The Deputy Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Ms Makhotso Sotyu will, as part of the National Arbor Month campaign, unveil a plaque and hand over a Remembrance Garden in Joubert Park, Johannesburg, on Tuesday, 22 September 2020. 

The event will also include tree-planting activities led by the Deputy Minister supported by the City of Johannesburg leadership. The campaign calls on all South Africans to plant indigenous trees as a practical gesture of sustainable environmental management. National Arbor Month is coordinated by the national Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries in partnership with Total South Africa. 

This year’s campaign is coordinated under the theme “Forests and Biodiversity,” which will be used with the slogan “Trees in our lives”, which signifies the importance of protecting and conserving our biodiversity as the backbone of our economy and livelihoods. The slogan, “Trees in our lives” focuses on how trees and forests contribute to the lives of South Africans in line with the sustainable forest management principles of social, environmental and economic development. Trees provide us with oxygen and absorb harmful carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere, thus contributing to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.  

The commemorative tree planting will deal with the remembrance and commemoration of all frontline professionals and workers who dedicated their efforts towards preventing and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and to those who had fallen as a result of being infected with the virus.

Members of the media are invited to join the Deputy Minister as per the details below:

Date:               Tuesday, 22 September 2020

Venue:            Joubert Park, Johannesburg

Time:              10:00 am

To RSVP, contact Banele Mabena on 066 420 0144 / SMabena@environment.gov.za or Peter Mbelengwa on 082 611 8197 / pmbelengwa@environment.gov.za

Follow the conversation on #ArborMonth and #Forests&Biodiversity. 

For media queries contact

Albi Modise, Spokesperson: Department of Environment Forestry and Fisheries on 083 490 2871 or 

Jenny Moodley, Spokesperson: City Parks Zoo on 082 803 0748, jmoodley@jhbcityparks.com

ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES AND CITY PARKS

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