Community Ecosystem Based Adaptation – Africanising Adaptation

The Durban CEBA Initiative is a partnership between the eThekwini Municipality and The Wildlands Conservation Trust aimed at uplifting local communities by creating ‘green’ jobs for the poor and unemployed, restoring the ecosystems that are important to the welfare of these communities and reducing our collective vulnerability to climate change.

Buy CEBA credits and make a difference

Each CEBA credit that you buy will employ one local community member for a day, to undertake a range of climate protection work, such as invasive alien plant (IAP) clearing, ecosystem restoration or community recycling. This work is directed towards both reducing climate change impacts through carbon sequestration and emissions reductions, and in building resilience and adaptability to climate change in vulnerable communities. So, by buying CEBA credits, you are contributing towards global climate protection, ecosystem restoration, job creation, climate change adaptation and building the green economy. You couldn’t ask for a more sound investment in offsetting your carbon and ecological footprints! Buy CEBA credits here

How much does a CEBA credit cost?

One CEBA credit will cost you R100 (or approximately $10).

What will one CEBA buy me?

Each CEBA credit that you buy will employ one local community member for a day, to undertake a range of climate protection work, such as invasive alien plant (IAP) clearing, ecosystem restoration or community recycling. This work is directed towards both reducing climate change impacts through carbon sequestration and emissions reductions, and in building resilience and adaptability to climate change in vulnerable communities. Because of the value of this work in contributing towards the development of the green economy, we refer to ‘green person days’. So, one CEBA credit will buy you one Green Person Day for climate protection work. Some examples of how your CEBA credits will be used are as follows:

 

How can I calculate how many CEBA credits I should buy to offset my footprint?

Globally, buying offset credits usually equates to buying carbon credits. It is easy to work out how many carbon credits you need to buy, because it is possible to estimate your carbon footprint, but buying CEBA credits is about more than just offsetting carbon emissions. It is about offsetting your ecological footprint through ecosystem restoration, which in turn contributes towards climate change mitigation, adaptation and job creation. As part of the COP 17/CMP 7 Greening Programme, the eThekwini Municipality has developed a methodology to calculate the ecological footprint of events in Durban. Any contribution made to the Durban CEBA Initiative through buying CEBA Credits has been used to help offset the carbon and ecological footprints of the COP17/CMP7 event held in Durban in 2011. Both these footprints have been measured by the eThekwini Municipality as part of its COP17/CMP7 Greening Programme. We encourage you to buy as many CEBA Credits as you can to help offset your own footprints. As a minimum, it was suggested that local delegates and contributors should each purchase one CEBA credit, while international contributors should purchase two CEBA credits each.

How are CEBA funds managed?

CEBA donations will be managed by the Wildlands Conservation Trust, a well established and independently audited NGO that has been involved in a number of climate protection projects in partnership with the eThekwini Municipality. The municipality has a contractual agreement with Wildlands, giving them authority to collect and manage the contributions received for the Durban CEBA Initiative. Any decision on how to spend these funds will be made jointly with the eThekwini Municipality.

What projects will my CEBA credits support?

CEBA credits will be used to restore a degraded forest area in Paradise Valley, west of Durban, which lies in the uMbilo River catchment, one of the city’s most important ecosystems. Members of neighbouring communities will be employed in teams to undertake this work. The area is currently heavily infested with invasive alien plants. These will be cleared and then the area replanted with locally indigenous forest plants. After this project has been completed, the funds will be used to initiate new ecosystem restoration projects in the same catchment.