WHAT WE DO…

Our name:

– FRIENDS OF NAMAQUALAND –

Our aim:

“To raise awareness around the world about nature conservation in the Namaqualand Sandveld Desert region and to ask you and other citizen scientists to participate in helping to save her.”

You can join us FREE today, it is fun and exciting!

Namaqualand is special – very special! Here is why:

• Once a year, for only 60 to 90 days, Namaqualand give a wonderful gift to all the citizens of the world. It is a flower show that cost nothing. It is a flowers show unlike anything else on earth.
• But Namaqualand gives more than flowers. Most of the worlds succulent plants can be found in Namaqualand, which in fact, is a desert region.
• Nowhere else on this planet will you find more plant biodiversity than right here in this desert.
• But Namaqualand has something else as well – something that is beautiful but threatening. Diamonds!
• For the last 100 years a huge percentage of the world diamonds was mined in the Namaqualand Sandveld region. From the Olifants River to the Orange River along the Atlantic coast in the Northern Cape profince of South Africa.
• The sad reality is that diamonds attract a lot of people. To many people in a small desert area can destroy it quickly.
• It’s not only the mining activities that destroy the landscape, but the people that that try to live of the land (farming) while they work for the mining companies.
• Namaqualand needs help if we as humans want to save this desert jewel – it’s succulent plants – its fauna and flora. Not it’s diamonds – most of them are now gone.

It is for this reason that this nature conservation non-profit [NPO], the “FRIENDS OF NAMAQUALAND” was born.

The inspiration to take on a project like this came from the book of Florent Granier, ” Secrets of Namaqualand Succulents”, translated from French to English by Catherine Arthur.

In the CONCLUSION of his book, on page 328 , Granier ask the question: How can we help preserve Namaqualand’s biodiversity? 

His answer can be summarized as follows:

• There are currently to few botanists in the world focusing on describing the biodiversity of Namaqualand.
• Locally, although public research organizations employ individuals to work in Namaqualand, the numbers are to low relative to the magnitude of the task at hand.
• A lack of resources to employ professionals to do new botanical discoveries in Namaqualand.
• But most importantly, and this should be step number one according to Granier, is to raise awareness (locally and internationally) of the richness of the Namaqualand region.

Granier conclude his book with these three sentences:

“It is in the context of growing awareness among the general public of the importance of nature that this book is published.Secrets of Namaqualand Succulents offers its two cents worth in encouraging more interest in the naturalist approach. Botanical exploration is central to taxonomy, constituting the cornerstone of all biological knowledge and an impetus for all conservation efforts.”

THE FRIENDS OF NAMAQUALAND: OUR AIM AND MISSION

“To raise awareness around the world about nature conservation in the Namaqualand Sandveld Desert region and to ask you and other citizen scientists to participate in helping to save her.”

You can join us today on this exiting journey – it is fun and exciting!

Join FREE and get our booklet on Namaqualand – at zero cost!

Visit Our Gift Store At:

https://NamaGifts.co.za [ South Africa]

Thank You