Overberg Renosterveld Trust honoured with WWF Living Planet Award

The Overberg Renosterveld Trust (ORT) has been named the organisational winner of the 2025 WWF Living Planet Award – one of the highest honours in South African conservation.

Presented in Johannesburg this week, the award recognises the Trust’s efforts to secure, restore and protect the last fragments of one of the world’s most threatened ecosystems – the neglected lowland habitats of the Overberg.

Sharing the stage with legendary South African actor and playwright Dr John Kani, who received the individual award, ORT Founder and Chief Executive Officer Dr Odette Curtis-Scott accepted the accolade on behalf of the Trust.

She said, “This award is a deeply humbling recognition of the collective effort that goes into saving our precious renosterveld. It belongs not just to our small team, but to our trustees, the landowners, funders and conservation partners who share our belief that these last wild places are worth fighting for.”

Incredible diversity of life

Renosterveld once covered vast areas of the Overberg’s rolling lowlands – but today, less than 5% remains. Yet these small remnants are home to an astonishing diversity of life, including thousands of plant species found nowhere else on Earth.

Since its founding, the ORT has worked hand-in-hand with partners to secure these remaining habitats. The Trust piloted conservation easements by working with willing farmers to register conservation servitudes in favour of the ORT on their title deeds. The ORT supports these landowners to manage grazing and fire regimes, restore watercourses, clear invasive alien plants and connect fragmented habitats through ecological corridors. 

But at the same time, the Trust has also acquired critical land for conservation by partnering with  WWF South Africa, World Land Trust, WildLandscapes International, IUCN NL and the Mapula Trust. Haarwegskloof Renosterveld Reserve, Plaatjieskraal and Goereesoe form part of the largest connected stretch of renosterveld left on Earth. Along with these partners, the Trust now own/co-owns and manages these landscapes.

Other milestones include the publication of the Field Guide to Renosterveld of the Overberg, featuring over 1100 species, a guide on which Odette was lead-author. More recently, the guide was converted by the ORT into a cellphone application, which is now available via the Playstore and the App Store, and includes about 500 additional species.

Impetus to keep going

Receiving the Living Planet Award, says Odette, is both a validation and a call to keep going. “We’re so proud of what this little team has achieved – but we also know that the work isn’t done. Renosterveld is still disappearing every year. This award strengthens our resolve to keep protecting this landscape and sharing just how special it is.” 

The ORT team congratulated Dr John Kani on his award and thanked WWF South Africa for recognising the importance of protecting South Africa’s lesser-known, yet irreplaceable ecosystems.

“It’s an incredible honour to be acknowledged alongside Dr Kani – someone who has inspired South Africans for decades,” Odette says. “We hope this shared recognition highlights the power of storytelling in reminding us of the vital role that nature plays in all our lives.”