Last updated: October 2021
"Cape Town Environmental Education Trust (CTEET) is a non-profit environmental education organization that seeks to improve both the inclusiveness of urban nature reserves and the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation by connecting nearby disadvantaged and racialized communities with municipally-owned nature reserves." (1 p15) CTEET has 3 flagship projects: providing low-cost environmental education programs to children, offering training and development to Cape Town youth to access jobs in the Green Economy and supporting and driving conservation initiatives in Cape Town through its Nature Care Fund (2).
Source: https://cteet.co.za/site-management/
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Parks and urban forests
- Other
Key challenges
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Habitat and biodiversity conservation
- Environmental quality
- Waste management
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Social cohesion
- Social justice and equity
- Environmental education
- Environmental and climate justice
- Health and well-being (SDG 3)
- Creation of opportunities for recreation
- Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
- Economic development: service sectors
- Employment/job creation
Focus
Maintenance and management of urban nature, Protection of natural ecosystems, Knowledge creation and awareness raising
Project objectives
- "Conducting high quality, low-cost outdoor education programmes designed to challenge and change the lives of youth"
- "Support the City of Cape Town's Biodiversity Network through the provision of expertise for the management of public and private conservation areas." (1 p5)
- Offer training and career development pathways for adults from disadvantaged communities that later on can lead to employment in the nature conservation sector (1)
- Increase the social inclusion of low income and racialised communities in Cape Town's nature reserves (1 p15)
Implementation activities
- Offer environmental education programs in municipal nature reserves for children coming from disadvantaged communities (1)
- Offer job skills training to young adults from disadvantaged communities
- Provide financial background and manage "conservation monitors to ensure that the land is set aside from development function as biodiversity protection is looked after and not used for inappropriate purposes" (1)
- Offer access to nature reserves for previously excluded due to financial and accessibility reasons (1)
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity conservation:
- Protect and enhance urban habitats
- Preserve and strengthen existing habitats and ecosystems
- Means for conservation governance
- Raise public awareness
- Public engagement
- Capacity building
Main beneficiaries
- Citizens or community groups
- Marginalized groups: Socio-economically disadvantaged populations (e.g. low-income households, unemployed)
- Young people and children
Governance
Management set-up
- Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Non-government organisation/civil society
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Other
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
Cape Town Environmental Education Trust (CTEET) "was originally established by a city employee, a local business person and community member interested in offering children the opportunity to see nature in their own neighbourhood (1 p16). Since its foundation, CTEET collaborates with the City of Cape Town to realise its flagship projects in environmental education, nature conservation program and training and employment of youth from low-income communities (1). CTEET has a memorandum of understanding with the City of Cape Town allowing it to use municipality facilities and resources, including the use of municipality office space and using the nature reserves for their education and training activities. This institutional arrangement with the city is considered to be highly optimal as it provides stability to the organisation while as a non-profit organisation, CTEET is eligible for funding coming from various sources that are not available for the municipality (1). Finally, this partnership is also ideal for public relations reasons as low-income communities are more likely to approach a non-governmental organisation than the municipality with issues and complaints in Cape Town (1).
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
No
... a national policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a local policy or strategy?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
€500,000 - €2,000,000
Source(s) of funding
- Private Foundation/Trust
Type of funding
- Unknown
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Environmental quality
- Improved waste management
- Green space and habitat
- Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
- Increased protection of threatened species
- Improved prevention or control of invasive alien species
- Increased spread of native/heirloom/open-pollinated seed
- Increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales
Economic impacts
- Increase of green jobs (e.g. paid employment positions)
- Stimulate development in deprived areas
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Increased visibility and opportunity for marginalised groups or indigenous peoples
- Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Cultural heritage and sense of place
- Improvement in people’s connection to nature
- Increased awareness of flora and fauna as culturally and historically meaningful
- Education
- Increased support for education and scientific research
- Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
- Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts, Achieved impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
Yes
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No
References
1) Tozer, L. (2018). NATURVATION - Case Study Working Paper: Cape Town, South Africa
2) Cape Town Environmental Education Trust. (2020). Integrated Report 2020. CTEET. Accessed on 24th March 2021, Source link
3) Cape Town Environmental Education Trust. (2021). Nature Care Fund. CTEET. Accessed on 24th March 2021,
4) Cape Town Environmental Education Trust. (2021). Site Management. Accessed on 24th March 2021, Source link
5) Cape Town Environmental Education Trust. (2021). Environmental Education Accessed on 24th March 2021, Source link
2) Cape Town Environmental Education Trust. (2020). Integrated Report 2020. CTEET. Accessed on 24th March 2021, Source link
3) Cape Town Environmental Education Trust. (2021). Nature Care Fund. CTEET. Accessed on 24th March 2021,
4) Cape Town Environmental Education Trust. (2021). Site Management. Accessed on 24th March 2021, Source link
5) Cape Town Environmental Education Trust. (2021). Environmental Education Accessed on 24th March 2021, Source link
Source: https://cteet.co.za/site-management/
Source: https://cteet.co.za/species-conservation/