will be part of their ‘One Health One Welfare’ Programme.

We are hosting information gathering and sharing workshops in 3 villages in the Valley and in Hogsback, as well as practical learning excursions. We hope to attain an understanding of people’s perception about the environment and local biodiversity and will share information on the incredible biodiversity of the Amathole Mountains, threats to the biodiversity, ecosystem services the surrounding ecosystems provide, endemism, the link to climate change, why we need to conserve this incredible area and what we can do to restore and protect it.

These workshops are being held in collaboration with people Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW), South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP) and Cape Parrot Project (CPP).