Enviro-guardians with a global goal
The Eden Environmental Protection Forum (EEPF) is poised and ready to continue fighting against the use of glyphosate on the Garden Route, but their long-term goals stretch much further than our corner of the world.
The forum was founded only a few months ago, by one Ruigtevlei resident who was concerned about a post he saw on Facebook, to the effect that wood-product magnate PG Bison would be spraying a number of hectares of land with Kilo Max, a herbicide in which glyphosate is the main ingredient. This led John Davison, who has been living in Ruigtevlei for two years, to form a WhatsApp group informing residents in the area, and to garner support to stop the spraying.
Little did Davison realise just how deep the rabbit hole is that he would descend into, as the WhatsApp group alone grew to the point where he had to expand and think bigger. This led to the eventual formation of the EEPF, which would become the voice of the community in the battle against PG Bison's spraying of Kilo Max.
After a vote, Davison took on the mantle of chairman while fellow Ruigtevlei resident Dr Andrew Yates would take on the task of vice-chairman, after he became a big part in the
PG Bison saga. The EEPF's endgame is much more than only the battle with PG Bison, as according to Davison they have a larger goal – to fight global warming and rehabilitate the Garden Route.
"The PG Bison issue is a small piece in a very big puzzle, and we want to ultimately be the driving force and unifying body in the fight against global warming," Davison said. "We have so many issues to tackle, and many ideas on how to approach and tackle them, this is just the start."
Davison and his counterparts have since started a Facebook page, Eden
Environmental Protection Forum, in an effort to draw support from a wider community. One issue they are looking to tackle in particular, is the persistent drought that the Western Cape is facing, and they believe there is a way to mend that.
Davison believes that part of the way in which one can rehabilitate the Cape at large, is starting with the indigenous forests along the coastline. "The alien plants and trees take up so much water, which is partly the reason why there's such a water shortage," he said. "We believe that by getting rid of the aliens and rehabilitating the indigenous plants we can tackle the water shortage, and this could filter all the way back to the
Karoo."