• Do you think people harvested this flower in a sustainable way in the past?
• What do you think people harvesting wild flowers today should do to make sure that there will always be flowers to harvest (i.e. to harvest sustainably)?

Once you have come up with your own ideas, go to the website of the Flower Valley Trust to see what people on the Agulhas Plain are doing to make sure that they harvest Fynbos flowers sustainably.

• To become a nature conservator and work in a nature reserve, most people study for a Nature Conservation Diploma at a University of Technology.
• To become an ecological researcher, you will need to go to University and obtain at least an Honours Degree in the Life Sciences. Most researchers continue studying and obtain a Masters Degree or a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in a special area of study, e.g. Botany (plant science), Zoology (animal science), Ecology, Marine Biology, etc.

• Identifying plants and animals and drawing up lists of species found in certain places.
• Surveying properties and producing maps showing where plants, animals and habitats are found.
• Doing Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs): by law, a development that could damage a sensitive environment may not go ahead until an EIA has been done.
• Working as environmental control officers to ensure that EIA recommendations are followed when development takes place.
• Drawing up plans for effective ecological management, e.g. for clearing aliens or restoring indigenous vegetation.

• For hundreds of years, horticulturists around the world have been collecting, breeding and cultivating South Africa’s indigenous plants.
• Many popular garden plants like agapanthus, gazanias, gladioli, proteas and vygies originally came from South Africa. Look at the poster and see which other plants you have seen in people’s gardens.
• Overseas companies have made much more money from trading in our indigenous plants than South African companies have.
• Today, many South Africans are choosing to plant indigenous, water-wise plants in their gardens. The demand for indigenous plants is creating job opportunities for people interested in horticulture and landscaping with South African plants.

• Richard Erskine worked as a gardener for 35 years but was left without a job when his employer died. While looking for work, he got involved with Working for Water and helped to clear alien plants at the Edith Stephens Wetland Park in Lansdowne Road.
• Because of his gardening experience, Richard soon got a job with Working for Wetlands in the plant nursery at Edith Stephens. This nursery grows indigenous plants to help restore natural areas along rivers and wetlands in Cape Town.
• Richard has now started his own business, New Beginnings. He manages three nurseries that supply Working for Wetlands with plants that are indigenous to the Cape Flats.

"We need to restore the whole of the Cape Peninsula to its former glory" says Richard Erskine, who produces indigenous plants for the Working for Wetlands project."

• Many local and international tourists come to Cape Town to enjoy the natural beauty and cultural heritage of the city. The tourism sector provides many job opportunities, such as tourism guiding, catering and accommodation.
• At Rondevlei Nature Reserve in Grassy Park people have started businesses based on nature tourism that benefit the local community:
  • Imvubu Nature Tours is a small nature tourism company based at Rondevlei. It is named after the reserve’s famous hippos. The tourist guides offer guided walks, boat trips, carp fishing and camping at Rondevlei. This makes a visit to the nature reserve exciting and enjoyable.
  • Fay’s Catering Company is a local company that caters for functions that take place at the education centre and boma.
  • Local residents make Bed and Breakfast accommodation available for tourists visiting the area.

• The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry’s Working for Water programme was started in 1995. It employs and trains previously unemployed people to remove invasive alien plants from river catchments.
• By removing thirsty alien plants, Working for Water has increased the amount of water reaching our rivers and dams by about 56 million cubic metres a year. This is the amount of water it would take to fill the Wemmershoek Dam!
• After their training and work experience, some Working for Water contractors have set up their own alien clearing businesses.

Working for Water cleared thousands of alien plants from Edith Stephens Wetland Park.

• Many of the rivers and wetlands in the City of Cape Town are degraded. They are no longer healthy ecosystems for plants and animals, or beautiful places for people to enjoy.
• Working for Wetlands is helping to restore rivers and wetlands to a more natural state.
• Their Peninsula Project provides work and training for previously unemployed people on the Cape Flats. Contractors remove invasive alien plants, reshape the banks of rivers and wetlands, and plant indigenous wetland plants.
• After receiving training and work experience, some Working for Wetlands workers set up their own businesses.

• The City of Cape Town employs a small but committed team of people to manage its network of nature reserves.
• Find out what some of these people do and how they feel about their work: