Invitation: Launch of the Garden Route Environmental Forum
A launch event for the establishment of an overarching environmental body for the Southern Cape – the Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF) – will be held in Mossel Bay on Tuesday 11 December.
The establishment of an overarching environmental body by the Garden Route District Municipality and partners, aims to coordinate regional conservation efforts and serve as a catalyst to drive climate adaption practices in the Southern Cape.
The Southern Cape is vulnerable to increased risks associated with threats to the environment, including water security, loss of biodiversity, all resulting in a reduction of economic opportunity and well- being, and putting vulnerable communities under pressure.
A steady and continuous influx of population, a greater demand for fresh water and development land, an increased risk of wildfire and human pressure on a sensitive Garden Route ecology, imply that mechanisms to better coordinate the environmental sector is a key solution to create a climate-ready environment.
Says Cobus Meiring of the GREF Secretariat: “An all-out effort to ensure a climate-ready future, and a mind shift in the way we adapt and manage our environment, is urgent and should dominate the social and political narrative if the region aims to develop sustainably. An environment free of invasive alien plants and cleared waterways and catchments, will take the region a leap forward in risk reduction, and all authorities, landowners and land managers must heed the call.”
“With climate change, the spread of invasive alien plants and the intricate and long-term effects these environmental threats bring to the region, regional and local authorities, land managers and conservationists will have little choice but to plan around what nature will impose upon the region in years to come.”
The Southern Cape Landowners Initiative (SCLI) is a public platform and think tank for landowners and land managers with an interest in invasive alien plant management, water stewardship and land management. SCLI is supported by the Table Mountain Fund (TMF), a subsidiary of WWF SA. SCLI also manages the Secretariat of the Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF).
VENUE: Protea Hotel by Marriott Mossel Bay: Corner of Church & Market Streets, Mossel Bay
DATE: Tuesday 11 December 2018
TIME: 08:45 (Programme attached)
RSVP: Marti Kirstein Email ; Cell: 082 782 7115