Durban - Gamblers in Holland and Sweden are helping, indirectly, to link up the divided wildlife areas of southern Africa.
This follows the donation of nearly R30-million to the Stellenbosch-based Peace Parks Foundation, which promotes the removal of national border fences so that animals can migrate freely between newly-established transfrontier conservation areas.
The foundation said in a statement that it recently received e1.35 million (R15.9m) from the Dutch Postcode Lottery, which has 2.5 million players. Another e1.18m was received from the Swedish Postcode Lottery.
The lotteries are both part of Novamedia, the world’s third-largest private charity donor after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the US and the UK’s Wellcome Trust.
Since 2002, the Peace Parks Foundation has received almost e16m from the Dutch Postcode Lottery.
The foundation was established in 1997 by Dr Anton Rupert, Nelson Mandela and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.
Since then, more than 20 potential “peace parks” have been identified in southern Africa with the aim of creating permanent links between the sub-continent’s conservation areas.
The foundation could not be reached for comment on Wednesday on how the latest funds would be used. - The Mercury