There is still room for them here

The Lowveld in north-eastern South Africa, in the provinces of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, retains a wealth of indigenous plants and animals in game reserves, game farms, mountain, river and indigenous forest regions. This is happening at a time when farming, industry and the many other land use needs of people have elsewhere squeezed out so much of nature. The State, big corporates and the citizenry have all contributed to this.

No wonder that tourism and holiday destinations are strongly associated with this region. The scale of land portions dedicated to game reserves, first among them of course the Kruger National Park, has ensured that the large mammals that roamed this region in the past are retained here in large numbers, mostly in well managed conditions.

Traditional and natural healers who prefer plants from nature for stocking their apothecaries and not from cultivated specimens, can still source much from this treasure house. While there are problems of depleting the veld in illegal activities, the healers are these days increasingly interfacing with conservation authorities to render such harvesting practices sustainable for generations to come.

The above is a tale that may help to put minds at ease. Some assurances are good to balance the picture of a harsh reality. People dont perform best when despondent or anxious. Nature isnt lost, but under threat. There are downside pictures of how the earth is faring, how biodiversity is being affected by what we, the people, are doing. Burying our heads in the sand (which ostriches dont do, but people are prone to, figuratively speaking), will increase irreversible consequences in nature.