2022 Annual Review
2022 was a year of firsts for the plant-based movement – from the first plant-based pavilion at COP (the UN’s annual climate-change conference) to ProVeg being approved as an international NGO in China, the first such approval for a plant-based non-profit.
We’ve put together this report for you so that you can see how your support has helped us to progress towards key milestones for the plant-based movement – and how your help is needed now more than ever. In order to continue this vitally important work, we need to continually raise awareness about the benefits of plant-based diets and make sure that food systems are prioritised in all corners of the world. Your support helps to make a big difference!
You can read about everything you helped to achieve in our 2022 Annual Review.
Message from Will Donovan,
ProVeg South Africa Director
2022 was another breakthrough year for ProVeg South Africa, with policy work being added to our core activities after the Veggie Burger Ban arrived in South Africa through an attempt by our Department of Agriculture (the department) to use existing processed meat regulations to ban the plant-based food industry from using any words traditionally used for meat products – including ‘burger’, ‘nugget and ‘sausage’. ProVeg drafted a formal letter of opposition to the move, signed by 52 stakeholders in the South African plant-based food industry, including multinational companies like Unilever and Burger King. ProVeg South Africa joined the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa and supported their legal action against the department, which has ultimately led to an interdict against any seizures of plant- based products that are currently using the words that the department is trying to ban. In addition to work on the Veggie Burger Ban, we also submitted comments on other policy issues, including changes to the Game Meat Policy, the Climate Change Bill, and the Biodiversity Policy, and contributed to an industry-lead consultation regarding changes to dairy and plant-based dairy regulations.
Our Diet Change Not Climate Change campaign was taken to another level thanks to our involvement in COP27. This year it was hosted on African soil in Egypt. Because of this, we were lucky enough to send one of our South African team members and share research results on the #Food4Climate pavilion stage. Dr Nanine Wyma joined the Proveg International UN advocacy team for the second week of COP27 and presented preliminary research results on implementing plant-rich diets for diabetes in South Africa. We were once again the local partner for Veganuary, which saw 25 companies actively promoting Veganuary in South Africa. There were 44 new vegan product launches, including a crackable vegan egg, as well as 98 new menu items, all launched during the Veganuary campaign. We partnered with a local vegan influencer, the Cape Town Vegan, to host eight dinner parties at top vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants in Cape Town.
Our Johannesburg volunteer group hosted a Veganuary dinner party in the City of Gold. This year also proved to be a big year for events and activations. Our annual Heritage Day/Braai Day event returned after two years of cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was bigger than ever. Over 500 people attended the event, and we cooked and handed out over 1 200 plant-based burgers and boerie rolls (hotdog rolls) – leading to what we believe is a world record for the most 100% vegan burgers at a single braai (or barbeque). Other significant events were our inaugural Film Festival which showcased six leading environmental documentaries outlining the impact our diet has on the environment, the Plant-Powered Show, where we ran the speaker stage, and had info stands for ProVeg and V-Label, and the Two Oceans Marathon expo where we handed out over 6 000 Fry’s Meat-Free Chicken-Style Nuggets and thousands of OKJA plant-based milks. We were also present at many smaller activations, with sampling being done at the University of Cape Town, the North West University, and Greenpop’s Reforest Festival in Gansbaai. V-Label continued to grow in 2022, with significant plans for expansion in 2023. Our work with the Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN) South Africa continues to grow, with significant funding being obtained by PAN South Africa for their operations in 2022 and into 2023. The PAN South Africa team completed a pilot research project, a case study on a 21-day whole food plant-based eating challenge among type 2 diabetics in South Africa, and shared the preliminary research findings at COP27 (as mentioned above). The plant-based nutrition journal series, a free monthly email subscription that gives licensed South African healthcare professionals access to the latest research on nutrition, planetary health, and plant-based healthcare, continues to grow. This year, PAN South Africa awarded over 1 000 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points within their community.