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Open Day on the West Coast |
By Melissa Baird, Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve
 On the 6th October 2007 The Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve hosted its first open day at the West Coast Fossil Park. People from the surrounding communities stopped by to enjoy local arts and crafts, marching bands, musicians, and environmental films, and met representatives of the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve to learn more about what the biosphere means to them.
The Cape West Coast Biosphere stretches northward from Diep River in Cape Town, South Africa to the Berg River and covers 378,000 hectares of coastal lowland plains. It is unique in terms of its natural beauty, biodiversity, history, culture and location but the future of the area requires special management if it is to thrive.
The communities on the West Coast recognised that urgent action was necessary to ensure that appropriate development plans be put into place. The decision was therefore made to proclaim the Cape West Coast Biosphere, supported by all three spheres of government. The UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme designated the area a biosphere reserve. The local and provincial government completed the formal designation procedure in November 2000 and it was ratified by the Minister of Environment and Tourism.
There are 459 biospheres globally, 65 of them in Africa and 4 in South Africa. All of them promote a balanced approach to the development of humans and the preservation of biodiversity in a particular region. The aim of the Cape West Coast Biosphere is to:
- Foster human development that is ecologically sustainable.
- Conserve the landscapes, vegetation and species of the West Coast.
- Lend support for research, monitoring, education and information exchange related to local, national and global issues of conservation and development.
As part of the Open Day’s events a series of documentary films courtesy of Earthnotes and DLIST were on offer. These included “A Fragile Harmony – The West Coast National Park”, “The World’s Large Marine Ecosystems”, “A Last Glimpse: Desert Coast”, “Vanishing Waters” and “BCLME, Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem”.
The films proved to be a good motivator to bring people to the experiential day as it was noted that it is not often that such good quality documentaries are made available for public viewing. Without doubt the medium of film is very effective in helping people to understand issues affecting the environment.
Another important note as a result of the day’s events was that we need to cater to children in a more direct way. A suggestion was made to host a specific children’s festival that could have community theatre incorporated either before or after the showing of the documentaries to ensure the children understood the issues in question.
The Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve will be launching a kid’s club in 2008 to facilitate this need to increase awareness around environmental issues and encourage the children of the region to become true stakeholders in the future of their environment that is vital to the sustainable development of the communities in the region.
If you would like to join The Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve as a member, the kid’s club or take part in the next experiential day please send your details to info@capebiosphere.co.za. For more information visit www.capebiosphere.co.za or CWCBR’s kiosk on DLIST.
About A Fragile Harmony – The West Coast National Park:
Langebaan Lagoon and the bird islands of Saldanha Bay make up the heart of South Africa’s West Coast National Park. A film from 1991, it provides a good basis to think about the pressures we have been putting on this intricate but fragile ecosystem in the last decades.
Credits: Neil Curry 1991 South Africa 55min
About A Last Glimpse: Desert Coast:
this film portrays the fragile and diverse arid lands that extend from the Orange River to the Namib Desert, taking us through some of the most extraordinary adaptations of inhabitants of this area to the prevailing harsh conditions.
Credits: Claudio Velásquez and Francois Odendaal 2003 South Africa 54min
To read more about these and other films please visit Earthnotes.
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