PEOPLE AT NACSA

Jean Lindsay

On 25 June this year Jean Lindsay received a Kudu award from the South African National Parks (SAN Parks) for her contribution to Community Conservation in the Individual Category. The Kudu awards are the annual conservation awards presented by SAN Parks to their staff and officials and in four categories awards are presented to members of the public.

My nomination was submitted by the National Association of Conservancies of South Africa (NACSA) for more than 15 years of contribution to community conservation as a volunteer. As a city resident I have for many years been concerned about the loss of biodiversity, and the effects of pollution on our water, rivers, and air in our urban areas. As a result I have been promoting urban conservancies in an attempt to involve communities in conservation. A conservancy is the voluntary, co-operative environmental management of an area by its owners, communities and user groups, and here in KwaZulu-Natal is registered with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. A conservancy is a community based organization.

Urban conservancies were started by Everton Conservancy here in Durban in 1991. While we do not have the ‘big five’ in our cities, we are striving to preserve the ‘tiny ten’ – such as birds, butterflies, snakes, frogs, lizards ; and promoting our gardens as ecological corridors. There are more than 40 conservancies in eThekwini and they can also be rural, marine, industrial and educational institutions. The Mariannhill landfill conservancy is the only landfill conservancy in the world.

Conservancies can be used as a tool to involve the community in conservation with the resultant education and empowerment benefits

Jean D  Lindsay                                                                 09 August 2009.

 

 

Me with Ms Wanda Mkhutshulwa, Head of Communications, SAN Parks