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A Guide to InclusiveUrban Greening

in Cape Town

Learning from theHerbanisation project

ContentsThe Problem 4

Piloting open-space solutions 6

Working with stakeholders 9

Key Lessons for urban greening in Cape Town 10

Successional planting scheme 14

Further reading 18

Community relationships ‒ like plants ‒ require regular nurturing.

Cape Town’s bossie doktor community represents a unique

opportunity for inclusive conservation efforts within Cape Town.

Leif Petersen, Director of the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation

Neville van Schalkwyk, Andrew Reid and Leif Petersen — Herbanisation founders.

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herbanisationis an open-access,

medicinal streetgarden

project for greening,

healing and connecting

in Cape Town,

South Africa.

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The problem

Linked to its remarkable botanical diversity, Cape Town experiences a vast trade in medicinal plants, with city wild-harvesting estimated at 262 tons per annum (Petersen et al. 2014) in a total trade of 1,100 tonnes of biological material per year. The primary actors in the harvest and trade of Cape flora for medicinal purposes are the Rastafari bushdoctors or herbalists. The precise number and categorization of Rastas involved in the trade varies with Petersen et al. (2014) estimating some 1,000 Rastafari bushdoctors in the City of Cape Town, while Aston-Philander (2012) claims5,000 to 10,000 Rastafaripeople are involved in thetrade or identifying asRastafari. The trade issubstantial, and collectivelyworth over US$18 million peryear in the local economy –this resource based enterpriseis not officially monitored inany way.

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The Rastafari movement and their involvement in medicinal plant harvest and trade has grown dramatically since the early 1970s (Aston Philander et al. 2014;Reid 2014) and continues growing due to a variety of factors including the increased popularity of this ideology, a lack of sufficient employment opportunities in the formal economy, relatively easy access to protected areas, and the influx of plant-using migrants into Cape Town from the Eastern Cape province (Reid 2014).

Most of the harvesting activity of the Rastafari takes place in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), an area of immense floral diversity which spreads across much of the Western Cape and is increasingly endangered as a result of increased agriculture, invasive species and swift urban development. The illicit harvest of plant material from the City’s protected areas coupled with decline in natural habitats from which to collect has brought bushdoctors and conservation

authorities into conflict and raises questions concerning rights to access and the harvest of wild resources. It is clear that natural resources will increasingly face threats from wild harvesting, in particular whilst the economic and cultural pressure for these resources continues to grow.

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Piloting open-access solutionsIn light of this growing conservation conundrum theSustainable Livelihoods Foundation and Neville vanSchalkwyk, a Rasta bushdoctor elder and manager of theHillview Community Nursery, partnered in 2012 toestablish a pilot open-access streetgarden project of 250locally indigenous medicinal plants on a degradedroadside in the working class settlement of Seawinds,Cape Town. Despite considerable doubts for the garden’ssurvival and common consensus that the plants would allbe harvested or stolen in this socially and economicallytroubled locality, the project and the garden thrived.Selective harvesting did take place, and some plants diedby various causes including desiccation, being crushed byvehicles, and theft, but over 80% of the original plantssurvived the first (most vulnerable) year.

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Buoyed by this initial success, SLF was funded by the Table Mountain Fund (an associated trust of WWF South Africa) and later the Rufford Small Grants for Nature to extend the street garden concept. At present the Seawinds Herbanisation site has grown to now include over 4,000 plants located on three sections of pavement in three communities, 85% of which are indigenous (by species total) and almost all of which havemedicinal and economic applications. Importantly, these gardens are unfenced, open-access, common property harvesting areas, available to anyone who requires indigenous plant material for traditional medicine practice. The principle of open access is important – for it reflects the currentstate of wild harvesting practice and does not impose management, government or restriction on important economic and cultural uses.

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While the project creates open-access (meaning no fences and free harvesting) medicinal resources, it is – in essence – about degraded landscape regenerationof public open space through partnerships of conservation professionals with Rasta bushdoctors and economically and culturally marginalised individuals generally outside of the middle class conservation perspective. In this case the gardens grow unfenced in the busy urban street context and stand as a positive conservation, ecological and cultural asset to the Cape Floristic Region, of directrelevance to all stakeholders regardless of their perspective. The gardens work towards regeneration of Cape Flats Sand Fynbos, a critically endangered vegetation type that occurs only within the boundaries of the city.

Gammad Asia, the community champion at the Retreat Herbanisation garden.

