INDIGENOUS TREE DAY

Indigenous Tree Day (ITD) was commemorated on 15 April 2025 by planting indigenous trees at various sites around the country. Participants included the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) in partnership with SANBI, Joburg City Parks and Zoo, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Association of Parks and Recreation Africa and private sector stakeholders.

Tree planting activities took place at 11 national botanical gardens, two national zoological gardens, and three municipality botanical gardens. This nationwide effort aimed to plant at least 30 different indigenous tree species in SANBI and municipality-owned gardens to celebrate the day. ITD aims to:

*educate society about the value of indigenous trees;

*build capacity to grow indigenous trees by increasing efforts to find seeds of various species; and

*share propagation protocols and best practices.

The day also aims to engage and educate society, especially the youth, about conserving biodiversity by developing community-led efforts to restore ecosystems. It encourages individuals to consider their efforts in tree planting and the impact it will make towards the environment. It will also serve as a build-up to the One Million Tree Planting Campaign taking place in September 2025. This nationwide initiative seeks to mobilise the public to collectively plant one million trees in a single day. The campaign is a key milestone within the Revamped National Greening Programme which aims to plant ten million trees over a period of five years. This will be achieved through the planting of two million trees annually.

Through the Revamped Programme, there is the realisation that government efforts alone will not achieve this ideal and there is a call for all South Africans to participate in the initiative.

www.dffe.gov.za