Above: the Sunland Baobab tree in Limpopo, photographer unknown

Ecofluency x Baobab fundraising campaign:

save our ancient Baobab trees

The recording of the second online event on 20 February 2025 with Venda activist Vho-Mphatheleni Makaulule is here:

The recording of the first online event on 20 January 2025 with Kirsten Youens, founder of All Rise, as guest speaker is here:

What is this campaign about?

This is a fundraising campaign to protect the lives and home of the iconic Baobab trees in South Africa who are currently under severe threat by a completely unnecessary mining development.

The proposed mega-development in the Musina-Makahado Special Economic Sone (MMSEZ) threatens to destroy more than half a million indigenous, protected trees within the UNESCO-protected Vhembe Biosphere Reserve in northern Limpopo, South Africa.

Tens of thousands of these threatened trees are ancient, protected Baobabs, some of which have already been killed before any permits were issued. This is horribly ironic, because "Musina Nature Reserve ... has one of the largest collections of Baobabs in the country, and incorporates the former Baobab Forest Reserve – formed in 1926 to protect the baobabs from commercial interests."

This destruction of ancient, iconic, protected trees is simply unacceptable, and we need your help in stopping this massacre, please.

There is increasing opposition to the MMSEZ developments, but currently, All Rise are driving the only legal investigation into the issuance of tree permits for this proposed development, which is backed by the Limpopo provincial government and Chinese industries. But All Rise is an NPO, and urgently need funding to cover their time and costs in opposing this project, hence the Ecofluency fundraising campaign - more about this below.

Based in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, All Rise is a non-profit organisation and registered law clinic working for climate and environmental justice. With an all-women board and a team of passionate and experienced attorneys, they work pro bono on environmental matters in the public interest, and for people who can’t afford legal services.

All Rise represents a number of individuals and organisations in their legal investigation, including the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve non-profit organisation, Living Limpopo, the Herd Reserve, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits University and several landowners in the vicinity of the MMSEZ.

Please donate directly to All Rise here: allrise.org.za/donations

Please remember to use the reference “BAOBAB” so that we can estimate how much this campaign has helped to raise for All Rise.

Why stop the MMSEZ developments?

This neo-colonial Chinese-driven, government-backed metal-smelting project is “an environmental and economic Chernobyl”, according to Living Limpopo, who have described this threat in meticulous detail, and provided alternative solutions to the problems that MMSEZ claims to address. Below is a summary of why it’s necessary to stop this megalomaniac mega-development.

If it goes ahead, more than half a million protected, indigenous trees could be killed within the UNESCO-protected Vhembe Biosphere Reserve, the largest biosphere reserve in South Africa. This includes pulling out tens of thousands of protected and ancient Baobab trees (Adansonia digitata), some of which have already been bulldozed for the northern development site before the permits for the destruction of protected trees were even issued, and is now under investigation.

The Baobab tree is so iconic in Limpopo that it features “in its provincial coat of arms, its motor vehicle licence plates and the latest Limpopo Investment Conference logo”.

Known as the Tree of Life, Baobabs hold great spiritual significance for the indigenous Venda people of Limpopo - it brings fertility to young women, provides a resting place for ancestral spirits, and indigenous elders often choose to hold meetings under the shade of these wise trees.

Baobabs are the oldest flowering tree species, and can reach lifespans of 5000 years old. These sturdy giants are keystone species and provide crucial food, water and homes for numerous large and small species within the tough southern African landscape, from insects to birds to elephants. 

In short, the Baobab is very much like the Home Tree in the first Avatar movie, except that we can still protect this and many other tree species from unnecessary destruction.

In addition to the lack of local resources that are feasibly available to support this proposed mega-development of twelve new open-cast coal mines and a mega-dam, the health of the nearby Limpopo River that borders with Zimbabwe would also be threatened with depletion and contamination.

A Daily Maverick article wrote: “One of the concerns by environmental groups and adjacent landowners is that the development will trigger a massive expansion of coalfields in the surrounding region, leading to the clearance of other large areas of indigenous bushveld and riverine vegetation, the pollution of water and regional water shortages”. Not to mention, this entire project “could have far-reaching implications for South Africa’s water supply, air pollution, food security and climate change policy”.

