As part of its National Greening Programme, South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has announced an ambitious plan to plant one million trees on September 24.

The initiative not only aims to mitigate climate change, but also create employment and enhance food security through the planting of fruit trees.

At the launch of the One Million Trees Campaign at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden on July 7, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, Bernice Swarts, said her department was currently finalising logistics for the ‘one million trees’ planting day.

The DFFE has identified ‘safe’ spaces where the trees will be planted, where requirements such as water availability, a dedicated person to look after the trees, and security or fencing are in place.

Such places will include public institutions such as schools, churches, clinics, Early Childhood Development Centres, and certain Low-Income Housing establishments.

The trees will be sourced through a network of approved nurseries, and South Africans will be asked to sponsor trees as soon as the DFFE’s online QR system has been set up. The donated trees will be stored at the 11 National Botanical Gardens across the country, and DFFE nurseries, while planting logistics are being finalised.

“We are calling on all South Africans to join hands in greening our country. This is an all of society campaign which calls on collaboration by government departments, municipalities, civil society organisations, Non-Government Organisations, corporates, students and learners, churches and the public at large to plant at least one million trees for the benefit of our country,” Swarts said at the campaign’s Pretoria launch event.

“The country has borne the brunt of climate change and the resultant devastation it causes in communities and economies. We have witnessed fires, deadly heatwaves, heavy rains, floods, and prolonged droughts.  These events underscore our shared vulnerability, but also our shared responsibility to act, to adapt, and to do so in a way that leaves no one behind,” she added.

Swarts also underlined the importance of planting trees that were suitable for a particular area, and said that researchers were working with the department to develop a list of suitable trees in accordance with agro-ecological zones and climatic conditions in each province.

The One Million Trees campaign follows President Cyril Ramaphosa’s earlier instruction that 10 million trees be planted in the country over five years. Of these 60% should comprise fruit trees and the other 40% should be indigenous.

“I forever mourn when I go to Soweto and I see how we don’t have enough trees in that Soweto environment and indeed in many other townships as well. So part of beautifying our cities, part of injecting life in our cities, should be looking at our environment, making it clean, making it attractive,” the President said during an address in March.

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