Urban habitat for endangered wildlife: community biodiversity care network

The project aims to incorporate endangered three plant species from endangered vegetation types, primarily called Cape Flats Sand Fynbos into established community-created pioneer gardens. By focusing specifically on planting gardens in abandoned and overlooked public places, organising local citizens to propagate plants and setting up home nurseries in undergreened communities, this project aims to increase the ecological links between natural spaces and reconnect communities with their indigenous natural heritage. At Communitree our mission is: “to empower people to green public spaces with locally indigenous vegetation and contribute to socio-ecological restoration”. This project is one that demonstrates our commitment to this mission.

Urbanisation and land demand means it is more effective to rehabilitate many small patches, creating a linked biodiversity corridor network. Communitree trains and guides local community members in this process: weeding, preventing dumping, and creating indigenous restoration ‘gardens’, thus locally preventing the primary ecological disturbance: pollution and alien invasives. U-turn, a partner, propagates pioneer plants (for the newly identified sites) while local residents are trained to set up a home nursery. The first phase establishes suitable habitat for endangered species, introduced using restoration protocols. Cuttings and seeds of pioneer species are continuously propagated and reintroduced to our expanding corridor network.