While Vhembe locals have been promised jobs in this project, “there is no apparent demand for the 13 million tons of steel and alloys” that these mines promise to deliver, according to Living Limpopo. The Chinese-owned contractors and investors would reap the vast majority of profits and land ownership, while the true cost to South African taxpayers would be greater than the R400 billion estimated.

Living Limpopo describes disastrous knock-on effects in local communities’ health, food & water security, culture, and heritage and land rights, plus pollution, severe biodiversity loss and environmental degradation.

How does this campaign work?

This campaign was co-created in response to a request that Dr Saskia von Diest, founder of Ecofluency, received directly from the Baobab trees (read more about how this is possible below).

As part of the fundraising campaign for All Rise to protect the Baobabs, several free online events will take place over the coming months, hosted by Saskia. These events will be recorded, so please book and donate to All Rise if you're interested, even if you can't watch it live.

The second online event for the campaign will be held at 7-8pm SAST (5-6pm GMT) on Thurs 20 February, with Vho-Mphatheleni Makaulule being the guest speaker. Click here for the Zoom link.

The aims of the events include:

• raising awareness about the true impact on the area and livelihoods that are currently threatened

• updating donors and the rest of the public on the outcomes to date

• presenting alternative economic solutions to what the developers intend for the threatened area

• introducing more humans to the consciousness of the Baobabs and other trees through Nature communication

• introducing people to the practice of sacred activism

• and much more!

Our current list of presenters and facilitators for these online events include the following, with more added soon:

• Kirsten Youens, founder of All Rise

• Vho-Mphatheleni Makaulule, Venda environmental activist & researcher

• Melissa Saayman, founder of African Tree Essences and co-founder of Platbos Forest Reserve

• Lauren Liebenberg, founder of Living Limpopo

• Dr Saskia von Diest, founder of Ecofluency

Dates and times of the following online events to announced in the coming weeks. Sign up to Ecofluency's mailing list on the website to be kept informed of these.

All Rise face a massive challenge in helping to prevent the destruction of this Limpopo region, so all donations go directly to All Rise. We’d really appreciate your support in this campaign! Donations can be made through this event, or directly to All Rise here: allrise.org.za/donations

Please remember to use “BAOBAB” as the reference for your donations through the All Rise site, so that we can get an idea of how much this campaign raises. Thank you!

Speakers for the online events

GUEST SPEAKER FOR 27 MARCH

MELISSA SAAYMAN

Melissa is co-founder of Platbos Forest Reserve, Africa’s southernmost indigenous forest, and the creator of the African Tree Essences range.

She has lived and worked at Platbos Forest since 2005 and is passionate about protecting, rehabilitating and raising awareness of the importance of not only this, but indeed all of the world’s old-growth forests. Perceiving and interacting with the intelligences of nature and the forest trees underpins all of her work at the Reserve. She synthesizes her intuitive understanding of the ecology of the forest with her horticultural training and personal observations of the forest and the creatures that reside there.

Baobabs, as the iconic Tree of Life in Africa, are particularly close to her heart. The Baobab tree essence she made is the essence that I took when the Baobab trees first requested that I create a fundraising campaign to help protect them.
Learn more about Melissa's work at African Tree Essences and Platbos Forest Reserve.

GUEST SPEAKER FOR 30 APRIL

LAUREN LIEBENBERG

Lauren Liebenberg is the founder of Living Limpopo, a non-profit organisation campaigning to stop the wild heart of Limpopo from being sacrificed for coal and dirty industry.

Living Limpopo is opposing the development of the ecocidal industrial mega-project known as the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone, the damming of the Limpopo River and the exploitation of the Greater Soutpansberg Coalfield in the Limpopo River Valley.

She serves on the board of the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve where she leads The Great Vhembe Conservation Area project, an ambitious protected areas expansion and restoration programme that will protect the region’s deep biodiversity reservoir.

Lauren is also a writer, more recently on environmental issues, and has published several critically acclaimed novels.

