Greening jobs help youth
Greening jobs help youth
The Makana Youth Environmental Outreach project recently received funding from the Expanded Public Works Programme of the public works department. This funding assists youth to continue with environmental education and awareness campaigns, assisting the municipality in mobilising local communities to make a concerted effort to keep their wards clean, healthy and beautiful.
The environmental education and awareness programme began in 2010, focusing mainly on waste management and recycling initiatives. The funding has enabled Makana Municipality’s environmental management office to increase the number of participating unemployed youth in all wards of the municipality, thus creating work opportunities for 20 young people on a temporary basis.
On 8 October, Ntobeko Nyengane was invited to represe
t the Makana youth and take part in a SADC Youth Leadership course in Maseru, Lesotho. Nyengane is currently working with Rhodes University’s Environmental Learning Research Centre to explore opportunities for the youth group to undergo formal training in environmental education. More info: www.ru.ac.za/elrc/.
BOLD: Planting for prosperity
Rhodes University’s environmental science department community engagement project Tree For Life aims to promote awareness of the need to plant and maintain indigenous trees in and around Grahamstown. Trees play a pivotal role in the health and well-being of local communities – they are sources of food, shade, medicines and scenic beauty, among other benefits.
Project co-ordinator Dr Gladman Thondhlana says they have planted about 40 trees at Ntsika Secondary School, with pupils and teachers actively getting involved. This ongoing project not only encourages tree planting within township areas of Grahamstown, but also contributes to Makana’s greening activities. More info: g.thondhlana@ru.ac.za or www.ru.ac.za/static/departments/environsci/.
Cathedral parishioners respond to call for enviro team
The recent call by Kate Davies from the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute, for local churches to get involved in addressing environmental issues, has already borne fruit in the Grahamstown Cathedral parish.
At their first meeting, a small group of parishioners calling themselves the Cathedral Green Team, decided initially to meet monthly and start by focusing on one small project. They will also start passing on environmental news and tips to the congregation via posters in the cathedral and eco-tips in their monthly magazine, The Spire.
Contact person is Julia Mann, email jskeen@telkomsa.net. More info: www.safcei.org.
Don’t forget your permit!
It’s that time of the year when people head to the coast for holidays and fishing-related activities. Andile Maki, station manager of the Port Alfred Fisheries Compliance Office, wants to remind people that they mustn’t forget to hold onto or buy their recreational fishing permits from the post office.
Regulations regarding fish sizes, daily bag limits, closed seasons for certain species, etc, can be downloaded from bitly.com/TPuNgu/.
For any information related to fishing activities, or to report any illegal fishing-related activities, people can contact their local Fishery Compliance Office along the coast:
Mzamba – 039 311 1230/40 / 079 444 9951 – (Inspector Ntshangase)
Port St Johns – 047 564 1985 / 072 133 2480 – (Inspector Gebe)
Centane – 047 498 1125 / 076 912 6251 – (Inspector Tati)
East London – 043 722 2091 / 073 015 4588 – (Inspector Fifane)
Port Alfred – 046 624 5496 / 073 387 0451 – (Inspector Maki)
Port Elizabeth – 041 585 4051 / 082 771 8906 – (Inspector Mostert).
Outdoor party to clear Great Fish Reserve
The Friends of the Great Fish River Reserve are going to tackle the vegetation pushing on to the screened walkway to the reserve’s Kwalamanzi Hide. The work party will take place on the weekend of 24/25 November and will require heavy-duty chainsaws and hands on deck to help.
Those involved will be camping at Double Drift overnight. If you’d like to come along contact Mike Bandey at jandm@imaginet.co.za.
Get out your binoculars for Birding Big Day
If you don’t want to join the Great Fish party and cut down trees on 24 November, you may want to do a spot of bird watching instead – as part of the Birding Big Day event. South Africa is richly endowed with a diversity of approximately 890 different bird species.
In recognition of our bird heritage, Bird Life South Africa co-ordinates Birding Big Day, a competition open to everyone. The aim is to see how many birds can be spotted on that day, within a radius of 50km, or you can do it in your own garden. More info at www.birdlife.org.za/events/birding-big-day/.
Contacts for Makana Enviro-News:
Nikki Köhly: n.kohly@ru.ac.za, 046 603 7205 / Jenny Gon: j-gon@intekom.co.za, 046 622 5822 / Nick Hamer:
n.hamer@ru.ac.za, 084 722 3458 / Nick James:nickjames@intekom.co.za, 082 575 9781 / Lawrence Sisitka:
heilaw@imaginet.co.za, 046 622 8595 / Strato Copteros:strato@iafrica.com, 082 785 6403
