Cape Winelands District Municipality – first African municipality to join new phase of LAB

Cape Winelands District Municipality joins LAB

Cape Winelands District Municipality became the first African municipality, and also the first district municipality to join the second phase of the Local Action for Biodiversity (LAB) programme. The agreement was officially signed by Executive Mayor Clarence Johnson at the ICLEI Africa offices in Cape Town on Monday 18 May.

During the signing ceremony, Mayor Johnson highlighted key programmes within the Cape Winelands, commited to the conservation of biodiversity in partnership with strategic roleplayers.

LAB works with local and regional authorities on improving biodiversity management and Cape Winelands had already taken the first step toward managing their biodiversity by getting involved in UNESCO’s URBIS initiative and initiating the Cape Winelands Biosphere project. Being the first district municipality to join the programme, Cape Winelands offers a unique opportunity to all 28 towns and hamlets located within the district, including Stellenbosch, Worcester, Paarl, Pniel, Kylemore, McGregor and many others, to work together on finding a strategy that will serve the whole district in conserving and managing the biodiversity of the region.

Cape Winelands also became an ICLEI member and will be attending the ICLEI World Congress in Edmonton from 14 – 18 June this year. As a member of ICLEI, and participant in LAB, the Cape Winelands District municipality will be able to integrate biodiversity into all sectors of planning and development and create an integrated approach to biodiversity conservation and management.

For more information

About how to participate in LAB: see   

About the Cape Winelands District Municipality, see:

http://www.capewinelands.gov.za/