The City of Johannesburg has undertaken a mega-blitz to eradicate alien invasive plants that threaten our environment.
The City, through City Parks and Zoo, the custodians of greening in the metro, announced their campaign on 19 October 2018 at the Albert’s Farm Conservancy in Greymont.
Read: 10 worst alien invasive plants (AIPs)
The campaign aims to educate communities on the importance of controlling the spread of invasive alien plants and their adverse effects on our environment.
According to City Parks’ spokesperson, Jenny Moodley, invasive alien plants are plants that are non-native to an ecosystem. She added that the plants may cause economic, environmental harm and affect human health as well.
She said they impact adversely on biodiversity in particular, including the decline or elimination of native plants – through competition or transmission of pathogens (disease carriers) and the disruption of local ecosystems and their functions. “Alien invasive plants further exacerbate poverty and threaten development through their impact on agriculture, forestry, fisheries and natural system, which are an important basis of peoples’ livelihoods in South Africa and other developing countries.”
Moodley added that this damage is aggravated by climate change, pollution, habitat loss and human-induced disturbance.
The alien invasive campaigns championed by Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo and its partners will continue to work throughout the year in various wards across the city, to ensure Joburg combats invasive plant.
Read: 10 plants that purify the air in your environment
Moodley cited the Yellow Flag (iris pseudacorus) found in Europe, Western Asia and parts of North Africa as one of the invasive species which must be combated and eradicated. “Also, the Himalayan Raspberry (rubus ellipticus) found in Southern Asia (India, Sri Lanka), Burma, tropical China and Phillippines must be combated and eradicated as well.”
She also encourages communities to join the entity in eradicating the scourge of the alien plants in their private property and neighbourhoods.
Details: City Parks 011 712 6722.
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