charity profile

Wildlands Conservation Trust is one of South Africa's leading environmental NGO's. Our Vision, A Sustainable Vision for All, is inspired by one of the greatest Statesman of our times, Nelson Mandela, whose vision - Freedom for All – was regarded by many as unobtainable, yet inspired the transformation of South Africa.

Imagine a world where the poorest of the poor could feed themselves, clothe themselves, educate themselves, house themselves – by growing and bartering trees and collecting waste, all while conserving their natural environment and heritage. Our work is focused on three core 'Wildlands Initiatives': Conservation Space, Sustainable Communities and Greening Your Future.

The life changing work that Wildlands does is structured through seven programmes carried out across 12 Community Ecosystem Based Adaptation (CEBA) clusters in six provinces. Our programmes are complimentary and all contribute towards our core focus of building robust ecosystems that underwrite human wellbeing and sustainable development. They are focused areas of intervention aimed at sustainable natural resource use and the development of a green economy.

Collectively Wildlands Initiatives aim to:

• Nurture the development of waste-preneurs, tree-preneurs and food-preneurs “ that collect recycling, grow trees and organic food, and then barter what they have grown and collected for food, clothes, education support, building material, water tanks, solar water heaters, solar powered lighting and bicycles.
• Nurture partnerships that enable effective waste recycling, servicing business, learning, residential, charitable and government communities.
• Nurture partnerships that help communities restore the ecosystems that provide life support, their forests, rivers, wetlands and grasslands.
• Nurture the development of responsible tourism related opportunities, including guiding, lodges, campsites, sustainable natural resource harvesting and game farming.
• Nurture partnerships that support the expansion of the “conservation footprint”, protecting areas that underwrite ecosystem function and supporting the establishment of climate change Adaptation corridors.
• Nurture partnerships that secure the conservation of rare and threatened species.