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.