Just after the devastating fires that wreaked havoc in the Eden district along the Garden Route, Western Cape in June 2017, Greenpop, an environmental NGO renowned for popularising the environmental movement, was approached to begin working in the area.
Greenpop’s mission is to plant trees, green communities and activate environmental stewards across Southern Africa. With the situation in the Eden district speaking clearly to their mission, Greenpop began scoping for partners, projects and places that they could have an impact and contribute to.
In response to this call, Greenpop has decided to bring their Festival of Action to the Eden District. Through this globally relevant, locally impactful event, the organisation aims to contribute and be part of the solution, while also teaching skills and lessons that are relevant to everyone across the world – sharing and learning in a place that highlights some of the challenges that our planet faces on a whole.
Greenpop’s Festival of Action has been held in Livingstone, Zambia for the past 6 years. The concept is an action-style conference that brings people together from around the globe to connect, give back and get active. Over three weeks, approximately 100 to 200 attendees will get involved in various ecological projects – assisting with alien vegetation clearing, planting indigenous trees where they are needed, building using eco-methods, brightening up schools with eco murals, attending sustainability workshops and more.
Greenpop is calling on local organisations, media and any interested parties to contact them and partner up so that they can embark on the best collaborative approach for project development.
The Greenpop team attended the Garden Route Environmental Seminar on 23 and 24 November 2017 hosted by the Southern Cape Landowners Initiative (SCLI) and many potential partnerships and learnings have already come out of this informative session.
Georgina Avlonitis, Greenpop’s Head of Programmes says, “Although the fire represented so much loss for so many, it also represents a blank canvas and a fresh startan opportunity to build a greener, more resilient, biodiverse Garden Route. In this landscape of forest/fynbos mosaic, it has been so enlightening to gain a deeper understanding of the area’s complex socio-ecological context and we are so looking forward to taking a hands-on approach, working closely with key role-players and experts as part of the new paradigm of nature conservation, community cohesion and regrowth that this fresh start allows. In burn areas, much of the choking tracks of alien invasives have been removed and on each trip into the field we witnessed the incredible regrowth of so many indigenous species, but also the ominous presence of alien saplings taking root. Timing is crucial to get this right and the time is now.”
Project contacts:
Greenpop Head of Programmes, Georgina Avlonitis – gina@greenpop.org
Greenpop Tree-E-O, Misha Teasdale – misha@greenpop.org
Greenpop office: 021 461 9265
About Greenpop:
Greenpop is an award-winning organisation that envisages a world where people and nature thrive together. They’re on a mission to plant trees, green communities and empower environmental stewards across southern Africa.
Greenpop works on urban greening, reforestation, biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and practical eco-education. Greenpop was founded in 2010 and has since planted over 80 000 trees and inspired over 132 000 budding eco-heros at schools and other urban sites as well as forests and farms across South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania. They have a new project beginning in 2018 in Malawi.
More information:
Greenpop’s Website – www.greenpop.org
Greenpop’s Facebook – https://web.facebook.com/Greenpop/
Greenpop’s Twitter – @Greenpop
Greenpop’s Instagram – @GreenpopSA
GreenpopTreevolution Youtube channel (watch all our videos) – https://www.youtube.com/user/GreenpopTreevolution
