With a team of more than 50 full-time staff, Ecological Restoration Capital (ERC) is an environmental and social venture that aims to restore degraded lands throughout South Africa while serving rural areas of high unemployment through business development. The organization is directly economically empowering families by providing long-term careers for rural community members in a new biodiversity economy.
Due to years of unsustainable exploitation, nearly half a million hectares of land has been critically degraded and thus is no longer economically productive. ERC strives to restore this land to ecological equilibrium. The team is investigating innovative mechanisms to ensure the rehabilitation of intact habitat in the subtropical thickets of the Albany Thicket Biome.
Spekboom Restoration
ERC is currently planting more than 2,500 hectares of the indigenous plant species Portulacaria afra, more commonly referred to as Spekboom, to restore overgrazed agricultural land that is no long economically productive. Spekboom is renowned for its ability to sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide, thereby producing Verified Emissions Reductions for sale onto the global carbon market.
The company is performing large-scale restoration of the local semi-arid forest ecosystem while focusing on the conservation of indigenous plant and animal species in this endangered ecosystem.
Through our groundbreaking partnerships, ERC uses its extensive network of contacts to work closely with carbon-intensive industries to cost effectively offset their emissions.
Nollen Group Investment
Nollen Group is the lead financier and developer of Ecological Restoration Capital. Our group has worked with ERC since 2009 to ensure the long-term success of this innovative environmental and social venture.
Visit the ERC website for more information.
