Project: Feasibility Study for the Re-planting of Traditional Health Practitioners’ (THP) Resource Areas as a Pilot Project for the K2C Biosphere Region Location: Bushbuck Ridge Region, Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Client: Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region C/O: Debby Thomson. Project Partner: Jerry Theron.
Task & implementation: The Traditional Health Practitioners (THP’s) of Bushbuckridge (BBR), part of the K2C BR, were concerned about the unavailability of medicinal plants in the wild around their residential community areas and places where they harvest natural resources. This resulted in the feasibility study looking at possibly growing plants in medicinal plant nurseries and then re-planting into the wild. There were 3 deliverables which Biovista met: 1. identifying the most sort-after medicinal plants, identifying any existing nurseries & establishing the location and status quo of communal resource areas. 2. Establishing the viability of medicinal plant nurseries and re-planting into communal harvest areas; and 3. Developing a possible plan & budget towards implementation of the proposed concept. Biovista worked closely with the THP’s. Although it was determined that it was not feasible to focus on re-planting of (indigenous medicinal) plants in the Natural Resource Areas of Bushbuckridge (because the security of the re-planted plants could not be guaranteed & medicinal plant nurseries have a history of not being viable), an alternative concept was proposed. The proposed concept is known as the Kukula Centre, which is based on agro-forestry principles with additional strategies towards sinking of carbon into the soil as established by aiREG (founded by Johan Bruwer). This project is closely linked to the proposed K2C Voluntary Carbon Credit project.