On the 18th of January 2017 a presentation at a routine ZPAAC meeting found a convergence of ideas around what Zandvlei should look like. The meeting inspired the various stakeholders who found common cause in various projects – initiated by an investigation of dredging the vlei and the need to manage the silt and nutrient inflows, and the challenge of what to do with the dredgings.
Following that meeting, a series of conversations to take care of Zandvlei was informally and spontaneously initiated by various stakeholders.
The following pages and the links document the notes of those meetings, and the research and links emanating from them.
A plan to develop a ‘dream’ of what all the various stakeholders want to see or experience in and around the Zandvlei Nature Reserve, and wider, in the Zandvlei catchment.
The Dream Zandvlei Group was an informal, collaborative collective of individuals working together to improve the Zandvlei Estuary and the catchment leading into it. Our main interest is the environmental well-being of the Zandvlei estuary and we have created a list of projects that we believe will improve the health of the wider Zandvlei catchment.
Core to the Dream Zandvlei project is to facilitate funding mechanisms for the larger projects through leveraging City and other South African funding mechanisms, as well as exploring relevant global funding initiatives, and get money for the smaller projects through partnership with business and economic interests.
To achieve this, we need to know what the needs of local business interests are, what other community groups want to get involved, and how this could overlap and complement Dream Zandvlei.
There is also a Facebook group for informal discussion and idea sharing.