The International Year of Forests, 2011, saw Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) enter the final year of a three year agreement with the Raith Foundation. This project started in 2009 with the aim to distribute 14 136 Trees for Homes to community members in Burgersfort in Limpopo, Vosloorus in Gauteng and Kanana in the North West. With all but 2 556 trees already in the ground, the face of these communities has already been radically changed thanks to this wonderful programme.
FTFA’s Trees for Homes programme spreads awareness of the need to conserve, plant, and maintain trees for the vital role they play in our lives, and their importance in addressing climate change. In addition to improving the environments in which these residents live, these 14 136 Raith Foundation trees will sequestrate a conservative estimate of 9 424 tons of carbon dioxide, thus mitigating climate change as well. All beneficiary communities have learnt more about the importance of trees and greening as over 250 trained community educators went door to door to spread awareness to their neighbours.
The importance of trees and greening has reached over 5 122 community members in 2011 alone, greatly contributing to The United Nations General Assembly declared International Year of Forests in 2011. This aims to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests, including highlighting the importance of forests in urban areas, where the majority of the population of the planet now live. The Raith Foundation initiative has resulted in around 354 hectares of urban forest planted in South Africa.
The distribution of the last 2 556 Raith Foundation trees also celebrated the International Day for Biological Diversity, 22 May, launched by the United Nations to increase our understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. Biodiversity is a measure of the well being of ecosystems. With the increasing urbanisation of our country, biodiversity has steadily been dropping, most likely due to the destruction of habitats. The theme for this year is forest biodiversity, which is fitting seeing as 2011 is the International Year of the Forests.
