Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has launched a R300-million incubator project aimed at developing skills and driving job creation in the biodiversity sector.

The Groen Sebenza project, spearheaded by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi), involves the placement of 800 unemployed youth in skilled jobs across public, private and nongovernmental institutions in the local biodiversity sector for two-and-a-half years.

The initiative will focus on training, mentoring and workplace-based learning, with the objective of building a pool of young and capable professionals for South Africa’s biodiversity sector, as well as boosting job creation in the green economy.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa’s Jobs Fund will provide funding for the project. Thirty-two public, private and nongovernmental organisations in the local biodiversity sector have already placed 463 interns in work experience programmes and the remaining interns will begin later this month.

A steering committee comprising high-level representatives from the participant organisations and government departments will oversee the project.

Commenting at the launch of the initiative, which coincided with National Environment month, Sanbi CEO Dr Tania Abrahams said that Groen Sebenza would go some way towards addressing the skills shortages in the sector and, more significantly, aid in diversifying the sector.

“This venture effectively brings to life the ideals of the green economy, which involves mobilising and engendering the involvement of young people in the management of biodiversity through job creation,” she said, noting that The Green Economy Summit of 2010 concluded that the green economy could generate around 400 000 new jobs in South Africa in five years.

Molewa added that the landmark project would play a leading role in contributing towards building a group of young, vibrant, capable and confident professionals for South Africa’s biodiversity and natural resource management sector.

“We are proud to be pioneering this programme,” she said