June 29, 2007
By George Matlala
With global warming dominating hearts and minds around the world, the City took the fight against climate change to Kliptown, Soweto, where more than 90 trees were planted in front of 45 homes.
On a chilly Thursday afternoon, 28 June, an enthusiastic group of Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) staff members swamped a section of Kliptown and planted at least two trees – one indigenous shade tree and the other a fruit tree – in each of the homes to cut carbon emissions and beautify the yards.
The tree-planting was done in partnership with South Africa's greening organisation, Food and Trees for Africa. The team was led by Flora Mokgohloa, the executive director of the environmental management department; Lael Bethlehem, the chief executive officer of the JDA; George Ndlovu, the councillor of ward 22; and Sipho Mathe, the community forester of Food and Trees for Africa.
"The environment is everybody's business and we all need to demonstrate our manifest responsibility by doing something about it. We at JDA started with this initiative," said Bethlehem, speaking to the residents before planting began.
Bethlehem called on individuals and companies to calculate the amount of carbon they emitted during their activities and to go green. "Planting trees in people's gardens is an excellent idea because it is one of the major ways of mitigating carbon."
The planting was also in support of the City's ambitious Greening of Soweto project, which aimed to plant thousands of trees across the township in preparation for the 2010 Fifa World Cup™, said Mokgohloa.
Joburg was also planning to run robust campaigns to highlight the effects of climate change. "People know about this problem, but they don't know how it affects them," she said, emphasising that residents had to have noticed the changing weather patterns.
Developing countries would be the worst affected by global warming. "Plant as many trees as possible," she said, noting that the City's move to retrofit council buildings with energy-saving products was a perfect example of going green.
"JDA has set the benchmark, though it doesn't have a big building. I challenge other entities to do the same."
Noting that the trees would also beautify the suburb, Mathe said, "By planting trees in this area we are cutting the illnesses caused by carbon emissions."
To ensure the sustainability of the project, he said his organisation would visit the residents until the trees were 12 months old, teaching them about the importance of planting and caring for trees.
Ndlovu called on residents to take care of the trees, noting that that they would hold community meetings to discuss the matter.
Evelyn Rummutla, one of the residents, took the councillor's call to heart. "I will take care of the trees. I will water them in the morning and at night," she said, urging other residents to do the same.
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