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Working with stakeholders The current gardens were established through an approach utilising experientialpeace-building whereby garden planting and maintenance activities were leveraged as opportunities to bring Rasta bushdoctors, conservation professionals and other stakeholders of Cape Town biodiversity together. Furthermore their establishment is an important economic stimulus for the local Rasta community who were directly engaged in the propagation and maintenance of the indigenous plants used in the programme (with the project buying plants primarily from their nursery operations). Through these activities, diverse stakeholders worked side-by-side in propagation, planting and garden maintenance for their common interest, Cape flora, and developed personal connections. Relationship building with this stakeholder group is the key to future plant conservation efforts in Cape Town.

Herbanisation has already resulted in important engagement between Rasta bushdoctors, conservation bodies and local botanical organisations. In addition, the project is strengthening linkages between park activities and urban conservation efforts, making local nature a key driver of urban renewal efforts. Many Seawinds residents and local traditional healers harvest from the Herbanisation street gardens in order to medicate themselves and their families. Thus, Herbanisation is strengthening the linkages of local people to their indigenous roots and helping ensure the continued practice of local ecological knowledge. This contributes to the physical, psychological and

emotional health and wellbeing of the local community and empowers individuals to feel proud of their role as indigenous knowledge bearers.

Dalton Gibbs, award winning conservationist, with Neville van Schalkwyk

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Key Lessons for Urban Greeningin Cape TownThere are important lessons learned through Herbanisation that should be considered for all future city urban greening projects.

It is critically important to work with local champions. Our project was borne out of a partnership with Neville van Schalkwyk, an accomplished gardener and Rasta bushdoctor elder in Seawinds. Working with established, respected, financially stable and dependable individuals is

key to project longevity and success for urban greening. This approach operates on two levels, both practically in terms of working with a community champion who already has a love for plants and has been actively gardening for many years, and on a social level in terms of the individual having strong ties and relationships with others in the local area. This strategy helps to ensure project relevance to the local community or involved bodies, since the champion is situated in the social, economic and ecological reality of the project site. The champion also acts as an interface or translator between the neighbourhood community, project partners and other stakeholders.

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1.

In designing an urban garden it is important to respect the flows of people, vehicles and animals in and around potential sites. Such observations can then be built into the design of the street garden, so that the gardens mesh with the fabric of daily life and movement in the

neighbourhood. For example, before establishing a garden on the pavement on the corner of two streets in Seawinds, we noticed that people followed a path that cut across the section of pavement in a straight line. Rather than planting on the entire pavement, we utilised stones to accentuate the existing path and planted the gardens on either side – using hardy Aloes to line the path. This allowed people to continue along their habituated lines of movement while bringing them into closer proximity to useful plants and discouraging the trampling of plants. Even taking this approach, we have still lost plants due to destruction by local children and dogs.

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2.

Losses, destruction, vandalism and hiccups along the way are inevitable and must be factored into the design and implementation of any street garden. Community relationships ‒ like plants ‒ require regular nurturing.

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3.

A fourth lesson falls under the category of community-centred design and relevance. Plant species for the gardens should be selected, first andforemost, on their cultural and economic relevance to the people living in the neighbourhood. This is key for local people to gain a sense of

ownership and pride in the gardens. Importantly, it may also mean that not all species will be indigenous. For urban greening, making small compromises suchas allowing a minority of non-invasive exotics in an otherwise indigenous street garden can go a long way to incorporating diverse viewpoints and encouraging inclusiveness – which will in turn enhance chances of success.

Finally, the Cape Flats is a notoriously difficult area for growing plants. Weather conditions are harsh, soils are poor and water is a major limiting factor. Ongoing maintenance (mulching, watering and weeding) for at least the first 12 months is required. Through trial and error, Herbanisation devised a successional planting scheme to occur over a

three year period. With respect to indigenous plantsable to cope with such conditions the following plant list and planting regime is of value.

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Successional Planting SchemePIONEER PLANTS

Pioneer plants are used to establish gardens. These help secure the soil while providing shade for soil organisms and creating a wind-break for more

sensitive plants. Ample compost and mulch are key to building good soil.

