Bakwena Platinum Corridor Concessionaire (Bakwena) congratulates the Endangered Wildlife Trust on being awarded
the ICOET International Stewardship Award for their Wildlife and Energy and Wildlife and Transport programmes,
received at the International Conference on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET) held in the USA recently.
The International Stewardship Award is presented to agencies or organisations that demonstrate, through the results of their actions, a cooperative effort to maintain or restore ecological function in the midst of transportation above the regulatory requirements.
Bakwena public relations manager, Charmaine van Wyk, says the award bears testimony to the dedication and
incredible work Wendy Collinson has done in establishing and running the EWT’s Wildlife and Transport Programme.
“Wendy and her team oversee numerous research projects that are working to address environmental concerns and
challenges, through putting plans in place to implement mitigation methodologies –incredibly making them one of the first African NGOs to do this.”
The Wildlife and Transport Programme includes valuable training that is provided by the EWT to Bakwena’s route
patrollers on wildlife incident data collection, species identification and mitigation measures. By developing wildlife incident data collection and management thereof, negative impacts of transport infrastructure on wildlife are reduced.
Fraser Shilling of the Road Ecology Centre at UC Davis, and the main organisers of ICOET said, “The EWT unites
industry and wildlife impacts in Africa, working towards shared objectives, expanding knowledge, and understanding
how to ultimately minimise threats to wildlife.”
Road safety is one of Bakwena’s core pillars, which is why this project is so significant. Bakwena has supported
various initiatives by the Endangered Wildlife Trust over the past eight years. In addition to being a core supporter of the Wildlife and Transport Programme, it has also supported the organisation’s Livestock Guarding Dog Project, part of the EWT’s Carnivore Conservation Programme.
Bakwena is proud to be a partner and supporter of an organisation such as the EWT, their dedication and commitment
in protecting and preserving the country’s precious wildlife is recognised and appreciated. We thank the Endangered Wildlife Trust and Wendy for the exceptional work they are doing to protect one of this country’s greatest resources – its wildlife,” concludes van Wyk.