Any contributed funds will be used to grow spekboom in their nursery for the GWANISHI project, as well as associated restoration costs.
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GWANISHI, as an entity, was formed in July 2021, with the objective to capitalize and expand upon the decades of work of a team of South Africans with a proven track record in land restoration and experience across a multidisciplinary spectrum. With the help of this experienced, highly skilled and diverse team, GWANISHI aims to generate sustainable profits (through trading in carbon credits) and transform the rural areas of the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces through redeveloping ecosystem infrastructure.
Decades of excessive livestock browsing and bad farming practices in the Spekboom thicket (Portulacaria afra — called the porkbush in English and gwanishi in isiXhosa) have resulted in the unfortunate degradation of this vegetation type. This has led to large-scale soil erosion, resulting in the formation of large gullies (called dongas). This has resulted in land with poor soil quality which is no longer capable of providing employment or income, leaving the local communities in a hopeless situation.
To restore ecosystem services, GWANISHI has developed a novel technique which allows spekboom to optimize restoration activities throughout the project’s lifetime, increasing the likelihood of success and the rate of returns. They develop methods which work with local labour, allowing maximum job creation without sacrificing efficiency.
