Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer, has congratulated the Western Cape Department of Agriculture for winning the gold award in the category ‘Climate Change’ for the top-rated radio series, Die Kwik Styg, at the virtual 2020 Ecologic Awards Ceremony held on Tuesday night.

Minister Meyer: “Tackling climate change is one of my priorities. So I am extremely proud of Dr Trautmann and her team. Creating awareness among South Africans of the challenges and opportunities of climate change is critical in our campaign to develop innovative solutions to the challenge it presents. Die Kwik Styg provided the perfect platform for the Western Cape to contribute to the building of a climate-resilient South Africa.”

According to Dr Ilse Trautmann, chief director of research and technology development, the series provided an audio “painting” of various aspects of climate change.

Trautmann: “The focus was to bring together the pieces of the climate change puzzle. The platform provided the listener information in bite-size information packs to instill a better understanding of climate change.”

Presented by Lizma van Zyl and broadcasted on RSG, Die Kwik Styg ran for one hundred and four programmes with the last programme aired on 3 April 2020.

Trautmann continues: “Each programme stated the facts regarding climate change and then offered innovative and sustainable solutions. A positive message of all is not doom and gloom, and we can strive towards a sustainable and better future, was the closing of every programme.”

Last year the Department was awarded the 2019 Ecologic Gold Award in the category Climate Change for its SmartAgri Plan.