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Guy Preston receives prestigious conservation awardDecember 2007 This year’s WWF Lonmin Platinum Medals recognised Dr Guy Preston and Dr John Hanks for their invaluable contributions to conservation.
“Guy Preston is an individual who has created an amazing level of awareness of the dire threats presented to our ecosystems by alien invasive plants among both the public and policy makers. To this end, many of the programmes that he has been instrumental in capacitating are widely regarded across the world as model interventions in often-neglected environmental matters,” said WWF Chief Executive, Dr Morné du Plessis.
Guy co-initiated Working for Water to control invasive alien plants when he was appointed Special Advisor to Prof Kader Asmal, then Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry. Currently National Programme Leader for WfW, he has lead the programme since its inception and has co-initiated other significant environmental poverty alleviation programmes, namely Working for Wetlands, Working on Fire and Working for Woodlands. The model has been hailed internationally for its mainstreaming of biodiversity management into the country’s social and economic development programmes and in achieving the elusive “win-win” result. Working for Water is the biggest job creation based conservation programme in South Africa, and as such is a flagship of the Expanded Public Works Programme.
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“I’m proud to have been associated with Guy and the programmes over the last 12-13 years,” said Christo Marais of Working for Water, “Wherever one goes internationally people ask about the programmes and how we’ve achieved what we’ve achieved. With his work rate and ethic, Guy has been instrumental in their success.”
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Says Guy, “The award is, of course, a recognition to all who have made the programmes - and efforts around water and energy conservation - what they are today, including (so importantly) our political leaders. So thank you to you all, and to the many others who have put so much into making a difference to the lives of our people, and to the functioning of the systems upon which we all depend. There is still so much to be done, but I doubt any of us thought we would achieve what we have when we started these programmes all those years ago.” |
Source : WWF Press Release
Also in the December 2007 GumbootDuiwenhoks & Goukou wetlands prove their worthDespite reports of 540 mm of rain in 4 days during late November, the Goukou and Duiwenhoks wetlands seem to have withstood the worst of the recent floods in the Southern Cape – except of course where the wetlands have been degraded.
More »Healthy Wetlands, Healthy PeopleThe theme for 2008, Healthy wetlands, healthy people, emphasises the importance of well-functioning wetlands in ensuring human health and well-being by managing disease, creating space for recreation, and providing clean water, wild food and medicine
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