January 20, 2003
By Sheree Russouw
JOUBERT PARK'S residents are discovering that pap makes unlikely but perfectly good compost. Using two-litre bottles as containers, they are planting mini-vegetable gardens on the balconies of their high-rise apartment blocks. Their crops grow so fast that they are able to harvest, and sample, their crops in just two weeks - and their rooftop gardens are giving the grey urban centre a dash of colour.
Community initiatives like these can play a part in greening the city and meeting the objectives of sustainable development, says Koekie Maphanga, the assistant director of the City of Johannesburg's environmental planning and management department.
She is one of the researchers working on the city's Metropolitan Open Space System (Moss), a "spatial planning tool" that aims to assist in the proper functioning of ecosystems in Johannesburg. Maphanga says Moss will ensure that the city's open spaces (green areas such as parks, squares, gardens, rivers and natural reserves) are not only conserved and maintained but also used for recreational pursuits.
It is imperative that communities become aware of the advantages of open space, she says. "Each green pocket is unique to the local community. Communities are still not aware of the benefits of the environment. But progress is being made. In Moroka Dam, for example, the community is becoming aware of the benefits of preserving a dam like that. More and more people are going there now and using it for recreation."
According to the City, the broad aims of Moss are to:
- Protect water quality, including the quality of surface and underground drinking water and the quality of lakes and streams and water-based recreation;
- Provide high quality outdoor recreation, on both land and water, accessible to all citizens;
- Protect and enhance scenic, historic and cultural resources, which are readily identifiable as valued parts of the common heritage of Johannesburg's citizens;
- Protect habitat for the diversity of plant and animal species so as to ensure the protection of healthy, viable and sustainable ecosystems as well as the conservation and the preservation of biological diversity;
- Maintain critical natural resource-based industries like tourism;
- Provide places for education and research on ecological, environmental and appropriate cultural resources for the provision of a better understanding of the systems from which they derive;
- Preserve open space for the protection and enhancement of air quality.
The City is following the lead of Durban and Cape Town's city councils, which have also adopted Moss programmes. Johannesburg's Moss, however, is only in its initial phase and did not involve community input.
Rather this first phase consisted of identifying existing and potential open spaces in Johannesburg. The ultimate goal, according to the City's project manager Dirk Bouwer, is to draft a clear environmental policy for the city, but this could take up to two years.
With Moss the City will be able to influence planning in parks, for example, and deem whether development there can continue or not. "Our policy would affect areas such as water management, air quality and air pollution. We need strategies and management plans for each of these and to set targets. Ultimately, we hope to influence the City's 2030 vision and the Local Integrated Development Plan and the Strategic Development Framework."
Because Johannesburg "is not the Kruger National Park", not all of its fauna and flora can be protected, Bouwer says. "We can't protect everything everywhere. But places such as the Klipriviersberg and the Melville Koppies should be 100 percent protected and maintained."
Maphanga says that Moss aims to protect the city's biodiversity as more people move to the city, which compounds problems such as joblessness and poverty. "We have a lot of challenges. Johannesburg is losing open spaces on a daily basis. People need housing. They see an open space and build a squatter camp there, and then these mushroom."
But what of the seemingly inevitable clash between environmentalists and developers? Maphanga believes that Moss will help to bridge the divide between these disparate groups.
"Developers believe that a green friendly policy will inhibit development. 'Greenies' believe that development will damage the environment. We are not against development, but we want to preserve Johannesburg for its residents. It will take time to change these attitudes. Moss will serve as the middle ground between developers and environmentalists. Moss will help bridge the gap."
Environmental issues do not rate on top of the government's agenda, she says. "We have a responsibility to take care of biodiversity. The city has to commit itself to sustainable development policies."