First layer plants (wind resistant pioneer shrubs):

Salvia africana lutea (beach sage, brown sage) 1.5m

Salvia aurea (beach sage) 1m

Eriocephalus africanus (wild rosemary) 1m

Aloe arborescens (kranz aloe) 2m

Sutherlandia frutescens (cancer bush) 0.7m

Tarcocanthus camphoratus (camphor bush) 3m

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First layer plants (wind resistant pioneer shrubs) continued:

Dodonaea angustofolia (sand olive) 3m

Helichrysum dasyanthum/patulum (honey everlasting) 1.5m

Agathosma apiculata (garlic buchu) 1m

Buddleja saligna (false olive) 3m

Pelargonium betulinum(maagpynbossie) 0.6m

Chrysanthemoides monilifera (bush-tick berry) 2m

First layer ground covers (living mulches):

Carpobrotus edulis (sour fig) 0.2m

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SECOND AND THIRD YEAR PLANTSThese plants are to be added to gardens in the second and third year after pioneers are established. With such a scheme, additional maintenance and watering should

not be required after the third year, except for occasional trimming of plants. Thereafter, more sensitive indigenous and naturalised plants may be added.

Second layer plants (shrubs and feature plants for interplanting):

Aloe ferox (bitter aloe) 4m

Coleonema album (cape may) 1-2m

Leonotis leonorus (wild dagga) 2m

Buddleja salvifolia (sagewood) 2-4m

Protea repens (sugarbush) 2m

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More sensitive shrubs for interplanting:

Eriocephalus africanus (wild rosemary) 1m

Artemisia afra (wormwood) 1.5m

Carissa macrocarpa (num-nums) 2m

Helichrysum petiolare (kooigoed) 0.7m

Second layer geophytes (bulbs):

Agapanthus africanus (agapanthus)

Fast growing trees:

Acacia karroo (sweet thorn) 3-6m

Planting Guide Photo CreditsEugene Moll

Rolf T Borlinghaus*Tony Rebelo*

Nicky van Berkel*(*via iSpotnature.org)

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ConclusionProjects such as Herbanisation cannot prevent the ongoing extraction of wild herbs for the medicinal plant trade. However, our experience of working with the bossie doctor community revealed an audience of people receptive to the needs of nature conservation, and willing to partner for the propagation and rehabilitation of degraded urban landscapes. Forging relationships with such communities is critical for enhancing sustainability in this culturally and economically important industry.

Further readingAshton, G. 2005. Fast and Easy Waterwise Gardens. Coastal Zone: Cape Town to Mossel Bay. Book one. Ekogaia Publications.

Aston Philander, L.E. 2012. Hunting knowledge and gathering herbs: Rastafari bush doctors in the Western Cape of South Africa. Journal of Ethnobiology 32 (2): 134-156.

Aston Philander, L.E., Makunga, N., and Ester, K. 2014. The informal trade of medicinal plants by Rastafari bush doctors in the Western Cape of South Africa. Economic Botany 68 (3): 303-315.

Petersen, L.M., Moll, E.J., Collins, R. & Hockings, M.T. 2012. Development of a compendium of local, wild-harvested species used in the informal economy trade, Cape Town, South Africa. Ecology and Society. 17(2):26

Petersen, L. M., Charman, A. J., Moll, E. J., Collins, R. J., & Hockings, M. T. 2014. Bush Doctors and Wild Medicine: The Scale of Trade in Cape Town's Informal Economy of Wild-Harvested Medicine and Traditional Healing. Society & Natural Resources. 27 (3):315-336.

Petersen, L. M., Moll, E. J., Hockings, M. T. and Collins, R. J. 2014. Implementing value chain analysis to investigate drivers and sustainability of Cape Town's informal economy of wild-harvested traditional medicine. Local Environment, 20 9: 1040-1061. doi:10.1080/13549839.2014.887667

Reid A.R. 2014. Rastas on the Road to Healing: Plant-Human Mobilities in Cape Town, South Africa. MA thesis, University of Cape Town.

https://www.facebook.com/herbanisation

http://livelihoods.org.za/projects/herbanisation

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“At the end of the day the herbs gives us life.”

Benji, Bossie Doktor

“Planting indigenous plants … any chance to do that, and do thaton the Cape flats in particular, is a good thing.”

Dalton Gibbs, Conservation Officer

“My mother used to sell flowers … in a sense I havecaptured some of those roots of my past … being itflowers or herbs it comes down to the same thing –

it's about working with creation.”

Neville van Schalkwyk, Bossie Doktor elder

Neville van Schalkwyk holding a pair of Cape dwarf chameleons which live at the Hillview Community Garden in Cape Town

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At the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation, our mission is to enhancepossibilities for the realisation of human potential in the emergent city. Our

vision is one of a future of inclusive, thriving urban communities.

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