Good morning to you all
I thank you for coming to this press conference. We have just formally opened the XIV World Forestry Congress, a global event which been held every 6 years since 1926, and in this case, the first time on African soil. We have over 3,000 delegates from across the world gathered her for this important congress to deliberate and map out a common future for forests and forestry around the world.
We have assembled political leaders, policy makers, industry, academics, students and civil society organisations to engage in a wide ranging set of discussions on issues impacting on the forestry sector and I am confident that South Africa will be far richer for this experience and that the proceedings from this congress will make a significant mark on the global policy agenda in terms of ensuring sustainable forests and indeed a future for our planet.
I am particularly pleased at the engagement of our youth from all the continents of the earth in this congress, as they really are our future hope and I am certain that their involvement bodes well for the implementation of the changes which this congress identifies must take place to ensure a sustainable future for children and future generations.
For South Africa, our tree planting efforts should also be seen as part of our redressing the inequalities of our past. On the one hand we have big cities like Johannesburg which is regarded as having one of the largest man made forests through the extensive urban forests which were planted. On the other hand, at the dawn of democracy in South Africa, we found many of our townships, particularly our townships, characterised by barren, tree-less pieces of land.
We have since embarked upon a number of initiatives aimed at the greening of our townships through the efforts of government, NGO’s and corporate support. The potential is clearly there to expand such programmes by tenfold and more, and it is my sincere hope that one of the lasting legacies of this Congress will be a more comprehensive campaign to bring about the greening of our townships with trees which will change the character of our townships, bring shade, nutrition and all the associated benefits of trees to our communities.
As one the stalwarts of our struggle, once answered when asked why there were so few trees in our townships, he said, “a person who plants a tree is a person who lives with hope.” This was not only an apt observation about the long term commitment which one needs for tree planting but an insightful observation of the dehumanising impact of the apartheid policies. We now must restore hope in our communities. We can alter the Apartheid landscape in which most of our people still live in. I call on all our forestry partners to give life to a broad national greening project as a means of ensuring a brighter future for our children.
I thank you!
