REFORESTATION PROJECT AND SPEKBOOM

A large reforestation project on the Kuzuko private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape will see more than 25 million Spekboom cuttings (Portulacaria afra) planted over the next 18 months. This is part of an ongoing rewilding process that will boost biodiversity, create jobs in the region and tackle climate change by capturing about 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the next 30 years.

The project is a direct response to the call for action by the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration for individuals and organisations to rapidly upscale the implementation of ecosystem restoration projects so that millions of hectares of degraded land are restored by the year 2030.

Spekboom is an indigenous succulent tree with beneficial effects on the landscape – fallen leaves are trapped by the plant’s stems, decomposing to form new topsoil; the canopy slows rainwater, reducing runoff and further loss of topsoil; stems and root systems allow water into the soil, increasing moisture content, and the shade from the canopy reduces the soil surface temperature, slowing the rate of moisture loss – all of which allows other species to flourish.

Kuzuko is a VERRA carbon standard verified project, so carbon credits can be issued for the carbon sequestered by the Spekboom thicket, which will be used to repay the initial investment, fund further restoration work and additional social initiatives. The project is developed under VERRA’s Climate Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Standards.

www.kuzukoproject.co.za