Aliens busted at Mataffin
They are destroyers of natural history and identity of ecosystems.
MBOMBELA – The South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) often conducts awareness programmes facilitating learning programmes during the celebration of environmental calendar days.
One of these are the National Weed Buster Week, celebrated in the first week of October. According to Mr Sekgabo Kedijang, spokesman for Sanbi, invasive alien plants are destroyers of natural history and identity of ecosystems.
He adds that some of the known impacts include extinction and reduction of threatened species and their habitats; loss of food and shelter for indigenous insects, birds, and other wildlife; and alterations to the frequency and intensity of natural fires.
It also causes economic damage through agricultural losses and requires large annual expenditures for weed control.
Cyril Clarke Secondary School in Mataffin was on the receiving end of this Sanbi awareness programme. Working on Fire, Working for Water and Sembcorp Silulumanzi chemically and manually weeded invasive plants in the area, and planted indigenous plants and trees to make a conservation difference at the school and in the community.