GUEST SPEAKER FROM 20 FEBRUARY

VHO-MPHATHELENI MAKAULULE

Vho-Mphatheleni Makaulule (Mphathe) is an environmental activist and defender of sacred sites, and a researcher in the transfer of indigenous knowledge to future generations. 

She is a founder and executive director of the Dzomo la Mupo (previously Mupo Foundation), where she facilitates indigenous knowledge system interactions on issues of environmental injustices through collaborations with Earthlife Africa, for local Vhembe district and Eastern Cape communities.

Her father, who was a traditional healer, farmer, and community leader, was 74 years old when she was born. She has long recognized the significance of this and her ancestral origins, and for more than 35 years, Mphatheleni has been working with the Venda elders, her libraries of knowledge, to transfer indigenous knowledge to the younger generation, particularly the Makhadzi (women) of the communities.

She has a B.A.Ed. degree (1998) and a Master’s degree on African studies (2023) from University of Venda. She collaborates with the community engagement programmes of the University of Venda and the Ekuruleni branch of Unisa, as well as with Earthlife Africa and with international university students, to create spaces of intergenerational learning and to develop academic research methods for collecting cultural data appropriately.

Mphatheleni is a non-executive Director of the Wild Law Institute, where she represents the indigenous voice on a mission for Rights of Nature.

She has taught internationally and presented at various conferences. She represents South African indigenous voices at numerous political and ceremonial gatherings overseas, and has won multiple local and international awards for her leadership and activism work. 

While the website for Dzomo la Mupo is under renovation, you can see some of her work in protecting indigenous sacred sites showcased in this CGTN feature video.

In 2024, in a move that made TV news, Mphatheleni and Earthlife Africa withdrew their support for the MMSEZ development, realising that the development would not provide the promised economic benefits to Venda people, but would rather ruin the lives and livelihoods of Limpopo residents, through irrevocable damage to the indigenous forests, air quality, water systems, wildlife habitats, heritage sites, and wider cultural landscape of the Venda people.

GUEST SPEAKER FROM 20 JANUARY

KIRSTEN YOUENS

Kirsten Youens is the founder and Chief Executive Director for All Rise, a non-profit organisation and registered law clinic for climate and environmental justice based in Durban, South Africa.

She has been practising as an attorney since 1999, specialising in environmental law. Kirsten has a deep desire to correct the imbalances in the world, and does so through her practice of protection of rights, environmental law and environmental justice.

Kirsten works on matters advocating for better protection of wildlife, specifically endangered and threatened species, both terrestrial and marine. Her cases support communities, conservation organisations and NGOs in protecting their environmental rights as well as enforcing environmental legislation for the purpose of preserving natural resources and combatting climate change.

She is a contributor to Earth Justice and Global Citizen. All Rise is a member of the Climate Justice Charter Movement and the Wild Animal Protection Forum for South Africa.

She has a Bachelor of Social Science degree, an LLB degree and Masters in Environmental Law (cum laude). Kirsten co-founded All Rise, Attorneys for Climate and Environmental Justice, in 2019 in response to a desperate need for change and support in KwaZulu-Natal, both for rural communities affected by environmental injustices and for the Earth.

CAMPAIGN ORGANISOR

DR SASKIA VON DIEST

Saskia is the founder of Ecofluency, as well as consultant, educator, activist, and occasional researcher in the field of Nature communication.

Attending an animal communication workshop during her PhD (Plant Pathology) in 2012 sparked her interest in how farmers use intuitive communication with nature to inform practical management decisions. From 2014-2020, she held two postdoctoral fellowships, at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and at Coventry University, UK, to investigate intuitive farming as part of a wider new field of subtle agroecology.

Throughout her postdoctoral years, she further developed her own understanding and practice in communicating with trees, animals, land, nature spirits and ancestors. She’s also trained as a Family Constellations facilitator, in Jikiden (Usui) Reiki, and in the Way of the Warrior Healer for energy field clearings and psychic surgery.

