ABI REVISIONING PROCESS

What the project participants say

Here are some of the Contour Enviro Group’s findings relating to the project participants:

• The project was vital in supporting livelihoods, with approximately 458 people directly or indirectly dependent on the work.
• Project participants wanted to remain involved in the ABI Alien Clearing Project.
• The short-term nature of the employment created considerable challenges.
• More than 60% of the respondents had to wait between 1 and 6 months every year as annual contracts were re-negotiated with DFFE.
• The remaining respondents found additional work to support their income during these times, by working on private farms or with the Department of Agriculture in the Western Cape (LandCare division).
• The bureaucracy of managing government grants is time-consuming and expensive.

The contractors interviewed highlighted that the ABI project:

• Provided training to allow participants to find other jobs at the end of contracts.
• Provided networks to contractors for additional support.

However, many contractors were reluctant to work outside the security of the ABI Alien Clearing Project, despite its shortcomings. As a result of limited job opportunities in the area, 44% did not work during project breaks.

What the landowners say

According to Peter, most landowners said the project had a positive social impact, and 38% said it had a positive ecological impact. They noted the strength of the Department’s Land User Incentive Scheme model (which the project was called at the start), which provided a bottom-up approach to implementation during the early years. This gave landowners flexibility in timing and techniques. In later years, this model was replaced with the “Working for Water” model. This not only impacted on landowners, but also didn’t support the development of small businesses on the landscape.

Contour Enviro Group concluded that the current model should be amended. They suggest the project should:

1.  Capacitate alien clearing teams into broader Natural Resource Management teams to take on multiple aspects of the green economy.

2.  Strengthen conservancies through support from ABI. This should include longer-term planning to protect natural resources (including clearing aliens) and additional training provided by ABI to project participants and landowners.

3.  Provide links between role players across the landscape, to plan for more strategic natural resource management activities.

4.  Develop 3 to 5 year funding plans to implement projects, making use of multiple funders so as not to depend on government funding.

5.  Prepare an annual plan of operation across the landscape, which merges fire and invasives, to address the needs of landowners.