Welcome to The Environment & Conservation Association
Wetlands – The shock absorbers
and purifiers of nature.
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Did you Know ?
That 55% of South Africans don't have access to clean healthy water.
Membership
For the ECA to achieve its mission, we need your support.
Become a member today.
Origins of ECA
The Environment & Conservation Association or ECA was founded by Ms Nicole Barlow in July 2006. The ECA originally started as the Libradene Wetland Association, which was formed on 14th March 2005, in response to public opposition against the building of a petrol station in the environmentally sensitive Libradene wetland.
On that day, Nicole began one of the biggest local campaigns ever embarked upon to save an urban wetland from total destruction. This campaign eventually culminated in a groundbreaking High Court ruling in terms of our constitutional rights i.e. the right to develop a property versus the rights of environmental protection and freedom of expression.
The Libradene wetland action highlighted a major problem that we face in our urban society and that is that urban wetlands, streams and dams are under constant threat of pollution, erosion and development, amongst others, hence the urgent need to protect these crucial water resources has led to the creation of the ECA. It also highlighted the fact that we cannot depend on the government to enact and ensure our rights. We have to do so ourselves.
Furthermore, in terms of developments, it is vital that interested and especially affected communities have the same quality of representation and understanding as that available to the developer and his/her appointed impact assessment team.
We bridge this gap by being appointed as community representatives, hence we can then guide and assist affected communities throughout the impact assessment process and attend public participation meetings alongside affected community members. In so doing, we assist with empowering communities so that they can determine their own future based upon an increased knowledge base.
As a non-goverment organisation working in the public interest to protect the environment for the benefit of the broader community, ECA actively relies in its constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment married with the right to free speech to mobilise public opinion and to defend the rights of citizens to oppose activities that threaten environmental protection and conservation.
