Submission Form
Please complete the following details, maintaining the same format as set out below (do not add
rows or columns unless indicated otherwise). Please focus on summarising details and provide
additional documentation where details are required. Refer directly to supporting documentation
where relevant.
Please list all supporting documentation under section 27, and attach documentation to your
application - including feasibility studies, business plans, environmental assessments, budgets,
funding applications, etc. For private companies and non-governmental organisations please
include the necessary tax clearance details with your application.
Submit completed applications, together with a covering letter and supporting documentation to
Julia Cloete (Julia@8linkd.com) electronically by 16h00, Friday the 20th May. Please indicate in
your covering letter if you will be using the window period to submit additional project
documentation and ensure all supporting documentation is submitted by Wednesday 25th May,
14h00. In the event that documents cannot be submitted electronically. Please ensure delivery to
2 Sherwood Drive, Forest Town, 2193 by 16h00 on Friday the 20th May.
For queries please contact Julia Cloete on 082 765 0879
Project Details
1. Project Title
Biodiversity rehabilitation and carbon sequestration in the Baviaanskloof and Great Fish River
Nature Reserve
2. Primary Implementing Organisation
Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency
3. Project Manager
Dave Balfour
4. Contact Email
5. Contact Telephone
Dave.Balfour@ecpta.co.za
0829239222
6. Secondary Contact Email
7. Secondary Contact Telephone
0437424450
8. Project Location
(List the town or closest town; the district municipality and if possible the GPS co-ordinates of the project.
For multiple project sites, list for each site. Details necessary for mapping purposes.)
Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve – Patensie – Cacadu District Municipality
Great Fish River Nature Reserve – Grahamstown – Cacadu and Amathole District Municipalities
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9. Project Description
(Compile a general outline briefly describing the project as a whole in less than 500 words.)
The objectives of the project are to restore the biodiversity of the degraded thicket in three project
areas (the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve, the Addo Elephant National Park and the Great Fish
River Nature Reserve) in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The South African National
Parks are dealing with the Addo Elephant Park component of the project and the Eastern Cape
Parks and Tourism Agency is dealing with the Baviaanskloof and the Great Fish River Nature
Reserve components. All these areas have been degraded significantly by previous farming
practices which ran for more than a century.
Phase one of the project was initiated approximately ten years ago with small scale experimental
planting in these areas – in which much of the underlying science was initiated. This has been
successful and the project is now being scaled up in such as way that it taps into the carbon
markets – particularly the carbon sequestration markets, and the idea is that the carbon markets
can be used to fund the biodiversity restoration in these habitats on state lands (Phase two).
Validation for entry into the voluntary carbon markets is now 90% complete and the Project
Documents should be submitted shortly for full validation.
Restoration of the biodiversity is a lengthy process but funds are used to initiate the restoration by
planting cuttings of the indigenous tree is Portulacaria afra in specific ecologically appropriate
planting sites within the project areas. The planting and maintenance of the project sites are labour
intensive and will be financed through funds generated by the sale of accrued carbon credits. The
funds raised by the project will be managed by the Drylands Account (A Development Bank of
Southern Africa Account – developed in conjunction with the Department of Environmental Affairs).
In terms of the formal carbon market the project has the potential to be expanded to areas outside
of the initial three areas defined (all on state land) to areas that meet the selection criteria specified
in the Project Document (probably on private land) as and when considered appropriate by the
Parties – this will be phase three of the project.
In addition to this there remain a number of possibilities to engage the informal carbon markets for
the biodiversity rehabilitation of thicket. These avenues will also be explored in phase two and
phase three of the project.
What is important to note about this project is that it falls into the “Payment for ecosystem
Services” umbrella where the economic value of ecosystem services (in this case carbon
sequestration), are built into the economy and can be used to generate significant jobs. In addition
to this the project falls squarely into the Provincial Industrial Development Strategy as well as
contributing towards significant job creation and enabling revenue generation for the ECPTA.
