- Amazon has launched the next phase of a massive Eastern Cape restoration project covering 50 000 hectares – more than twice the size of Table Mountain National Park.
- The company has committed to buying 1.95 million carbon credits generated by the Spekboom Restoration Project.
- Developers say the initiative could create more than 11 000 jobs while restoring degraded landscapes and boosting biodiversity.
- For more climate change news and analysis, visit New24 Climate Future.
US e-commerce giant Amazon, in collaboration with the World Bank and a handful of other financial institutions, has launched the second phase of a project to restore 50 000 hectares of degraded land in the Eastern Cape – an area more than twice the size of Table Mountain National Park.
Central to the project is spekboom, a drought-hardy succulent renowned for its ability to capture and store carbon and restore degraded landscapes.
Since April 2021, more than 30 million plants have been planted across 10 000 hectares in the Jansenville area, about 90km south of Graaff-Reinet.
Phase 2 of the project will see an additional 50 000 hectares restored through new plantings, with plans to expand to more than 100 000 hectares.
Over 180 million spekboom cuttings are set to be planted by the end of 2028, supported by nurseries spanning 17 hectares with capacity for 40 million plants.
Amazon has a long-term purchase agreement for carbon credits to be generated by the Spekboom Restoration Project. The company plans to purchase 1.95 million carbon credits over more than a decade.
A carbon credit is a tradable certificate representing one tonne of CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalent) avoided or removed from the atmosphere. Companies can buy these credits to offset their emissions, either voluntarily or to meet regulatory requirements.
Spekboom forms dense thickets that create a microclimate and soil conditions that support the natural regrowth of native flora and fauna. At present, more than 1 000 workers are involved in the project in various capacities, but its developers plan to increase this to more than 11 000 jobs by 2030 as the scope grows.
Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane told News24: “Land degradation is one of our biggest problems in the Eastern Cape. It makes the land not arable. We need to be rehabilitating our land.
“Planting spekboom, like they are doing here, helps us address ecosystem [challenges].”
Mabuyane continued that “we are a disaster-prone province. This helps us to mitigate [the impacts of climate change]. We are quite happy as a province; we welcome it.”
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