‘Water for Peace’ is the theme for World Water Day which coincides with South Africa’s National Water Week (20-26 March). Green Corridors, the Durban NPO, that collaborates to connect people to the planet, urges citizens to be mindful of the role they play in being custodians of our water resources.
Green Corridors is motivated by numerous Sustainable Development Goals including SDG 6 which aims for clean water and sanitation for all by 2030. Green Corridors works on a number of project areas that educate and empower communities which lack resources and help them to restore natural areas for the benefit of both humans and the environment. The organisation’s Green Spaces team recycles waste caught by its innovative litterbooms on many of the City’s riverways stopping the waste from reaching the sea. Working with surrounding communities, Green Corridors clears spaces that have been used as dump sites, and restores them back to their natural states, and helps to develop market gardens in urban areas. Green Corridors’ work also includes developing natural sites for ecotourism with a goal to supporting economic development.
“We need citizens to be increasingly mindful of practices that can impact on water quality, and how this affects fellow citizens and natural resources too,” says Musa Shange from Green Corridors. “We see the ongoing devastation of our rivers and streams, and the natural spaces around by alien invasive plants and irresponsible waste disposal that contaminates water and harms surrounding communities and ecosystems.”
The recent dumping along Riverside Road near the Green Corridors material recycling facility site at Connaught Bridge is a case in point. “So much of the waste illegally dumped will end up in the Umgeni River alongside, and ultimately onto the beaches and in the ocean.”
Green Corridors stresses the importance of collective action to address water-related challenges, which are intrinsically linked to effective waste disposal. The organisation embodies this ethos through safeguarding water sources essential for local livelihoods, and importantly, tourism in eThekwini.
The UN World Water Day campaign this year explains that when water is scarce or polluted, or when people struggle for access, tensions can rise; that water cooperation needs to be at the heart of the plans for conflict resolution; and harmony can be fostered between communities and countries by uniting around the fair and sustainable use of water – including actions at the local level.
Green Corridors has partnered with numerous organisations including WESSA and Adopt-a-River with support from SAPRIPOL, PETCO and RMB, other conservancies, and eThekwini Municipality Cleansing and Solid Waste, Parks Department and Sihlanzimvelo co-ops to remove alien plants and waste to restore water health. Much of the organic and non-organic waste materials are collected through the Roadhouse Crescent Materials Recovery Facility at Connaught Bridge, and litterbooms on the rivers. This was is then processed at the KwaMashu Materials Beneficiation Centre where products such as pavers, compost and building materials are being produced from this waste
“When we cooperate on water, we create a positive ripple effect – fostering harmony, generating prosperity and building resilience to shared challenges. We must act upon the realization that water is not only a resource to be used and competed over – it is a human right, intrinsic to every aspect of life,” cites the UN World Water Day Observance Website: (https://www.un.org/en/observances/water-day)
By focussing on the local needs, and fostering collective action, Green Corridors encourages sustainable water management and fair access to water, promoting a future where water serves as a stimulus for peace and prosperity.
For more information about Green Corridors go to https://durbangreencorridor.co.za/
