Be in sync with nature this Earth Hour

This year’s Earth Hour is to be a spotlight moment that puts nature at the centre of international conversations. Earth Hour takes place on Saturday, 27 March 2021.

The City of Tshwane (CoT) is adding its voice to the global call to protect nature as its first line of defence against climate change.

“We would like to take this Earth Hour to honour our stakeholders that are actively putting nature first. Through active citizenry and partnerships, we can bring nature into our city and reap the multiple benefits of having safe, clean and peaceful conservation areas alongside the bustle of urban development,” CoT said in a statement on their website.

Below are projects that the City has worked on and continues to work on jointly with various stakeholders:

1. Hennops Revival rehabilitating the Hennops river

The efforts of Hennops Revival demonstrate the willpower of the non-profit sector to reverse the extensive damage to one of Gauteng’s once beautiful rivers. Hennops Revival, with organisation head Tarryn Johnston, conducts extensive clean-ups to remove the endless barrage of municipal solid waste that is flushed down the river.

For more information: www.hennopsrevival.co.za

2. Apies river rehabilitation programme

The Apies river rehabilitation programme demonstrates the possibility of restoring rivers as part of a development process,  which in this case is the Rainbow Junction development.

For more information: www.rainbowjunction.co.za

3. WESSA Friends Groups are restoring the biodiversity of the City’s key ecological nodes

WESSA Friends Groups are volunteer groups affiliated to the Wildlife and Environment Society of

South Africa (WESSA) to encourage public participation in caring for the earth. Tshwane has 15 friends groups whose volunteers spend their weekends restoring the biodiversity of Tshwane’s key ecological nodes.

For more information: www.wessa.org.za

4. Landscape design guidelines to enhance biodiversity

The University of Pretoria’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for Tshwane (BEST) project aims to investigate urban ecological landscape design practices for biodiversity enhancement, and to develop local guidelines for landscape design that are socio-culturally and ecologically relevant.

5. Partnership between the City of Tshwane and the City of Aarhus to promote green infrastructure

The Integrative Green Infrastructure Planning (GRIP) project, which is a collaboration between the Universities of Pretoria and Aarhus, aims to complement an existing collaboration on sustainable cities between the City of Aarhus and the City of Tshwane.

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