Groups embark on mass clean-up on parts of Table Mountain

Clearing of alien trees at the Rhodes Memorial Area on Saturday.

Clearing of alien trees at the Rhodes Memorial Area on Saturday.

Published Mar 16, 2021

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Cape Town - Following concerns of numerous forms of environmental destruction of the Table Mountain’s biodiversity, interest groups embarked on different conservation initiatives over the weekend with a mass clean-up on parts of the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP).

The clean-up included maintenance on the Missing Link trail, clearing of alien vegetation near Rhodes Memorial and Oude Schip clean-up.

Take Back Our Mountains co-founder Taariq Osman said they mostly receive complaints from Woodstock Cave, the Lions Head area and Kalk Bay where there were homeless living in the mountain.

“When we find reports from hikers of dirty tracks we go out to such areas on a weekly or monthly basis. There are massive church groups that go out and sleep in the mountain and also homeless people that find shelter in the caves and that contributes to the litter and the dirt in the mountain and it's a difficult thing to control,” he said.

Love our Trails founder Blake Dayson said it was eye-opening to see how much fishing waste and general waste from citizens ended up in the ocean and on the island. The group picked up more than four bags of washed-up waste.

“The ocean is so littered that our little clearing up is going to do little in the bigger scheme of things for the environment. The island is home to some seals, bird and fish life and if we do not remove the litter, these animals will be affected. I believe this is vital because it makes a huge impact. It also builds a culture of people that we are aware of what is happening around us.

“The big value is in education through experience where people can understand the value of nature and be part of that difference that needs to be made or responsibility that's there to protect it,” Dayson said

Friends of Table Mountain (FOTM) chairperson Andy Davids said they believed that the public had an important role to play in ensuring that TMNP was maintained in a pristine condition that everyone could be proud of.

“The FOTM eight-point recovery plan specifically includes a point for a sustainable volunteer programme to be put in place, and we are pleased to see some tangible progress being made.

“However, FOTM would like to reiterate that SANParks is being paid to manage TMNP and allowed TMNP to deteriorate for the last 20 years - and they will ultimately remain responsible to recover TMNP to a standard that one would expect for a Unesco world heritage site.

“It has been shown that SANParks clearly has sufficient funds to achieve this. While we are encouraged by the progress being made, FOTM is still concerned about safety and security issues on TMNP,” he said.

Davies said the FOTM wanted to see a breakdown of security initiatives that SANParks promised so that the public was reassured that the issue was getting the focus it deserved.

Cape Argus

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