Why the ORT is part of the Overberg Conservation Alliance 

The Overberg Renosterveld Trust has always known that conservation cannot stop at a property boundary – or at the edge of an organisation’s area of work.  

That’s why we’re proud to be a founding member of the Overberg Conservation Alliance (OCA), a collaboration between four conservation organisations working across the Overberg. 

Alongside the ORT, the regional partners are the Grootbos Foundation, the Fynbos Trust and the Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area, with international donor partners Re:wild and the Oak Foundation supporting the alliance.  

For the ORT, joining forces through the OCA creates an opportunity to think even bigger about the ecological connections that are so important for a healthy, functioning Overberg landscape. 

“While the ORT remains firmly committed to renosterveld conservation, the Overberg Conservation Alliance creates exciting opportunities to work more collaboratively across the wider Overberg landscape,” says ORT CEO Odette Curtis. 

Nature doesn’t recognise boundaries 

At the heart of the OCA lies the principle that nature doesn’t recognise boundaries. Renosterveld does not function in isolation from the mountains, rivers, wetlands and other natural habitats around it. Species move through landscapes, rivers cross property boundaries and ecological processes connect one habitat to another. 

“Nature does not recognise organisational or administrative boundaries, and neither should conservation,” Odette says. “By combining our knowledge, experience and resources with those of our fellow conservation organisations, we can work towards restoring ecological connections that extend beyond renosterveld itself, linking wherever possible fynbos mountains, rivers, wetlands and renosterveld across the Overberg – including working with voluntarily landowners.”  

This is particularly important in a landscape as fragmented as the Overberg, where many remaining natural areas are separated from one another by transformed land. Connecting these remnants where there are opportunities to do so can give species more room to move and help create healthier, more resilient landscapes. 

Our commitment to renosterveld remains 

 For the ORT, becoming part of the OCA does not mean stepping away from the work at the heart of our organisation. “Our focus remains firmly on renosterveld conservation and protecting what remains of this extraordinarily threatened ecosystem,” Odette says.  

“Through the OCA, we believe we can strengthen that work and increase our conservation impact.” 

Today, only around 5% of the original extent of renosterveld in the Overberg remains. Much of it survives as small fragments on privately owned farmland, making partnerships with landowners central to its future. 

Through the OCA, there is now an opportunity to look beyond individual remnants and properties and consider how these natural areas could form part of larger ecological connections across the Overberg.

Decades of working together 

While the OCA itself is new, the relationships behind it are not. Representatives of the four regional partner organisations have worked alongside one another for decades, with some of these relationships stretching back to the early 2000s through initiatives such as the Agulhas Biodiversity Initiative. 

Those connections remain strong today. Fynbos Trust Managing Director Chris Martens serves as a special advisor to the ORT, while Grootbos Foundation Managing Director Sean Privett serves on the ORT Board. 

“We have known each other and worked together in so many different ways for such a long time,” Odette says. “Forming this alliance felt like a natural next step.” 

The OCA allows the partners to build on that history – sharing expertise and resources, identifying common conservation priorities and tackling challenges that are simply too large for any one organisation to address alone.

Connecting landscapes  

Landowners remain central to this approach. The ORT already works closely with landowners who voluntarily choose to conserve the natural areas on their properties. But the wider alliance creates opportunities to engage with even more landowners across the Overberg who want to play a role in protecting nature. 

“Through the OCA, we have an opportunity to connect natural areas across property boundaries and across the areas where our different organisations traditionally work,” Odette says.