OVERBERG RENOSTERVELD CONSERVATION TRUST NEWS
Newsletter 39 | April 2026
by Dr Odette Curtis-Scott
Less than 5% of renosterveld remains today.
Much of what survives exists on privately owned farmland, making partnerships with landowners one of the most important tools we have to protect this globally significant ecosystem.
Over the past few months, we’ve been reminded again of just how important our renosterveld partnerships are. From new conservation easements and expanding ecological networks, to research revealing the hidden challenges facing renosterveld species, our work continues to show that conservation at landscape scale is essential – and urgent.
At the heart of this work are people: landowners who choose to conserve, researchers helping us better understand these landscapes and supporters and donors who make this work possible.
What’s coming up
In our latest newsletter, we share a new conservation easement that protects a large, connected landscape, explore the invisible crisis facing pollinators in renosterveld and reveal new and worrying insights from tracking young Black Harriers.
You’ll also find opportunities to visit our Haarwegskloof Renosterveld Reserve this winter, and join us for one of our Wild & Wise retreats.
Thank you for being part of this journey – and for helping us build a more secure future for renosterveld.
Calling conservation practitioners: Addressing eco-anxiety together
It is said that ‘It is both a blessing and a curse to feel so deeply’. As an ecologist, on the ‘coalface’, I resonate strongly with this well-known quote.
Latest Renosterveld News
Some good and bad renosterveld news this Earth Day. Not many know about a major new windfarm that has been approved in the Overberg. It’s to be situated along the N2, close to Swellendam. And it will be South Africa’s largest, privately-owned windfarm.
Three years of remarkable renosterveld restoration
Three years may seem to pass by quickly. But in the world of nature, it’s enough time for real, tangible change to take root. This is especially the case when humans – both as donors and implementers – lend a helping hand.