Fighting climate change: councilor for ward 87, Sharon Sabbagh, plants a tree

RELATED LINKS: Campaign to green Soweto blooms THOUSANDS of trees are being planted in Soweto, with residents of Dobsonville receiving fruit trees for their yards on Arbor Day. Read more Joburg's urban forest to grow ALREADY the largest manmade urban forest in the world, Johannesburg is planning to add thousands more trees to its landscape, greening the traditionally neglected townships. Read more Northcliff intersection gets make-over THE first road island targeted by City Parks has been given a make over. From a rubble-strewn bit of land, it is now a beautiful green space. Read more Millions poured into Greening of Soweto THE governments of Norway and Denmark have pledged to pour millions of rands into the Greening of Soweto Legacy Project. The plan is to plant more than 300 000 trees in the township over the next four years. Read more

Trees herald spring at Zoo Lake Indigenous trees were planted at Zoo Lake to celebrate Arbor Week, bringing the total number of trees planted by the Zoo Lake Users Committee to almost a thousand. September 7, 2007 By George Matlala ZOO Lake's trees were blooming, the sun was shining and residents were enjoying the warmth after the long, cold winter – all in celebration of Arbor Week. The Zoo Lake Users Committee and its sponsors planted more than 40 indigenous trees at the lake on Thursday, 6 September, including the pompom; Olea africana, the African olive; and white stinkwood. Mike Moriarty, the chairperson of the committee, said Arbor Week had become an opportunity to fight climate change. The world needed more trees to offset emission of the gases that contributed to global warming. Tree planting at the lake: Lucy Taylor of the Zoo Lake Users Committee and David Singer get busy The group had planted almost 1 000 trees since it started the initiative in 2000. Trees were planted at the lake during Arbor Week and on World Environmental Day on 5 June. "We want to plant a lot of trees that complement the environment." The committee raises money to maintain and improve facilities at the lake. Moriarty thanked its sponsors, saying they had contributed immensely towards the wellbeing of the park. Lucy Taylor, the committee co-ordinator, said that construction of an R800 000 information centre was almost finished. Here visitors would be able to get information about all the parks in Johannesburg, in particular Zoo Lake. It was hoped that during the 2010 Fifa World Cup™, foreigners would flood the centre. "It has really been a community project," she said, noting that most of the building material had been donated. Sharon Sabbagh, the Ward 87 councillor, said that the City was working hard to teach residents the importance of the environment. They were responsible for taking care of open spaces such as parks, and could take part in the fight against global warming. "We are educating people about the benefits of a healthy environment so that they can appreciate it." Keeping people in touch: the information hub at Zoo Lake will soon be completed Arbor Day – when people are encouraged to plant trees - is celebrated nationally on 1 September; in 1999, the government extended the celebration for a week, running from 1 to 7 September. City Parks is running its programmes over the full month. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry's chosen trees to plant during Arbor Week this year are the Pavetta schumanniana (poison brides bush) and the Rhus pyroides (common wild currant). Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za