KWV carbon reduction project plants trees

Out of the five available community-based offset projects, the company chose to plant trees in its surrounding communities because it felt that this would empower people through:

• Contributing to economic development;
  
• Creating jobs at a local level through coordination with local emerging nursery businesses and community based enterprises;
  
• Transferring responsibility as the community would have to ensure that the trees survive;
  
• Instilling pride.

The company has partnered with award-winning greening social enterprise, Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) to distribute 2670 trees to low cost housing units in the Drakenstein Municipality, near its estate in the Western Cape. This will sink its carbon emissions (1000 tons over the next 15 years) for the 2008 period and provide many benefits for the disadvantaged settlement.

First trees in Mbekweni

The distribution of the first 500 trees will take place through the Trees for Homes programme on 29 June 2010. These trees will be distributed to homeowners in Mbekweni, a settlement formed in the mid 1950's when this community was forcibly moved to this area between Paarl and Wellington.

This predominantly Xhosa speaking community has a high rate of unemployment. Some of the residents rely on seasonal work on nearby farms, work as domestic workers and find temporary work at the local municipality. As part of the government's efforts to create a better life, Project 2 low cost housing project was implemented between 1997 and 1998. Currently over 2000 low cost housing units have been constructed and occupied in the area. Due to the population growth of this area, it currently has a number of sub-settlements namely: Thembani, Silver Town and Polar Park.

The housing assistant manager for Project 2, Similo Tshali, welcomes the company's greening intervention, "This greening legacy will form part of the housing consumer programme which aims to encourage the new homeowners to be conscious about improving their environment through greening their property, keeping it clean and further changing their mind set towards engaging in sustainable environmental practices."