Friends & Affiliates

WESSA Affiliate Membership

Friends Groups and affiliate members make a valuable contribution to the work WESSA does in the areas of conservation and education as well as strengthening the environmental movement by networking and actively working in communities at a grassroots level.

The fee per annum is R550.00 which includes: use of the WESSA Friends Group or Affiliate Member Logo; quarterly issues of African Wildlife & Environment and EnviroKids magazines; e-communications; a reduced rate for individual members of affiliates should they wish to become full WESSA members. For more information, refer to Benefits & Basic Principles of becoming a WESSA Affiliate which is available from the WESSA Membership Office. A Friends Groups Handbook is also available to help new groups set up and provide guidance for existing ones.

About Friends Groups: The Friends Groups concept is a WESSA initiative which began in the Western Cape in the early 1980s. In 1985, the ‘Friends of Nature Areas’ project was established with the objective of involving the public in safeguarding natural resources and working with the owners or managing authorities towards this end.

Who are WESSA Friends & Affiliates? Groups affiliated to WESSA encourage public participation in caring for the Earth. They are volunteers who band together to conserve, rehabilitate or prevent inappropriate developments in natural or semi-natural areas or places of special interest. These areas can be large formalised nature areas or small informal pockets of terrestrial and│or aquatic environments in various states of conservation worthiness. Independent, environment-based, non-profit organisations with the same or similar aims as those of Friends Groups may become affiliate members of WESSA, thus strengthening the conservation movement. Groups caring for monuments, sites of historical, archaeological or cultural importance, and other similar, community-based initiatives may also apply to become affiliate members.

Why affiliate to WESSA? WESSA has years of environmental experience and can help provide networking opportunities and publicity through the WESSA life web portal, its publications, Facebook pages and other social media channels. Affiliation allows an affiliated group│organisation to use WESSA’s affiliate member logo on signboards, websites and stationery, which can help raise the profile and credentials of the group.