African Wildlife and Environment Issue 72

Friends of Baviaanskloof on a hike in the Bergplaas area. Hikers are walking on the 120 million year old African Land Surface where Mountain Zebra were unsuccessfully reintroduced

concerns worldwide and environmental wisdom resulted inanamazing talk.Henotedthat inthegreater Nelson Mandela Bay five of the seven major biomes are represented, which is unique internationally. The Region used the opportunity to also showcase some of the inspiring work done by our members and by local partners. Next time that our Region hosts the AGM, we hope to be able to include local initiatives beyond the activities of Grahamstown and Nelson Mandela Bay that are more representative of the entire Eastern Cape. Watch this space!

amongst the youth. Contacts made by Ziyanda showed that there are several organisations working in the environmental field not previously on WESSA’s radar. It was decided that WESSA needs to facilitate better networking amongst these organisations and the Algoa Bay Branch is seeking to strengthen an existing environmental forum run by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. Ziyanda is now working on a training coordinator contract for WESSA in Durban. Last year, the Region was proud to host WESSA’s AGM at the Pine Lodge Resort, Cape Recife, in Port

Elizabeth in September, with the theme being WESSA membership’s ‘Local initiatives for the environment’ (‘Life’). The day of the AGM coincided with International Coastal Cleanup Day and many of the delegates got up early and collected about a dozen bags of refuse from the beach adjoining the Pine Lodge Resort. In line with ‘Life’ Dr Andrew Muir, CEO of the Port Elizabeth-based Wilderness Foundation was the keynote speaker at the AGM. Dr Muir’s international exposure and standing, knowledge of environmental

Mervyn Brouard EC Regional Committee 082 875 4210 mpb@telkomsa.net Jenny Gon Regional Representative 079 038 6809 j-gon@intekom.co.za

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