WINDHOEK – The Cheetah Conservation Fund Bush Project has been chosen as one of 12 finalists in World Challenge 2009, a global competition aimed at projects showing enterprise and innovation at grassroots level.
The project is entered under the name ‘No Beating About the Bush’.
The winner of the challenge will be determined by popular online vote on the World Challenge 2009 website: http://www.theworldchallenge.co.uk.
The rules posted on the World Challenge 2009 website say the winner shall be the project that gains the most votes.
The two runners-up will be the two projects, which win the second and third largest number of votes. Voting is limited to one vote per person.
A statement from the CCF yesterday said every vote is important because a vote for CCF is a vote for the cheetah.
The CCF Bush Project manufactures bushblok, a clean burning log fuel sold in Namibia, South Africa and Europe.
Clearing the bush that is used in making the log restores bush-encroached farmland and wildlife habitat by finding large-scale alternative uses for the invasive woody bush that is choking savannah grasslands in Africa. It also restores the savannah to its original state and improves the habitat for both the cheetah and its prey.
The bush project is competing against 11 other projects in the challenge, whose winner and two runners up of World Challenge 2009 will be announced at an awards ceremony held at The Hague, in the Netherlands.
Voting for the projects opened on Monday and closes at midnight (GMT) on November 13.
Now in its fifth year, World Challenge 2009 is a global competition aimed at finding projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grassroots level. The BBC World News and Newsweek in association with Shell are behind the competition.
In 2001, CCF obtained a USAID grant to enhance the long-term survival of the cheetah, and other key indigenous Namibian wildlife species, on Namibian farmlands by developing a habitat improvement programme that would be both ecologically sound and economically viable.
CCF Bush Pty Ltd was established to harvest and process invader bush and to manufacture and market wood fuel briquettes from the excess thornbush.
The local market includes either raw chips for high efficiency chip burning stoves or the use of the logs for braai, earth stoves or open cooking fires. An initial marketing technique being development by CCF is to supply a chip-burning stove with the purchase of a consignment of chips. Additional uses of the raw chips will also be explored and may include products like chipboard, fence posts and compression formed wood for coffins or other products.
The CCF Bush Project has Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for its activities.
The other contestants are Methane Emissions, Barefoot Women Solar Engineers of Africa, Biogas as an alternative source of energy, Stoves for Survival, The ‘Back to the Roots’ Project, Andaman Discoveries, South-South Cooperation’s Project, Danamon Go Green, Safe Bottle Lamp Project, The Comet-ME Project, Afghan Hands Project and Plan Bee Project.
No Beating About the Bush is one of the three projects from Africa.
Last year, Plan Bee of Pakistan won the challenge with Homegrown Heroes and A Chance to Grow as runners up.
Each nomination must fall under one of the following categories: Community welfare and enterprise, health and education, sustainable farming, energy, water and environment.
Source – http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=7190
