From the fynbos of the Cape to the wetlands of KwaZulu-Natal, the grasslands of the Free State to the wild coastlines of the Eastern Cape, South Africa is one of the most extraordinary places on Earth.
We are one of only 17 megadiverse countries in the world, home to nine different biomes, more than 150 marine ecosystem types, and plants and animals found nowhere else on the planet.
And yet, for many of us, nature has come to feel like something separate from daily life, rather than the foundation that quietly holds it up. It’s in the water that fills our kettles in the morning, the food on our plates, the energy that charges our phones, and the air that fills our lungs.
“Nature isn’t somewhere else. It’s not a place we visit on weekends or watch on TV. Just like for the birds, the bees and every other living creature, it’s our home,” says Pedzi Gozo, Executive Manager of Strategic Communications at WWF South Africa. “The more connected we feel to it, the more naturally we protect it.”
To help South Africans reconnect with the natural world around them, the environmental organisation is launching a new brand campaign, This Is Where We Live. Built around the message – Nature Is Our Home, the campaign invites people to see nature not as something separate from their lives, but as the foundation of their wellbeing, their livelihoods and their future. More than that, it’s an invitation to every South African to join a growing movement, one that recognises that caring for nature means caring for ourselves, our communities and the generations to come.
It takes all of us
WWF South Africa has set out ambitious targets for 2030: to protect and restore five million hectares of land and sea, benefit five million people, and shift R50 billion toward outcomes that are good for nature. Behind these numbers is a simple idea: protecting the environment and uplifting people aren’t separate goals. They’re the same goal. And no strategy alone can deliver them. What’s really needed is a whole-of-society approach and a shift in how each of us thinks about nature and our place in it.
Here are 5 simple ways to look after our shared home:
- At home: Buy fruit and veg in season and support your local farmers’ market. Save water where you can, separate your waste at source, and if you have a garden, or even just a balcony, plant a single indigenous species like buchu or wild dagga. The bees, butterflies and birds will love it.
- At work: Ask questions. Where does your company source its materials? How does it report on its environmental impact? What might greener alternatives look like? Business change often starts with one person willing to raise their hand.
- In your community: Join a local conservation project or citizen science initiative, and help look after the river, wetland, beach or green space nearest to you.
- As a citizen: Use your voice. Vote with nature in mind. Hold leaders to account on the decisions that affect the ecosystems we all depend on.
- As a consumer, investor or decision-maker: Put your money, and your influence, behind choices that are good for both people and the planet.
South Africans can learn more about the Nature Is Our Home campaign at https://explore.wwf.org.za/nature-is-our-home or follow the conversation using #NatureIsOurHome.
