Ingcungcu Sunbird Restoration aims to heal the relationship between plants and birds and people by planting nectar-rich indigenous gardens across the densely urbanised Cape Flats - acting as filling stations for birds and outdoor classrooms for youth. These birds are important pollinators of more than 350 plant species in the Cape Floral Region, but are threatened by habitat fragmentation, urbaniz
ation, road traffic and frequent fires. Some species, such as Malachite Sunbirds and Sugarbirds are particularly sensitive to urbanization and do not venture far into the urban areas that now separate the Table Mountain National Park from the Boland Mountains and from the smaller nature reserves on the Cape Flats. Ingcungcu aims to restore these broken migration routes by planting gardens of indigenous bird pollinated plants on school grounds on the Cape Flats, thus providing a series of stepping stones for nectar feeding birds. Ingcungcu's objectives focus on the convergence between ecology and society. Research, Education and Conservation are the three interlinking pillars through which Ingcungcu aims to achieve its objectives. The Research pillar focusses on the ecological question of whether corridors can be established and facilitate the movement of specialist nectar feeding birds across the urban landscape - where they were commonly known to occur in the past. The Education and civil society pillar focusses on hands-on community engagement, in particular involving high schools. Lastly, the Restoration pillar aims to restore the relationship between people and nature by building partnerships with communities, particularly youth, through immersive experiences in nature. In this way Ingcungcu aims to identify and nurture future leaders in biodiversity. Ingcungcu's work is founded on scientific research, which continues to shape the direction and implementation of the work, focussing on the following questions:
1) whether planting of nectar plants will restore nectar feeding birds; and
2) whether restoring nectar feeding birds will have a positive effect on school children and in particular will help identify and nurture leadership for biodiversity.
