Conservation and power: building a blueprint for collaboration
Power generation and environmental conservation don’t typically go hand-in-hand – but if we want to ensure the survival of our planet, this has to change. Enter Conversation Outcomes, a non-profit organisation working to protect biodiversity in Southern Africa, by establishing protected areas outside of traditional state-protected land. Over the past decade, they have been at the forefront of pioneering a groundbreaking approach to impact-conscious energy project development in the Eastern Cape – effectively laying out the blueprint for the industry’s future.
Kevin McCann is the co-founder of Conservation Outcomes. In 2015, McCann and his team were approached by a group made up of wind farms, a wind farm developer, and a local environmental Public Benefit Organisation known as the Kromme-Enviro Trust - all focused on an area outside St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape. A boom in wind energy had seen several developments along the coast between the Kromme and Tsitsikamma rivers. To maximise the positive impact on conservation in the area, the renewable energy companies and the Kromme-Enviro Trust needed a collaborative sustainability strategy that would work for everyone. They were just missing the glue to hold it all together – a biodiversity stewardship.
McCann explains that; “Biodiversity stewardship is a voluntary process that allows the provincial conservation authority to enter into agreements with private and communal landowners to conserve biodiversity in critical areas. We see it as a key tool in protecting our natural resources and supporting socio-economic development – especially in rural areas – by protecting areas that provide services like clean water, as well as supporting the creation of jobs.”
Five adjacent wind farms were united under the banner of The Greater Kromme Stewardship (GKS), a first-of-its-kind collaboration. Implemented by Conservation Outcomes, the GKS is driving a new and effective approach to “offsetting” any negative impacts of renewable energy developments.
“Despite producing green energy, wind farms still have an element of impact on the environment – either through the turbine production supply chain, or effects on the surrounding landscape. Only by recognising this impact and taking active, conscious steps toward addressing it, can renewable energy developers claim to be in the business of sustainability,” says McCann.
The GKS continues to grow from strength to strength, with seven wind farms involved as of 2024. Together, these organisations are achieving far more than they could as individuals, becoming a catalyst for change in the energy production sector.
“The GKS investment has secured more priority land for conservation in the Kouga region than any other initiative in the last 50 years. The speed at which this has been done is up there with the best in the country," says independent biodiversity consultant Mark Botha, who assessed the progress of the GKS after three years.
For the past nine years, the GKS has facilitated sustainable land management in the vicinity of their wind energy facilities, and unlocked a renewed understanding of the benefits of good environmental management. Awareness programmes, designed to educate citizens about endangered bird species and our unique biodiversity, are moulding champions of ecological preservation.
According to McCann, the philosophy of the GKS is; “To contribute to the improvement of the landscape surrounding their developments, in a manner that benefits both the environment and people. Developers like Red Cap Energy (Pty) Ltd have taken the time to really understand their effect on the landscape around them and are taking responsibility for it. It gives me hope that we can make a difference and that the future can be better.”
The GKS, Conservation Outcomes, and all of the other players involved have actively changed the relationship between power generation and sustainability. By recognising that we cannot continue with ‘business as usual’, this collaboration in the Eastern Cape has presented an innovate way to mainstream biodiversity conservation into a business practice. We at Red Cap are proud to have played a part in the making of history – and we look forward to seeing what McCann and his team accomplish next.
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