CAPE NEWS
Bontebok National Park celebrates National Arbor Week By Khanyisa Tyolo
Bontebok National Park and Sweellendam municapal workers conducted a clean-up in Swellendam
Greening equals healthy environment National Arbor Week is an opportune time to call on all South Africans to plant indigenous trees as a practical and symbolic gesture of sustainable environmental management. It affords the government, the private sector, non-governmental and community-based organisations and the public to be involved in ’greening’ their communities. Planting trees and greening human settlements takes place in communities. It is therefore important for the public to join hands with partners in local government and community-based organisations. Greening refers to an integrated approach to the planting, care and management of all vegetation in urban and rural areas, to secure multiple benefits for communities. Greening in the South African context takes place
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in towns, townships and informal settlements specifically because in the past the latter mentioned areas were disadvantaged in terms of planning for parks as well as tree planting in streets and open spaces. Bontebok National Park joined hands with Swellendam Municipality, DFFE and local schools in Arbor Week celebrations. Awareness on importance of trees was raised during the week and trees were planted. The week was closed by community clean-up and awareness on illegal dumping and littering. The aim was to create an environmentally friendly mind-set in society to care for the environment. Residents were encouraged to be vigilant of the cleanliness of their communities and to report any illegal dumping taking place in open areas. They were educated about the benefits of greening their yards and taking care of their environment.
