In December 2000, a group of Nature’s Valley families launched a community initiative whose goal was to engage all stakeholders and contribute to proactively maintaining the environmental integrity of Nature’s Valley and the surrounding area. The current, relatively pristine condition of the area is largely due to the legacy of a few committed individuals.
However, Nature’s Valley lies on one of the most sought after stretches of South Africa’s coastline and development in the area which is occurring at an unprecedented rate. The Nature’s Valley community has the potential to play a role in ensuring that proposed development is appropriate and sustainable and that environmental impact is minimised. In order to achieve this, an involved and proactive community is essential, and so the Nature’s Valley Trust (NVTrust) was established to focus on environmental issues.
The mission of the NVTrust is to maintain the long term environmental integrity of Nature’s Valley and surroundings by becoming proactively involved in issues that impact on the future of the area. In order to achieve this mission, the following objectives are in place:
- Promote the principles that underpin applicable environmental policy and legislation;
- Play an active role in supporting good governance;
- Provide a support role for authority organisations relating to the environment;
- Promote an active, mobilised, aware community;
- Develop an outreach programme with neighbouring communities;
- Develop conservation and research projects;
- Monitor and influence new developments; and
- Ensure the future sustainability of the NVTrust’s mission and objectives.
In order to achieve this, The NVTrust operates in four main arenas, namely conservation, education, community and research. The NVTrust takes a holistic view of people and the environment, and use the four programmes to help shape how people live, how they view the world around them, and how they as individuals can contribute to conserving the natural world. The NVTrust believes in partnerships and has many of them.
Conservation:
The NVTrust has a reputation for ensuring that development occurring in the area is done ethically, legally, and responsibly. The NVTrust sees itself as an organisation that helps protect the long term ecological integrity, beauty and wildness that Nature's Valley is world renowned for. The NVTrust is also involved in the ongoing management and protection of the open spaces in Nature's Valley, namely the Fynbos Reserve, the Phyl Martin Park, Padda Puddle and the Dell. The NVTrust’s ethos of conservation is massaged into all the organisation does – this is why the NVTrust was set up and underpins all its efforts in the region
Education:
Education is one of the NVTrust’s flagship programmes, the organisation’s environmental education staff use curriculum-based initiatives to reach over 5 000 children each year, making this one of the biggest environmental education initiatives in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape. The NVTrust believes in investing in the next generation, equipping them to understand why conservation should be an integral part of how they live their lives.
Community:
The NVTrust partners with several local communities in terms of environmental awareness initiatives, community clean-up events, and community re-greening programmes. By resourcing, assisting and educating local communities, the organisation puts conservation issues at the forefront of sustainable community development, which is where it should be.
Research:
The NVTrust’s scientific staff runs long-term ecological monitoring projects that enable the organisation to better understand the environment that people find themselves in. The data collected from these research programmes is fed directly into local conservation authorities and aids them in their efforts to ensure the long-term ecological integrity of the area. Without good quality scientific data, the NVTrust cannot conserve anything.
The NVTrust is a well-established and respected conservation non-governmental organisation (NGO), with a proven donor record, and is looking for new financial partners to enable the organisation to continue some of these important programmes.
To view The Nature’s Valley Trust in the Prodder NGO Directory, click here.