Ultimately this project is about creating an enabling context for innovation in the environmental
management field.
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10. Project Timeframe
(Outline the expected timeframes of the project on the existing implementation plan. If the project is
expected to continue indefinitely, indicate the timeframe during which the project will reach financial and
institutional sustainability.)
Phase one of the project has been going for over ten years now and has been driven through
the Natural Resource programmes of (initially) DWAF (now DEA).
Phase two of the project will be conducted in the protected areas in the thicket biome. This
phase of the project has been initiated and the various parties involved have signed an MOA
for implementation. The implementation stage will be engage in a detailed planning phase of
18months likely to end in December 2012. During this phase the carbon markets will also be
approached for the sale of carbon. This is a critical phase for the project as the funds
generated through the sale of carbon are the funds that will be used to plant the “spekboom”.
Phase two could last between five and twenty years.
Depending on the success and lessons learnt from phase two, phase three carries the potential
to expand the practice into other appropriate state land and private lands. This will expand the
available lands for planting to hundreds of thousands of ha and has the potential to last for up
to 25 years to 50 years or more – the job creation potential of this phase is enormous.
11. Key Outcomes
(List the objectives or key outcomes that the project would achieve once implemented.)
Ramping up of the restoration of biodiversity through the planting of spekboom in the severely
degraded thicket in the eastern Cape on both state and private lands.
The incorporation of improved environmental valuing into the local economy with the potential
to generate a significant numbers of jobs in the province.
This project has already created in the region of 50 to 100 jobs per annum and will ramp this
figure up to 200 to 300 as it develops.
12. Project Stage
(Describe at what stage the project is in terms of research, preparations and implementation.)
A significant level of research (much of it published) as well as pilot studies has been
completed over the past decade. The validation of the project as one having the potential to
enter the voluntary carbon markets is 90% completed. The key parties have signed an MOA
for the implementation of phase 2.
There are two critical next steps. The first is to obtain validation from the voluntary carbon
market. The second is to develop the project plan once the validation has been achieved.
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13. Project Budget
(Summarise the project budget for the first three years (or relevant part there of) of the project and attach
detailed project budgets and business plan to the application).
Phase one of the project is currently spending in the region of R10million per annum in the
three protected areas in the province. The scale of the ramping up of the work through carbon
sequestration funds is not at this stage known as this will depend on the prices obtained on the
market as well as on the ability of the parties to implement the project. For example a
potentially key limiting factor in the progression of the project is the availability of material from
P. afra to plant. For this it is likely that large scale nurseries will be required to establish a base
for planting. For this reason it is likely to take some time to ramp the project up to full budget.
14. Funding / Investment Requirements
(Summarise immediate funding / investment requirements of the project, detailing the nature of the
funds needed (grant / loan / investment / etc) and current efforts to secure necessary funds.
Please provide any necessary supporting documentation).
This project will require zero budget outside of the operational budget of the ECPTA
15. Institutional Arrangements
(Describe what institutional arrangements have been made for project implementation and provide
supporting documentation where available. Please provide particulars of implementing agents and technical
partners, as well as details of land use agreements with landowners where applicable. In the case of joint
ventures, public private partnerships or other co-managment agreements please attach necessary
agreements or memorandums of understanding. In the absence of finalised agreements please indicate
when they will be finalised and submit whatever drafts are available. Please use a separate line for each
additional partner.)
For Phase one of the project the DEA Natural Resource Programme was the driving institution.
This programme worked through MOUs signed with the ECPTA as well as with SANParks. An
number of implementing agencies were appointed through simple Service Level Agreements.
For Phase two of the project an “MOA for implementation” has been signed by the parties (i.e.
DEA Natural Resource Programmes, SANParks, ECPTA, and DBSA). The details of the
institutional arrangements are captured in that document, including the governance approach
as well as the details of the Drylands account – which will be used for managing funds.
