Media Release: Garden Route Risk Reduction Task Team to Be Established

For immediate release
05 August 2025

“Growing concerns about an increase of fire risk exposure levels in the Garden Route have led to the establishment of a Risk Reduction Task Team (RRTT),” says Cobus Meiring of the Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF).

The mission of the RRTT is to help prevent a recurrence of catastrophic events such as the 2017 Knysna and Plettenberg Bay wildfires, which were worsened by uncontrolled growth of invasive alien plants (IAP).

The RRTT aims to be a collaborative platform focused on strategic risk reduction and sustainable landscape management, working closely with landowners, conservation bodies, and enforcement agencies across the Garden Route.

Key stakeholders who form part of the task team will assist and encourage private landowners to reduce IAPs on their properties. Where necessary, action will be taken through the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Biosecurity resources.

Awareness creation will be a central pillar of the RRTT strategy. This will include direct engagement with landowners and sustained information-sharing campaigns through traditional media and social media platforms over the long term.

The RRTT will include experts and representatives from the Southern Cape Fire Protection Association (SCFPA), Garden Route District Municipality’s (GRDM) Disaster Management, local municipalities, DFFE, Nelson Mandela University, and GREF stakeholders.

Individuals or entities involved in invasive alien plant management, are invited to register as interested and affected parties by writing to louisamare@gmail.com.

The GREF is a climate change and environmental management think-tank. (www.grefscli.co.za).

Feature Image: Without collective action by all landowners in the Garden Route the region remains highly vulnerable to wildfire disasters.

ENDS