Month: May 2010

22 000 trees in 4 days: That’s how many trees official Comrades charity, the Wildlands Conservation Trust is planting as part of their ReLeaf campaign this year.  Last year a record 13 000 indigenous trees were planted (one for every runner).  With the bumper Comrades set for 2010, it’s uped the ante for the tree planters.  Wildlands, and sponsors Bonitas Medical Fund, are confident the team will be up to the challenge!

The trees will be planted at the Buffelsdraai Landfill site near Verulum during the four days leading up to the legendary Comrades Marathon which is on the 30th of this month.  The marathon tree-planting will contribute to the reforestation of the landfill site, a project of the eThekwini Municipality’s Environmental Management Department.  The Buffelsdraai Landfill Site Community Reforestation Project was started by the municipality as part of their Greening 2010 initiative which aims to offset some of the carbon associated with the FIFA World Cup.

The Wildlands Conservation Trust has been one of the official Comrades charities for more than 10 years now.  “Last year was such a success, we had to beat it this year, and with the growth in numbers for the 2010 Comrades, planting 22 000 trees was the obvious choice!” said Wildlands’ ReLeaf Campaign Manager Heidi Mocke. “All 13 000 trees were planted last year, and another  3000 because there was time to spare, so we’re confident our team of planters can do it again this year.”  All the trees are grown, planted and cared for by local community members.

The planting site, a 750ha ‘buffer zone’ around the Buffelsdraai Landfill, is one of eThekwini Municipality’s ‘Greening Durban 2010’ reforestation projects aimed at offsetting the emissions associated with the 2010 FIFA World Cup.   The trees used are grown through Wildlands’ Indigenous Trees for Life Programme in the surrounding Buffelsdraai and Odindesweni communities.   The environmental benefits of reforestation are vital to the area. “There are two primary benefits”, explains Dr Andrew Venter, CEO of Wildlands Conservation Trust, “biodiversity restoration and climate change mitigation.”  “The project is establishing and restoring 580ha of indigenous forest [the remaining land will be restored to natural grasslands and wetlands]; green space that will be very valuable in twenty years time when this area will be surrounded by concrete. The forest will also act as a carbon sink, sequestering thousands of tonnes of CO2 over a period of 20 years, and mitigating the effects of climate change in the area.”

The planting has been made possible by Bonitas Medical Fund, who are also sponsors of the Comrades Marathon itself.

The Hilton based NGO the Wildlands Conservation Trust has spread their Indigenous Trees for Life programme to their own back yard. Started in needy rural communities in Zululand in 2004, the programme has now been introduced in the Sweetwaters and SWAPO communities of Pietermaritzburg, with funding from Unilever SA. Indigenous Trees for Life is a livelihoods programme aimed at uplifting poor and vulnerable children and adults. The “tree-preneurs” grow indigenous trees from seed, care for the plants until they reach a certain height and then trade them back to Wildlands for food, clothes, bicycles, agricultural goods and even school and university fees.  The trees they grow are then used for reforestation projects or planted back into their communities.

In September 2009 facilitators were appointed from within the communities of Sweetwaters and SWAPO. The facilitators approach children and adults who are keen to learn about growing trees and show them how to find indigenous seed in the bush. They then grow and nurture the seed into plants which can be traded for credit notes and spent at a “tree store” arranged by Wildlands.

Zanele Ngubane is eleven years old and is in grade five at Mashaka Primary. She lives in Mbutshane in Sweetwaters and has 110 trees that she has grown from seed. She has replanted the trees into containers of recycled yoghurt tubs and plastic bottles to allow them to grow to a good height of between 30 and 50 centimetres.  Mrs Martha Ngcobo is unemployed and has four children. She has 187 indigenous trees planted out in plastic containers in her yard in Madwaleni in Sweetwaters. She is hoping that the trees will be tall enough to trade at the first tree store in May 2010 in order to purchase groceries.

Siyanda Zuma is a facilitator with the programme. He says “We are helping people, and they are helping us conserve nature. Before, I thought all trees were the same, but now, it is part of my DNA, and how I look at things.” Siyanda has learnt to identify indigenous trees and teaches this to the tree-preneurs. He also explains that indigenous trees increase biodiversity of bird and animal species in an area, where alien plants tend to use a lot more water and often spread very quickly.

Project Manager Hlengiwe Mthembu says they are hoping to hold four tree stores a year in the Pietermaritzburg projects as the tree-preneurs now have trees reaching heights ready to trade. “As soon as we hold a tree store we will see interest in the project grow further as the rest of the community see the tree-preneurs spending their tree income.” A further project will be started in Edendale in the coming months.

Photo:  Zanele Ngubane is eleven years old and is in grade five at Mashaka Primary. She lives in Mbutshane in Sweetwaters and has grown 110 trees in the Indigenous Trees for Life Programme