Community action/South Africa

The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across South Africa.

Global or International events

2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events

Cosmolocal discovery club

Each week 3 different short videos from across the world.

It's time for a Carbon Emissions Land Tax

Authors: John Muir Trust, 1.50 mins.

Date: 2024-12-18

Business Declares Introduction , Ben Tolhurst Director JLL

Authors: Business Declares, 2.29 mins.

Date: 2021-02-11

Te Au Roa o Te Rakihouia

Authors: Department of Conservation, 10.00 mins.

Date: 2026-06-03

Community climate action Scotland, Community climate action, Community action/New Zealand / ...This week's featured UK videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism

Spark Hope

Authors: Makhulu Media, Aug 8, 2023

Cape Town Food Grower's Initiative

Authors: CTT Food Growers Initiative, Jul 6, 2021

21 Stories of Transition: Greyton Transition Town, South Africa

Authors: TransitionTowns, Nov 2, 2015

South Africa - A Town in Transition, Global 3000

Authors: DW News, May 7, 2013

• Future Cape Town "is a leading platform in Africa promoting democracy about the future of cities.

Through our online presence, research, and multi-stakeholder collaborations we work towards expanding public access to urbanism in order to promote a more visionary and inclusive city. We are an independent think-tank, advocating knowledge and citizen engagement to meet the challenges of our city. Future Cape Town is the founding partner of Our Future Cities, which also houses Future Johannesburg, Future Lagos and Future London."

• Transition South Africa (Transition in Action Social Network), Facebook
• UK-South Africa Dialogue
• Cape Town Together, (link not found 16:34, 20 April 2023 (UTC)), a rapid community-led response to Covid -19.

The network was made up of thousands of volunteers coming together to form Community Action Networks or CANs. Over a 160 Community Action Networks, and growing. added 11:59, 22 February 2021 (UTC)

Cape Town Food Grower's Initiative

• More video from CTT Food Growers Initiative, on youtube.com, added 18:05, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
• CTT Food Growers Initiative on facebook.com

Bergnek

Bergnek Community Projects is a community development initiative that was started to empower and uplift women and youth through sustainable business ventures. The program provides access to food, clean water, and reproductive health care for women and girls in school. The long-term aim of the group is to build a community health care center..Shareable.

People's Assembly, "aims to promote accountability and bridge the gap between ordinary people and their elected representatives."

Centre for Environmental Rights, non-profit company and law clinic based in Cape Town

Cape Town Green Map - Joburg green Map

• Bicycle Cape Town, community campaign to promote bicycle culture in Cape Town, Bike Bus, Cape Town
• Bicycling Empowerment Network South Africa
• Critical Mass Cape Town on facebook.com], added 11:41, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

From Wikipedia:South Africa § Biodiversity

South Africa signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on 4 June 1994 and became a party to the convention on 2 November 1995. It has subsequently produced a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which was received by the convention on 7 June 2006. The country is ranked sixth out of the world's seventeen megadiverse countries. Ecotourism in South Africa has become more prevalent in recent years, as a possible method of maintaining and improving biodiversity.

South Africa has lost a large area of natural habitat in the last four decades, primarily due to overpopulation, sprawling development patterns and deforestation during the 19th century. South Africa is one of the worst affected countries in the world when it comes to invasion by alien species with many (e.g. black wattle, Port Jackson willow, Hakea, Lantana and Jacaranda) posing a significant threat to the native biodiversity and the already scarce water resources. ^W

The protected areas of South Africa include national parks and marine protected areas managed by the national government, public nature reserves managed by provincial and local governments, and private nature reserves managed by private landowners. Most protected areas are intended for the conservation of flora and fauna. National parks are maintained by South African National Parks (SANParks). A number of national parks have been incorporated in transfrontier conservation areas.

Protected areas may also be protected for their value and importance as historical, cultural heritage or scientific sites. ^W

Bottom Road Sanctuary: A Post-Apartheid Community Managed Nature Sanctuary

The area around Zeekoevlei lake, in South Africa, has had extremely high concentrations of threatened native plant species. This is partly because its northern bank was used as a garbage dump for many years. Then, in 2005, the city of Cape Town rezoned the area into parcels of land to be purchased by people who suffered through the Apartheid. The residents who moved in joined forces with nature conservation officials and local environmental organizations to restore the wetland. In practice, this meant residents largely left the space open and undeveloped. Some residents have actively removed invasive species, allowing a particularly threatened plant species, the fynbos, to thrive again in its natural habitat. The Bottom Road Sanctuary now has over 50,000 native plants, attracting many kinds of wildlife. It also has walkways, benches, and barbecuing spaces for nearby residents to share. Adrien Labaeye...Shareable, May 21, 2018

• Bottom Road Sanctuary

See also Germany, Open spaces

• Topic overview and cosmolocal connections:
  • Networks - News
  • Cycling activism - News
  • Community action on biodiversity - News
  • Open spaces activism - News
  • Food activism - News - Resources
  • Towards sustainable economies - News
  • Citizens data initiative - News
  • Public interest law resources - News
  • Maps for community action - News

From Wikipedia:South Africa

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. The country consists of nine provinces, and is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 miles) of coastline that stretches along the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. South Africa also encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of 1,221,037 square kilometres (471,445 square miles), the country has a population of over 63 million people, making it the sixth-most populated country in Africa, and 24th-most in the world.

Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest and most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban.

Archaeological findings suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa about 2.5 million years ago, and modern humans inhabited the region over 100,000 years ago. The first known people were the indigenous Khoisan, and Bantu-speaking peoples, who migrated in waves, from west and central Africa to the region 2,000 to 1,000 years ago. In the north, the Kingdom of Mapungubwe formed in the 13th century, and the Venda Kingdom in the 17th century. In 1652, the Dutch established the first European settlement at Table Bay, Dutch Cape Colony. Its invasion in 1795, and the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806 led to British occupation. The Mfecane, a period of significant upheaval, led to the formation of various African kingdoms, including the Zulu Kingdom. The region was further colonised, and the Mineral Revolution saw a shift towards industrialisation and urbanisation. Following the Second Boer War, the Union of South Africa was created in 1910 after the amalgamation of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange River colonies, becoming a republic after the 1961 referendum. The multi-racial Cape Qualified Franchise in the Cape was gradually eroded, and the vast majority of Black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994.

External links

• Earthlife Africa, South African environmental and anti-nuclear organisation founded in August 1988, in Johannesburg. Initially conceived of as a South African version of Greenpeace, the group began by playing a radical, anti-apartheid, activist role. ELA is arguably now more of a reformist lobby or pressure group. Considered by some to be a key voice in the emerging environmental justice movement, Earthlife Africa has been criticised for being too radical, and by others for "working with traditional conservation movements" in furthering the environmental struggle. ^W
• Solar energy in South Africa