DURBAN was crowned the ‘greenest city’ in the world in December for having the most green spaces in an urban area.
This according to the first Husqvarna Urban Green Space Index (HUGSI), which uses satellite images to measure and anylyse the size, proportion, distribution, and health of green spaces. The news was released in a statement by eThekwini Municipality Spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela.
“The Index recognised Durban for its sustainability and greening initiatives that are aimed at safeguarding green spaces by ensuring that they are not jeopardised by urbanization. Such initiatives are implemented and managed by the city’s Parks Leisure and Cemeteries Department which makes Durban more caring and liveable by rolling out climate-resilience strategies and curating open green space,” said Mayisela.
Deputy head of Parks, Leisure and Cemeteries, Sibusiso Mkhwanazi said the recognition came as a result of the city’s policy to plant 80 per cent indigenous trees.
“The strategy is setting aside huge natural and green areas known as D’Moss as part of spatial planning. It informs us on what to plant, how to plant and where to plant more trees. Furthermore, as part of creating an urban forest the city has a programme where we plant trees to rehabilitate areas that have been eroded. This effort has then contributed to us being the greenest city,” said Mkhwanazi.
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Margaret Burger, a member of the Umgeni Estuary Conservancy (UEC) welcomed the news, although she highlighted the award’s criteria, saying that understanding this was crucial to understanding what the award means. According to the HUGSI Index website, 60 per cent of Durban’s 1030km2 urban area is a green space. With 42 per cent of this urban green space covered by trees, Durban has the most trees out of the 98 cities across 51 countires that were included in the survey.
“As far as cities go we have a huge civil society community. Parks Leisure and Cemeteries have recently appointed an ecologist in house, the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department (EPCPD) has biodiversity restoration as a priority, as well as working for ecosystems and Fire and Invasive Species Control (FISC), we have Buffelsdraai landfill as a conservancy with a centre of excellence,” said Burger.
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In terms of refuse, Burger highlighted the Aller River pilot project, a “world first” for better instructions on how to dispose of nappies.
“That’s a win win situation. It may be expanded to more ablutions and also a world first with the eThekwini Conservancies forum working with Edana to have better instructions on packaging. Let’s ban polystyrene as a take away option,” she said.
“The waste is a really complex issue, ranging from sewage to solid pollution. What is interesting with plastic waste is it is becoming a contested space as more groups are recycling or obtaining funds to collect waste,” she added.
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