African Wildlife and Environment Issue 67

CONSERVATION

held, the Working for Ecosystems Project with the eThekwini Municipality. This particular project, involving alien removal, has cleared more than 2 200 ha and created close to 400 jobs. Through the Capacity for Catchments uMngeni Ecological Infrastructure project, WESSA is working in the uMngeni and Upper uMvoti catchments in KwaZulu-Natal to secure the ecological infrastructure in the area. This is being achieved through building the capacity of the key role players- including traditional

Prof Michael Kidd Director of the Institute of Environmental Law at UKZN Principal editor of the South African Journal of Environmental Law and Policy kidd@ukzn.ac.za. As I mentioned earlier, these are just a few highlights relevant to the theme of this conference that demonstrate WESSA’s activities in promoting public participation in caring for the Earth. WESSA is perfectly equipped to contribute both to the objectives of the Network, but also to the intended outcomes of this conference. On behalf of WESSA, I wish you well in your deliberations over the next few days and in the future.” leaders, municipal officials and members of other key organisations – to become responsible custodians of the uMngeni freshwater ecological infrastructure. This capacity-building involves the promotion of citizen science in relation to water management. WESSA has been closely involved in either the creation or promotion (or both) of various initiatives such as the miniSASS tool, which is a simple tool that can be used by anyone – not just experts – to measure water quality and general river health by collecting macroinvertebrates (small animals) from the river as indicators of water quality. This can be done anywhere in the world – in countries such as Brazil and South Africa in sub-tropical heat to Thunder Bay in Canada in sub-zero temperatures. This form of research and water measurement is called bio monitoring or life-monitoring. Isn’t that a wonderful term? Life assessing and life-giving research from desert areas to high rainfall areas! Citizen science in relation to water is also a component in our various educational initiatives, such as our Eco-Schools project, which is an international initiative aimed at supporting environmental learning intheclassroom. Since2003,more than10229schools across all nine provinces have participated in this WESSA programme, reaching 400 000 learners and 16 000 teachers. Also under the Schools programme, the Water Explorer Programme, an initiative of Global Action Plan UK and implemented in South Africa by WESSA, is a fun, inspiring and educational online programme that empowers schools and youth groups all over the world to lead joint action on water issues for their schools and communities. It would be remiss of me not to mention, too, that WESSA is a membership-based organisation, and members of WESSA throughout the country are involved in various local conservation initiatives, including water conservation activities. WESSA acknowledges the establishment of ‘Friends Groups’, also local environment conservationists, members of which are often not WESSA members when they start out.

9 | African Wildlife & Environment | 67 (2017)