Where Sustainable Development Meets Conservation

inviting you to a growing table

We are a group of conservationists, engineers, scientists and farming consultants interested in the ecological potential of agricultural and industrial development.

According the Oxford English Dictionary, the word ‘develop’ stems from the Old French words ‘desveloper‘ or ‘désvelopper‘, meaning to ‘unfurl’, ‘unwrap’ or ‘unveil’.

Return on Ecology aims to support local regenerative leaders, by ‘unveiling’ the work they are doing, for management, marketing and knowledge-sharing.

We are a registered non-profit company: a one-stop-shop assisting land managers in farming, industry and development to design fit-for-land approaches, with a focus on highest returns. We are particularly passionate about creating encounters with the art of conservation and development — for producers, industry and tourists.

Inviting you to agrowing table

We are a group of conservationists, engineers, scientists and farming consultants interested in the ecological potential of agricultural and industrial development.

According the Oxford English Dictionary, the word ‘develop’ stems from the Old French words ‘desveloper‘ or ‘désvelopper‘, meaning to ‘unfurl’, ‘unwrap’ or ‘unveil’.

Return on Ecology aims to support local regenerative leaders, by ‘unveiling’ the work they are doing, for management, marketing and knowledge-sharing.

We are a registered non-profit company: a one-stop-shop assisting land managers in farming, industry and development to design fit-for-land approaches, with a focus on highest returns. We are particularly passionate about creating encounters with the art of conservation and development, for producers, industry and tourists.

focus on the highest returns

Return on Ecology is a conservation effort that harnesses the potential of industry, agriculture and urban development as part of the natural ecosystem. We view human activities as a well-spring of conservation opportunities, not in conflict with nature but in collaboration with the surrounding ecosystem services. However, to partner with nature is to listen and respond to the whole system, consistently and patiently, over years.

Financial Health

Rooted in the Economy, Designed for Returns

Conservation efforts have consistently been positioned against financial activities. Many ‘green’ strategies fail, because of purist conservation. Particularly in the poverty-stricken context of Southern Africa, we maintain that a healthy, data-driven financial model is the only route to a healthy ecosystem.

We also serve as a platform for regenerative leaders to share experiences between land managers, to avoid the expensive work of reinventing wheels.

Context

Fit-for-Land Approach

Rather than audits, ESG processes or academic models, we contextualise data and information to support management, marketing, training, small business development, and encounters with ecology and urban and agricultural development.

Context

Fit-for-Land Approach

Rather than audits, ESG processes or academic models, we contextualise data and information to support management, marketing, training, small business development, and encounters with ecology and urban and agricultural development.

Caring for the Edges

Ecology and Returns at the Interfaces

Biological life is most abundant at the interfaces. The same can be said for society. We are most formed at the interfaces: when we relationally meet the other, at the edge of ourselves.

In this vein, Return on Ecology improves the returns of land management by focusing on the neglected edges: waste management, farming the fence lines, auxiliary business development.

Legacy

Multi-Generational Returns

Our focus on data mining and soil, system & ecological health is a multi-generational activity, leaving the operation more flourishing than when it was received.

On-the-Ground Knowledge Transfer

Capturing and Transferring Experience

We have noticed that the young workforce in urban and agricultural planning and development is currently informed by valuable but complex tertiary degree programs.

There is a generation of consultants, farmers, water & waste specialists, and conservationists on the brink of retirement, who have a different type of knowledge that has emerged from decades of hands-on experience.

Return on Ecology is facilitating the small bites of practical knowledge, that can be transferred with a few short conversations and some well-designed connections between local experts.

Relational Ecosystems

Connecting the People

The activities of the people — relational, regulatory, industrial, commercial, and agricultural — are considered an integral part of Return on Ecology’s strategies. The psychology of the work is our interest. We function as an interface between rigorous science & management and desire, care & encounter.

‘The world functions in wholes whose qualities cannot be predicted by studying any aspect in isolation; one has to see the whole first. We would know very little about water, for instance, by making an exhaustive study of hydrogen or oxygen, even though every molecule of water is composed of both. Likewise, we could never manage a piece of land in isolation from the people who work it or the economy in which both the land and the people are enmeshed.’ – Smuts, 1927

Knowledge Ecosystems

Communicating a Nation-Wide Experiment

- South Africa is a leader in regenerative and sustainable work. There are countless stories of excellence.
  Essentially, a nation-wide experiment is emerging, across businesses and farms, with regenerative excellence creating biocorridors of ecological health. However, the data is not being standardised, interpreted or shared.
  Return on Ecology is developing an audited, standardised and rigorous database, communicating key stories on a tagged, categorised and searchable website.
- The stories are being curated, to be used and told: for our own management and for international visibility.