Naturally Knysna is a concept which asks the residents of Greater Knysna to become inspired by nature.
"Humans have been taking advantage of our natural world since our species first came into existence," Swain said. "Biomimicry does not involve taking or borrowing resources or materials from the natural world, but rather taking lessons from the natural world - taking lessons from nature itself," she explained.
"Nature abides by a certain set of rules and we would do well if we could change our entire way of life to also adhere to these," Swain continued. "Nature always seek to be life-friendly, it runs on sunlight, it uses only the energy it needs, it fits form to function, it recycles absolutely everything, it rewards cooperation, it contributes to and seeks to maintain the local community, it actually banks on diversity, it draws on local expertise, it always seeks to cut back on waste and produces the most extraordinarily diverse materials and innovations using only the existing natural forces and resources while operating within the existing natural limits."
"Now is the time to embrace these principles in all aspects of our town. The beauty of turning to nature for answers lies in the fact that nature actually has all the answers!" Swain exclaimed.
Knysna Executive Mayor Eleanore-Bouw-Spies explained: "It has been a few years since I first initiated the idea of a Green Summit for Knysna in 2009. The concept that arose from this was that of Knysna as a sustainable, resilient town that learns from our glorious natural surroundings." She continued, "What started out as a group of like-minded people who initially struggled to formulate an approach, was substantially assisted when Eden District Municipality funded the appointment of bio-mimicry facilitator and specialist, Sue Swain.
The hard work Sue and others have put in to date has led to the inception of the Naturally Knysna concept."
During the launch, guests were divided into four groups and sent on an ‘expedition’ during which well-informed speakers, Barry and Francis Brady, Sue Swain, Gloria Rozani, Dave Hendry and Dayne Davey, explained the various aspects of being Nature-wise. At each station guests received gifts, which Swain referred to as their Naturally Knysna starter kit. These kits were aimed to remind guests of Natures principles, namely of being Life-friendly, striving for an optimised steady state, adaptability and contributing to community. Knysna Tourism CEO Shaun van Eck explained that Knysna is seen as a visionary town, and therefore it was only fitting that sustainability be its cornerstone. "Knysna should be Nature-inspired - not just green, but nature-inspired.
" He explained that the town should learn from what nature has been doing since the beginning of time, and that was to be interactive.
He further called on residents to follow the examples of many of the organisation's accommodation members who had already been reporting their successes. "At our office we have already slashed our energy consumption by 30% by implementing aspects related to this programme," said Van Eck.
"This has been much easier than we expected and we can see the positive results on our electricity account at the end of the month."
"This concept is also a unique selling point for our beautiful town," Van Eck continued. "We all know that tourism is the driving force behind our local economy and responsible tourism is fast becoming the new trend within the industry. We each carry the responsibility of embracing the Naturally Knysna principles for two reasons: firstly, for the greater, sustained good of our town. Secondly, this has the potential of elevating our town to a higher status of travel destination with the growing market of the environmentally conscious traveller."
Mayor Bouw-Spies asked for "a complete mind-shift". "Naturally Knysna is not about going green; Naturally Knysna is about intentionally becoming a town that functions in its entirety as a self-sustained, natural system, very much like the beautifully mysterious indigenous forests that surround us," she said.
Bouw-Spies indicated that the municipality has also started to adapt to these principles. "Change must come from within and we have commenced with a process of conducting audits to look at our water and energy consumption, as well as our waste practices to identify possible areas of increased efficiency," she said. "We are committed to closing the loop on waste and identifying and implementing policies and programmes to help us bring this abou,." Bouwe-Spies concluded.
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These well-informed people assisted at the launch of the Naturally Knysna programme by manning interactive information stations. From left are Barry and Frances Brady, Sue Swain, Gloria Rozani and Dave Hendry (absent: Dayne Davey).
ARTICLE: FRAN KIRSTEN
PHOTOS: DESMOND SCHOLTZ
