Methodology for Adoption of Sustainable Grasslands through Adjustment of Fire and Grazing (VM0032, version 1.0)
Description
The Tswalu Kalahari Project is a pioneering initiative by Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation, supported by Rewild Capital on the carbon development side, aimed at the large-scale restoration and conservation of a section of African rangeland in South Africa. This is the first private protected area in South Africa to earn carbon credits management put in place to adapt to climate change.
Download the project files here
Tswalu Kalahari Reserve (TKR), located in Kalahari region of the Northern Cape, is the largest private game reserve in South Africa. The reserve occupies an area of 113,623 hectares of rewilded cattle farms, with the latest expansion of 18,532 hectares based on cattle farms purchased between 2015 and 2019. Since 2014, the reserve has worked to restore the degraded farmland, re-establish biodiversity and improve the Kalahari environment’s ecosystem. The reserve employs about 189 people in the Northern Cape province, an area with high levels of unemployment.
The Tswalu Kalahari Carbon project is made up of interventions that will increase the sequestration of atmospheric CO2 into the soil organic carbon pool, avoid livestock methane emissions, and avoid indirect emissions from grid electricity usage. By lowering stocking rates, the number of Large Stock Units (LSUs) per hectare grazing area is reduced, resulting increase in Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) sequestration through reducing grazing pressure, avoided enteric emissions from this reduction. These lowered stocking rates will contribute to reducing grazing pressures on the semi-arid grassland and savannah ecosystems, assisting with ecosystem restoration, improving the soil’s microbial activity and, consequently, the sequestration of soil carbon (recognising too, however, that grasslands lose carbon and soil carbon during droughts). The installation of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels results in the avoided emissions associated with coal-intensive grid electricity consumption as well as this renewable energy contributing to the offset of South Africa’s fossil fuel reliance.
The Tswalu Kalahari Carbon Project exemplifies how strategic environmental projects can have a triple impact: combating climate change, conserving biodiversity, and uplifting local communities. As such, it stands as a beacon of hope for sustainable development and environmental conservation.
Shangani is a 45,000 ha mixed cattle and wildlife ranch in the Matabeleland South province of Zimbabwe. The ranch is pioneering a holistic management style to sustainably manage cattle and wildlife with a view to promoting rangeland regeneration and wealth creation for local communities.
