The civil rights organisation AfriForum celebrated World Habitat Day – celebrates this year on 2 October – throughout September month by planting altogether 1 681 trees with the help of its branch structures across South Africa as part of AfriForum’s 2017 arbour month project.
The project is launched every year when each of AfriForum’s 120 branches plant indigenous trees at various schools, in parks, bird sanctuaries and nature reserves, as well as in towns, cities and at churches.
The general tree identified for 2017’s Arbour Day and month is the buffalo thorn. The rare tree is the Cape ebony. It is not necessary, however, to plant these specific trees and people can plant any tree indigenous to their specific region. AfriForum planted the 1 681 in provinces across the country:
Gauteng 365
North West 400
Limpopo 50
Mpumalanga 165
Free State 38
KwaZulu-Natal 60
Northern Cape 10
Eastern Cape 40
Western Cape 553
Total 1 681
“Communities across the country have made a major green contribution by beautifying their towns and relocating or extended the habitats of hundreds of species. This year, as part of an auxiliary project, we supported the community of Knysna when we and other organisations planted 20 trees in a bid to rehabilitate the area after the destructive fires earlier this year,” says Marcus Pawson, AfriForum’s Head of Environmental Affairs.
AfriForum also plans on planting trees in Knysna over the next few years in a calculated, structured and continuous manner. The organisation wants to plan water-wise trees as far as possible because the Western Cape is still subject to severe drought.
AfriForum and its members also plans on extending this green initiative by launching a sustainable forest-creation project. Community will be requested to donate trees and money to the Go Green Knysna Project. Follow this link to donate money: https://antiek.afriforum.co.za/gaan-groen-knysna/.