For many areas of the Western Cape, it is not a matter of if a wildfire is going to occur, but when. This wild-fire awareness toolkit covers topics around wildfires in the Western Cape, including wildfire risk, climate change, the rising costs of wildfire response and limitations to wildfire firefighting.

There are two kinds of fire: useful fires and harmful (or dangerous) fires. We use useful fires to cook, keep us warm or braai. Harmful fires, on the other hand, can cause serious damage to lives and livelihoods, including causing the death of animals or burning down homes. 

How much do we know about Earthworms? Worms are invertebrates meaning they do not have a backbone, instead, they wiggle, crawl and slide. Earthworms have no eyes or ears and breathe through their skin.

World Wildlife Day is celebrated on 3 March every year to raise awareness around the world’s wild animals and plants.

On 21 March each year, the world celebrates International Day of the Forest. This special day highlights the importance of forests to people such as cleaning the air we breathe for us and providing us with wood for creating books, stationery and musical instruments.

Do you know the difference between a hill and a mountain? Landforms that are 600m high or higher are classified as mountains. Mountains are home to 15% of the world’s population and cover 22% of the surface of the earth.

There are some 2 600 species of fish in our seas including 270 families of fishes represented in South Africa, equivalent to 83% of all marine fish families known. Strikingly, up to 13% are endemic, ranking amongst the highest anywhere else in the world.

Forests play a vital role in biodiversity. They provide food and shelter for the many species found in them. In forests, some animals live in the forest canopy while others live on the ground and under shrubs and all share an interconnected food chain.

Do we know what Cycads are?  These ancient plants go as far back as the dinosaurs. Cycads are slow-growing plants but can live hundreds of years and resemble a palm or fern but are not related.

Marine biodiversity is the variety of plant and animal life that we find in the oceans and seas. Marine biodiversity must be preserved because it creates jobs through tourism, provides raw materials for medicine and acts as a food source for both human beings and other animals. 

Scientists are more than 95% certain that nearly all of global warming is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases and other human emissions. If we don't change our our attitudes towards climate change, we risk facing food shortages and the extinction of many wildlife species. 

What is the difference between the weather and the climate? What happens when the climate changes? In this booklet, you’ll find cool and fun activities such as word searches and puzzles to help you understand the difference between weather and climate.