IN PHOTOS: Mbombela walkers participate in walk for climate change
The walkers received a spekboom tree each to plant to observe September being Arbor Month.
The City of Mbombela hosted an inaugural climate change awareness walk in commemoration of the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.
This event saw a number of locals taking a step to taking care of the environment on Saturday September 17.
Participants began their walk from Mbombela Stadium, and headed to the R37 towards Mashishing and back to enjoy presentations on climate change put together by partners of the host such as Sanbi, Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa and the Manganese Metal Company.
The City of Mbombela’s environmental officer, Nompumelelo Msomi, said the climate change initiative was adopted in 2018 to raise awareness of climate-related disaster risks and to encourage the public to mitigate or adapt to the impacts thereof.
She said the initiative included a school competition in which Grade 11 learners of various local schools took part.
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“As a build-up to the climate change awareness walk, as well as to raise environmentally conscious children, the city in partnership with Sappi Ngodwana and the Manganese Metal Company ran a climate change awareness school competition. Learners were required to design an awareness banner under the theme #OnlyOneEarth. The winning banner by Fiona Mkhatshwa of Fusion Academy, which communicated a clear message, was used on the frontline of the walkers as they departed,” Msomi said.
The second runner-up in the competition was Nokukhanya Dladla of Sitintile Senior Secondary School, followed by Smanga Mathebula of Lungisani Seconday School in the third place. The winners received electronic gadgets sponsored by Sappi Ngodwana.
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Activities lined up for the day included tree planting at the stadium’s commemoration site, and all participants took home a spekboom tree to plant, to observe September being Arbor Month, and to be encouraged to live a low-carbon lifestyle, to save water, and to reduce, reuse and recycle.
