Rare trees help to provide school fees

Hundreds of school children from disadvantaged communities in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province have been able to pay their school fees by selling indigenous tree species.

They are participating in the "Trees for Fees" project, an initiative run by environmental group Wildlands Conservation Trust (WCT), a merger of various natural resources-based organisations.

Trees for Fees coordinator Charmaine Velbman said so far a pilot project was operating at three schools in disadvantaged communities living on the edge of conservation parks: one in St Lucia and two others in the Kwadobe and Hluhluwe conservancy areas.

"Through the project, the trust seeks to establish relations and contribute to community-based poverty alleviation efforts. We chose an approach that would alleviate some of the effects of poverty by helping the communities make money from conserving their own resources; we identified education and resource conservation as some of the key components in the fight against rural poverty," Velbman explained to IRIN. "For that reason, proceeds from the first sale of trees went towards payment of school fees."

The participating children, assisted by their parents, operate a nursery cultivating seedlings of local and endangered tree species.

Community-based facilitators, who received formal nursery management training from WCT, oversaw the nurseries, which were located at individual homesteads for easy supervision and protection against browsing domestic animals, Velbman said.

"In each community, there is a common greenhouse shed where the mature seedlings are sold to individuals and organisations through the WCT. From the last sale, we managed to give each child and family R200 (US $34). Although we emphasize that the money be used for school fees, buying school uniforms and books, we find it's even useful in buying other basic needs, like food," she noted.

The Hluhluwe project has 175 registered participants, while the two other projects have smaller numbers of less than 50 each. Despite the success of the pilot phase, Velbman said plans to expand the programme to more areas within and beyond KZN province were being hampered by a lack of funding.

"We wish to expand this project to more communities that share boundaries with conservation parks - we are aware of the problems and losses they suffer in conflict with the protected animals. But our desire to help them build community poverty safety nets are seriously hampered by a lack of funding," Velbman emphasised. "We need donor support and, until we get it, the project will remain limited to the communities that are currently participating."

The WCT operates programmes in wildlife and natural resource conservation across the KZN province, and also provides environmental and conservation extension services to communities around conservation parks.