Joburg City Parks honoured for its commitment

Johannesburg City Parks and Zoos was recently awarded first prize in the National Arbor City Awards by the Green Development Foundation. #1MillionTrees

October 9, 2022

Chanté Ho Hip 1 minute read

Host Mpho Popps calls on the community to become active residents. Photo: Chanté Ho Hip

The City’s Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo was recently awarded first prize in the prestigious National Arbour City Awards.

The honorees were celebrated during the Greening For Champion gala dinner hosted by the Green Development Foundation (GDF) at the Leonardo in Sandton on September 27. The event also commemorated the launch of the foundation’s One Million Trees programme.

According to GDF CEO Rebecca Ngaka, the programme is aimed at planting one million trees, both indigenous and fruit, across Gauteng by 2024 to reduce the province’s carbon footprint.

“Trees provide benefits to promote health, and social wellbeing and even help your home. Trees serve many purposes in your local community and throughout the entire world.”

City entity Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo is award first prize in the National Arbor City Awards.

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Gauteng MEC for Economic Development Parks Tau, added that the programme reaffirms the country’s commitment to implement pledges to international forums to address harmful climate change effects.

“An important international pledge we made in 2015 was signed into the Paris Agreement whose objective is to limit the global temperature increase to well below 2°C while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5%.

Green Development Programme mascot encourages the community to take care of the environment. Photo: Naidine Sibanda

Tau pledged that the department will plant more than 45 000 trees for the One Million Trees program in partnership with the government and the private sector.