Conservancies succeed against the odds

Amazingly, a chronic shortage of funds, members and public support, coupled at times with a frustrating lack of action from local authorities, aren’t holding back the 15 KZN conservancies in the Ugu district.

Despite many challenges, the volunteer conservation warriors who belong to the conservancies are forging ahead, notching up success after success. This was evident at their productive first quarterly meeting, jointly hosted by Ivungu River Reserve and Kongweni Conservancies at Fiddlewood Farm in Margate last week.

Right from the start, the mood was very positive. Representatives from all the conservancies were invited to give brief presentations outlining their problems, successes, projects and ideas. Those not able to attend were asked to submit short written reports, which were read out. After everyone had their say, they took part in a lively round table discussion.

The conservancies, which together take care of a mosaic of reserves, protected areas and stretches of coastline, are incredibly diverse. Some are well-established, well-resourced, have strong membership and are able to tackle major projects. On the other end of the scale are small, battling conservancies that, against all odds, manage to keep afloat. They, particularly, need public support.

However, all had common challenges. Although most take care of municipal properties, municipal grants have long dried up, and fundraising has become a priority.

The resilience of these underfunded entities is, however, amazing. Members really know how to think out the box with their successful fundraising ideas, which include monthly night markets, big sporting events, eco-fairs, family events and public entertainment.

These fundraising efforts often double up as PR exercises that address another common problem – lack of public awareness and the difficulty of recruiting members. During the discussion period, members spoke about the urgent need to attract young families and host programmes for children.

Many of the conservancies enjoy good relationships with ratepayers associations, Tidy Towns and other civic groups and often receive financial and other support from them. All the same, conservancies reported concerns about having to balance the budget on a month to month basis.

Service delivery, including problems with polluted rivers, sewage system failure and, recently, the municipal strike-induced refuse removal breakdown, was another issue. Joan Gallagher of Bendigo Conservancy spoke about the ‘Illusion of Inclusion’ with authorities appearing to lend a sympathetic ear regarding conservancies’ complaints but then doing nothing about the reported problems. They also expressed frustration about the lack of support for eco-tourism in this area.

All agreed this sort of lack of action was extremely frustrating, and ideas were exchanged about how conservancies could force authorities to deliver the mandated services.

All conservancies were fighting – and winning – a constant, expensive battle to control or eliminate damaging invasive alien plants, with a large section of budgets assigned to deal with this. Surprisingly, a number of better established conservancies are able to employ part-time trained workers to assist with this, often with ratepayer associations’ support.

Other perennial challenges were poaching, dog hunting and snares, illegal indigenous tree cutting, damage to admiralty reserve vegetation, private pathways cut into the admiralty reserve and other infringements of environmental laws. Although conservancies reported frustration regarding their watchdog function, there have been successful prosecutions.

While many frustrations and challenges were reported, local conservancies have notched up so many spectacular successes, not only regarding fundraising but also by driving dynamic and ambitious projects to educate the public and to protect and preserve this area’s priceless green heritage.

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