In 2021, she founded Ecofluency, to offer consulting, facilitation, teaching and coaching in Nature communication, and promote other human voices in this field. With 15 years of experience in teaching and facilitating through various forms and in many countries, her passion is creating opportunities for others to have their own experience of communicating with non-human Nature, and develop that for individual and the collective transformation.

CAMPAIGN CREATOR

BAOBAB TREES

This fundraiser was called into being by the Baobab trees, whose life and home are threatened by the MMSEZ developments. The online event is co-designed with, and will be energetically held, by the consciousness of this ancient and wise African Tree of Life.

How are the Baobabs co-creating this fundraiser?

Trees are perfect teachers of harmonious living, especially in community. Their wisdom is accessible to us through expanding our range of senses and awareness, to engage in two-way conversation with them, mind to mind and heart to heart. And it’s easier than one might expect!

All humans are born with the capacity to commune and communicate with any aspect of Nature, because we are Nature. This way of being exists beyond all languages, and has been known and practised by indigenous peoples worldwide for millennia. Although many have forgotten how to use this ancient ability, it is possible to reclaim the power of this birth-right, allowing access to the deeper intelligence and wisdom of Nature that is not often available to our everyday human minds, to benefit all life.

Some people have dedicated their lives to becoming professional Nature communicators, and to act as translators between humans and the rest of Nature. Dr Saskia von Diest, the founder of Ecofluency, is one such Nature communication facilitator who will be hosting the calls for this campaign.

The events are for all levels of experience, and for anybody curious about or interested in communing and communicating with Nature, including those who practise it already.

While we won’t cover step-by-step guidelines for Nature communication (please see other events for these workshops), Saskia will guide you in experiencing a unique way of connecting with trees that is practical and relevant for everyday life, and can be applied with other tree and plant species.

And why is tree communication important?

By including trees as stakeholders in decision-making, we can co-create our shared future with them, whether you’re pruning them in your home garden, or bringing their voice to council for policy-making.

On a practical level, communicating with trees and other aspects of Nature helps us make more holistic and efficient decisions in all aspects of our lives: growing food, choosing a place to live, understanding the behaviour of wild or domestic animals, creating rituals and ceremonies for inspiration and abundance, expanding your professional work in ecological alignment, or healing traumas to become whole and to spiritually evolve.

Nature communication is also a critical skill for empowering physical, mental and emotional vitality, to grow beyond resilience into a dynamic state of thriving. It offers a key to unlocking greater joy and harmony in our relationships with ourselves, other humans, and the rest of Nature, and can complement any faith or belief system.

The future of human existence depends on dialogue with other species, as they call on us to co-evolve and create our next steps in alignment with all of Nature.

The world is waiting – join the conversation!

Tree Essences

If you'd like to get to meet the spirit of Baobab on a deeper level, working with a tree essence is a fantastic complement to the guided journeys that you'll experience in these online events over the coming months (it's ok if you don't receive your Baobab essence before the first event - it will be recorded so you can redo the guided journey to meet the Baobabs if you watch the recording later).

A tree essence contains no physical parts of the tree, but holds the signature frequency of the eternal spirit of that species, imprinted into spring water and preserved in alcohol. Order your Baobab tree essence from African Tree Essences here: https://africantreeessences.co.za/baobab-flower-essence/

Donations and bookings

The second online event for the campaign will be held at 7-8pm SAST (5-6pm GMT) on Thurs 20 February, with Venda activist Mpatheleni Makaulule as the guest speaker for this call.

Register for the event here to receive the Zoom link.

Please donate to help save the Baobab trees, and support All Rise in stopping the disastrous developments in the MMSEZ areas from causing irreversible environmental damage to the UNESCO-protected Vhembe Biosphere Reserve and wider region.

Donations can be made directly to All Rise through the button below, or here: allrise.org.za/donations

Please remember to use the reference “BAOBAB” so that we can keep track of how much this campaign has raised to help All Rise. Thank you!

Read more about the work that All Rise are doing at allrise.org.za.

Questions about this fundraising event and the upcoming online events can be sent to Saskia at saskia(at)ecofluency.org.

Service policy

All donations to All Rise are non-refundable.