Edith Stevens Nature Reserve visit

Edith Stevens Nature Reserve

Also known as Edith Stevens Wetland Park, the Reserve is situated between Philippi North, Hanover Park, Manenberg, and Gugulethu on the Cape Flats. It is a prime location to centralise and gather communities, which the team at Edith Stevens are doing daily. Reserve Education Officer, Stacy Michaels promotes citizen science, and the local communities are educated on environmental issues that impact their neighbourhoods. These include conservation, recycling, biodiversity, plant propagation, urban farming, pollution clean-ups, and water conservation.

The Umvoto Foundation

The Umvoto Foundation (TUF) are participating in a revitalisation and clean-up programme of the Lotus River Canal which drains from the Cape Town International Airport across the Cape Flats toward Zeekoevlei passing the Edith Stevens Nature Reserve. Members of TUF visited Edith Stevens on Tuesday 25^th May 2021 to see the current condition of the Lotus River Canal and the clean-up program that the Edith Stevens staff are conducting. Working alongside Manenberg residents’ litter is collected and sorted for recycling, the riverbank above the concrete canal is being profiled to ameliorate flood control, and Carpobrotus edulis (sour fig) is being planted to stabilise the canal banks and for production into fruit jams for the community. Much work is to be done, but continuous support from local communities, NPOs like TUF, and the incredible staff of Edith Stevens makes this work possible and achievable.

It’s not the first time Edith Stevens and TUF’s sister consulting Umvoto Africa have partnered up. Read more about the stewardship course and Great Lotus Canal Challenge.