Learn about Durban’s forest
‘The Durban Forest’ - a publication of the Durban Botanic Gardens Trust - has just arrived.
THE first volume in the Durban Botanic Gardens Trust’s forthcoming umKhuhlu series, The Durban Forest, will be launched at Durban Botanic Gardens on Friday 4 September.
The series will draw on the Garden’s status as Durban’s oldest public institution to advocate for new models of plant use in support of a resilient urbanism. This restorative and compassionate focus has been given its first airing in the book The Durban Forest, the release of which has been planned to coincide with the World Forestry Congress taking place in Durban at the ICC from 7 to 11 September.
Deploying the term ‘forest’ as a metaphor for all that Durban’s natural environment means to the City’s residents, the book melds an assertion of intrinsic value with that of adaptive value, stressing the need for ecosystem-based adaptations to our most pressing societal and environmental challenges – climate instability, food security, ecological restoration and social and economic justice. In flagging the specifically urban context in which these challenges will be most formidable, the book strongly identifies the need for a new botanical discipline that will explore the rich connections between how we use plants, the sustainability of our urban future and the manner in which the City will accommodate its most vulnerable residents.
This practical humanitarian emphasis is complemented by an historical and richly illustrated account of the pristine forest that covered pre-settlement Durban, and which still shapes the contemporary urban environment. This historical picture is set against descriptions of the forest types still found in the eThekwini Municipal area, their changing historical distributions and current conservation status.
The Durban Forest will be available through the Durban Botanic Gardens Trust. Prices will range from R295 for a pre-launch special and once it is officially launched on 4 September, it will then retail from R350 to R395 per book. The publication is available now from the Durban Botanic Gardens Information Office. Contact 031 3099240 or marketing@dbgt.org.za for more information and an order form.
