No, Cape Flats Nature does not manage the partnership sites. The City of Cape Town’s Biodiversity Branch manages the sites.

2. What is the Cape Flats?

The term Cape Flats refers to a flat, sandy stretch of land which used to be located on the outskirts of the city of Cape Town. Under Apartheid’s Group Areas Act which determined where different race groups could live and own property, many “coloured” communities of Cape Town were moved onto the Cape Flats. People were forcibly moved from familiar surroundings, established communities were destroyed and extended families separated. Most people had to travel long distances to work. The new townships experienced increased social problems.

Thousands of black South Africans moved to Cape Town from the Transkei and Ciskei (now parts of the Eastern Cape) to look for work, even though the South Western Cape was a coloured labour preference area and movement of people was enforced through influx control. Black South Africans needed permission to work in Cape Town and had to carry a pass.

Apartheid planning and rapid urbanization have created conditions of poverty with the associated social challenges. There has been no effort to plan for the needs and well being of the people living on the Cape Flats, or to integrate people and nature for the benefit of both.

There is precious nature on the Cape Flats which is at the heart of the Cape Floristic Region biodiversity hotspot (hyperlink- SANBI/City- latest stats) with over 1400 indigenous plant species that include 203 species threatened with extinction and 5 that are globally extinct in the wild. Biodiversity on the Cape Flats continues to disappear. There is loss of ecosystem function, especially as it relates to life support systems for the urban poor, leaving communities vulnerable. This vulnerability is exacerbated in the context of climate change predictions.

3. What is ‘participation’ and how do you encourage it?

The understanding of ‘participation’ ranges from giving information, to consulting on existing plans, to social mobilization. For Cape Flats Nature, participation is about building mutually beneficial relationships, listening and paying attention to the voices in the communities.

4. How do you build a group of volunteers from low income communities?

We try to counter some of the challenges by getting to know the volunteers and understanding their various motivations for volunteering. We are frank about job opportunities and take care to explain what we can and cannot offer. We have also learnt to anticipate the lack of resources and additional effort it takes to work with volunteers from low income areas. We understand that volunteers will use their experience as a stepping stone and will move on as other opportunities arise.

5. Why is local government such an important role player in nature conservation?

Local government is mandated to take care of the environment on behalf of current and future generations. Local government has an important role to play in managing biodiversity because of its spatial planning responsibilities. Local government is also called to align their development plans and decision making with the National Biodiversity Framework and any applicable bioregional plans.

6. Why work in partnership when it requires a lot of work?

The value of Partnerships derives from the different expertise, experience and resources which partners bring. Partnerships provide a powerful co-ordinated base to work from, although they need to be carefully managed because they are time consuming and there are inevitably tensions.

7. How do you tell people about challenges and failures in a way that still inspires support for our project?

When Cape Flats Nature started we used to showcase our successes. But through our evaluations (hyperlink- evaluation reports 2) we realized that deeper development of an urban conservation practice that integrates biodiversity and social development priorities can only happen if we learn from failures as well as successes. Our honesty and gritty engagement about what it takes to do urban nature conservation is inspiring.

8. In the communities CFN works with, is it easy to get people involved in biodiversity and conservation?

Even though many people on the Cape Flats are poor and cut off from nature, our work with individuals and organizations have shown that people have had an opportunity to explore and enjoy nature, appreciate and welcome it. However, the pressing issues on the Cape Flats are the big social issues of health, housing, education and security.