An influential champion for nature in eThekwini Municipality, shared a video of his colleagues at work, the eThekwini Municipality Palmiet Enviro Champs.
The champs worked towards greening, collecting litter in and around the City, reported water leaks and blocked manholes to the City’s technical team.
The champs were funded by a Municipal budget, which came from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) concessional loan, towards the Infrastructure Investment Programme of SA.
The 3 year project (2019 – 2022) was a community initiative to protect the Palmiet River Catchment in the City.
The DBSA used the eThekwini champs in their latest report, as an example of lessons learnt to fund effective, inclusive, biodiversity and nature projects.
The report titled “A case study on nature data” was commissioned by the African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), a leading member of ANCA and Oliver Wyman.
According to the report, about 6,400 animal species and 3,100 plant species in Africa alone, are on the brink of extinction.
Some 66% of wildlife populations have declined since 1970.
Boitumelo Mosaka, DBSA CEO said
in the report that financial institutions are best placed to address global biodiversity loss.
The DBSA, inspired by the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), is leading the way on how it can advance integrating nature and climate finance solutions into its decision-making process.
It has developed a draft integrated Biodiversity Strategic Framework as well as its climate policy framework, to mobilize funding for nature projects.
The DBSA is also developing a screening tool for potential projects, using data from the WWF water risk filter and the IBAT Geographic Risk data.
DBSA’s Head of Environment and Sustainability, Siloshini Naidoo, emphasizes the commitment to sustainable development in Africa, stating, “our collaboration with ANCA and Oliver Wyman underlines our dedication to promoting long-term prosperity for the continent through environmentally conscious investments.”
One of the significant challenges highlighted in the report, is how to assess the environmental impact of large-scale, complex linear infrastructure and scattered development projects.
To address this, DBSA developed a tool to accurately assess multiple projects in different locations. This was done in partnership with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and the Global Environment Fund (GEF).
Picture: The Broke backpacker via Pininterest