Aller River Project wins two awards
The project which was launched in 2016 won silver in the Biodiversity category and gold in the municipality category.
AWARDS do not fix the environment nor do they save the planet but they do provide motivation for those involved as they recognise the work of the team and are an acknowledgement that something positive is being done.
“Awards also help to raise the profile of a project which has positive spin-offs in getting the project’s message across,” said Kloof Conservancy chairman, Paolo Candotti.
Candotti said this after the work of the Kloof Conservancy (as well as the eThekwini Municipality and the eThekwini Conservancies Forum) on the Aller River project was recognised recently in Cape Town.
ALSO READ: River rehabilitation project launched
The Aller River Project, an eThekwini Conservancies Forum/Kloof Conservancy project, received two awards a Enviropedia’s Eco-Logic awards function.
The project won silver in the Biodiversity category and gold in the municipality category. The team was fortunate to meet the new Minister of Environment, Fisheries and Forestry, Barbara Creecy and to inform her of the project’s goals and progress.
“The Aller River Project (with Kloof Conservancy as the implementing agency) is a relatively small one, but is also remarkable in that it involves conservancies contributing their expertise on a volunteer basis thus enabling the project to achieve more than what the funders actually pay for,” explained Candotti.
“The volunteer component also creates greater acceptance by the community of the project and facilitates greater co-operation by all parties,”
The Aller River Pilot Project (ARPP) sets out to support and inspire ‘river communities’ to take co-responsibility for and care of their river. The Aller River is a severely degraded 13 kilometre stream in Durban, running through New Germany residential and industrial and Clermont township. “Major problems include aging infrastructure, particularly the sewer lines alongside the river, litter, dumping chemical pollution, and invasive alien plants. These are exacerbated by the effects of climate change, including intensified drought and heavy rainfall events,” Candotti said.
Do you want to receive alerts regarding this and other Highway community news via WhatsApp? Send us a WhatsApp message (not an sms) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5409.
You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Highway Mail WhatsApp number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts.
