Restoring a wetland’s ecosystem by transforming invasive species into biochar
With its 47,000 hectares, the Nuwejaars River Nature Reserve is heavily covered by invasive alien plants. They pose a threat to its biodiversity.
This IKI Small Grants project aims to protect the reserve and make its ecosystems more resilient to climate change. To do so, a team of up to 14 people from disadvantaged communities remove the invasive alien trees, gaining income from this activity. The project starts with a mapping and identifying of infested areas of invasive trees. Afterwards, trees are cut, and the invasive alien biomass is processed through pyrolysis into wood vinegar for use as eco-friendly fertilizer or herbicide and biochar. Additionally, the produced biochar, wood vinegar and several other feed supplements are further pelletised and sold as domestic animal feed. Biochar and wood vinegar have unique feed advantages which are untapped in South Africa. The project aims to remove 800 tons of invasive alien biomass, which largely contributes to biodiversity conservation.
CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
IKI Small Grants supports Nuwejaars River Nature Reserve in their organisational capacity development through:
- Machine operator’s certificates for chainsaws, tractor drivers, and pellet plant operators
- Small to medium enterprise management skills course
- First aid training courses
ABOUT THE ORGANISATION
The Nuwejaars River Nature Reserve was registered in 2003 as a not-for-profit organisation consisting of 25 members committed to conservation, farming sustainably, and fighting climate change. The Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area (SMA) is found within a biodiversity hotspot – the Agulhas Plain, at the southernmost tip of Africa. The objective of the organisation is to maintain the high productive agriculture of the area with all its work opportunities and food production, while conserving and managing the natural areas of rivers, wetlands – an area of approximately 22,000 hectares.