14 November 2014

Dr Alex Hughes
Director of Research
School of Geography, Politics and Sociology
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU

Dear Dr Hughes

RE: Information for the public archive

Flower Valley Conservation Trust is a public benefit organisation operating in the Western Cape of South Africa. The Trust was set up in 1999 with support from Fauna & Flora International, and today the Trust promotes the sustainable harvesting of wild fynbos across the Cape Floral Kingdom in South Africa, and the protection of those livelihoods dependent on fynbos, through a programme known as the Sustainable Harvesting Programme.

In 2013, the Trust partnered with the Universities of Durham and Newcastle in the Economic & Social Research Council Knowledge Exchange project, titled ‘Developing Sustainable Wildflower Harvesting for Global Supply Chains’. The investigators are Dr Alex Hughes, Prof Cheryl McEwan and Dr David Bek. 
This project developed certain outputs that Flower Valley Conservation Trust will make use of, in supporting the Sustainable Harvesting Programme. These tools include:
•	Field assessment guidelines, supporting fynbos suppliers to assess the condition of their own veld while providing them with the knowledge to improve their veld if it were needed;  
•	Training material in the form of training videos, providing information to harvesters on how to pick fynbos with care; 
•	A Field Guide for Wildflower Harvesters – a booklet detailing 41 fynbos species found on the Agulhas Plain and other regions of the Cape Floral Kingdom. 

The Trust hereby requests that these Knowledge Exchange outputs be kept confidential to Flower Valley Conservation Trust, and not be placed in the public archive. 

Yours sincerely,

Lesley Richardson
Executive Director
Flower Valley Conservation Trust