Strauss & co - Wildlands 27 March 2014

12 WILDLANDS CONSERVATION TRUST ART SALE South Africa is renowned for its spectacular natural beauty and biodiversity. It is also renowned for having one of the highest levels of inequality. The starkest contrast is represented by the significant differences in the quality of life and basic services enjoyed by the middle and upper classes of our communities versus those that characterize South Africa’s peri-urban areas, informal settlements and our rural communities. Under these conditions, it is hard to imagine that people under these circumstances can even begin to appreciate a tree for anything but firewood, or an Impala for anything but food. Yet this is exactly what Wildlands Conservation Trust is doing. At its core, the work recognizes that all the big ideas about getting us onto a lower carbon footprint trajectory must involve a lot of people doing a lot of new green jobs. The highlights of these is setting up vibrant markets for growing and bartering indigenous trees (Tree-preneurs) and recyclable waste management (Waste-preneurs) all in exchange for basic livelihood support goods such as food, building materials, bicycles, education support and rain water harvesting tanks. Through this model, community ecosystems are restored and alternative modes of transport and energy introduced into communities. Through action and resilience, these individuals, young and old, are demonstrating that it is possible to green and clean, even the most seemingly remote and hopeless corner of our country, in the process moving us all progressively, towards ‘A Sustainable Future for All’. By supporting this Art Sale, you are not only investing in South Africa’s extraordinary contemporary art. You are making an investment in protecting and preserving our planet for our children and our grandchildren. I urge you to bid as if the fate of our planet depends on you, because it does! Andile Ncontsa  Wildlands Ambassador CEO, Litha Communications WILDLANDS AMBASSADOR – ANDILE NCONTSA