Restoring habitats in Namibia, to ensure the survival of the Cheetah and other species, by clearing invasive Thorn Bush and producing environmentally friendly biomass products that will provide sustainable, healthy fuels and alternative livelihoods for local communities, particularly women.
Categories
Beneficiaries
Situation
Habitat loss, due to human population expansion and encroaching, invasive thorn bush, is one of the top threats to cheetahs in the wild. This loss reduces the available habitat for cheetahs, their prey & other species and also decreases biodiversity, ecotourism and farmland availability, productivity & soil quality. With less usable land for humans and wildlife, human-wildlife conflict is exacerbated. In Namibia alone, approximately 12 million hectares of land are affected by bush encroachment.
Solution
The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) harvests invasive thorn bush in areas that have been environmentally & economically assessed and produces a biomass product called Bushblok, a Forest Stewardship Council certified product. Bushblok is sold for cooking fires, home heating & other applications. Thinning the bush restores the savannah to an optimum environment for the cheetah and its prey. Bushblok production provides sustainable, alternative employment for local communities, particularly women.