16. Project Support Requirements
(Describe what project support is still required to ensure the success of the project. Include reference to
fiscal, institutional and regulatory challenges. Highlight areas in which you are already seeking support, and
areas in which DEDEA could provide specific assistance. Please use a separate box for each area of
support / challenge)
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17. Challenge
Requirement
/
Support Efforts Underway
Possible DEDEA support
An enabling environment
None as yet
Streamlining of processes
Ensuring the balance between
biodiversity rehabilitation and
commercial interests
None as yet other
than that which has
been negotiated
between the
parties
Support in our approach
Accessing the informal carbon
markets
None as yet
Creating an enabling
context in the province for
communication with
stakeholders
Link to Cooperatives Fund of the
ECDC
None as yet
Institutional and
administrative processes to
do this.
18. Job Creation and Local Economic Development
(Estimate the number of jobs that will be created with a degree of justification and describe other economic
impact that the project will have. Economic impact can be measured as the total annual operational cost of
the project. Where the project does not have direct job creation or economic development impacts, describe
the main beneficiaries of the project (social and/or environmental), quantifying where possible.)
At full operations: Nursery processes (approximately 50 jobs); Planting processes (approx 200
jobs) & monitoring (approximately 30 jobs).
19. Environmental Impact
(Include EIA or scoping documentation – summarise results here.)
No EIA is required as the project revolves around rehabilitation of previously degraded
landscapes
20. Mitigation / Carbon
(Outline the following: 1) Estimate the potential carbon offset, 2) Justify whether the project is legible for the
CDM market and, 3) Detail the low-carbon technology used.)
The entire project of biodiversity rehabilitation is concurrently a carbon sequestration
project. The project validation documents (for the voluntary carbon market) estimate the
potential carbon sequestered. However there remain many details to be determined on the
ground that will provide the final figures (for phase two). Moving into phase three of the
project will ramp these figures up significantly.
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21. Adaptation
(Describe how the project will advance adaptation practices.)
The rehabilitation of the landscape to it pre-degradation levels of biodiversity is one of the more
powerful adaptation strategies currently available to land managers. This is based on the
currently best available science which indicates that complex and intact ecosystems are far
more resilient to perturbation (e.g. climate change) than degraded and simplified systems are.
Thus the project is strongly oriented towards climate change adaptation within protected areas
but will be significantly more so once phase three is initiated.
22. BEE Accreditation
(Please Include BEE Certification details or summarise evidence of broad based black economic
empowerment resulting from your organisations activities.)
All processes are currently being run through state or para-statal agencies and all Equity policies
will be followed.
23. Team Details
(Summarise according to headings, include full CV’s as an attachment and duplicate these row if there are
more than one person in the core team. Relevant experience is as important as qualifications and must be
summarised with reference to a detailed CV.)
24. Name
Dave Balfour
Team Position
Leader for the ECPTA
Highest Qualification and
qualification most related
to project
PhD
Number of years related
experience.
15+
Summary of experience
See CV
25. Name
Hector Magome
Team Position
Leader for SANParks
Highest Qualification and
qualification most related
to project
PhD
Number of years related
experience.
10+
Summary of experience
Not currently available
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26. Name
Christo Marais
Team Position
Team Leader for DEA
Highest Qualification and
qualification most related
to project
PhD
Number of years related
experience.
10+
Summary of experience
Not currently available
27. Additions
(Include all reports, feasibility studies and legal documentation that can justify the validity of your proposal
and provide background to the project. List the titles of these reports here and attach documentation to
submission. Name files for attachment as follows: Organisation name_File name eg DEDEA_Business Plan)
28. References
(Please list three contactable referee’s for the project. These should be impartial parties with knowledge of
the project and/or the organisations track record, but no direct interest in the organisation.)
Name
Organisation
Contact Details
Anthony Mills
Independent
consultant
mills@sun.ac.za
NMMU
rmc@kingsley.co.za
Richard Cowling
0832352424
0422980259
Fundisile Mketeni
DEA
FMketeni@environment.gov.za
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