The scheme amendments were officially adopted today and our urban canopy now has the legal protection it deserves. My exhaustion after this long fight feels different now that we have secured this outcome. We must stay alert to ensure these new rules are enforced on the ground.
August 15, 2018
Final supporters
The mature trees that make up Johannesburg's Urban Forest are being cut down at an alarming rate. Our Urban Forest is a crucial environmental asset we cannot afford to lose.
JUFA has proposed amendments to the draft Land Use Scheme that will help protect our trees. Please sign our petition, your voice counts!
To: Mayor Herman Mashaba, Executive Mayor
City of Johannesburg
We, the undersigned, support the amendments to the new Land Use Scheme (see below), proposed by the Johannesburg Urban Forest Alliance (JUFA), which brings together environmental, heritage and residents' associations from across the city.
Johannesburg has one of the world's greatest urban forests. In fact, it is the sixth largest green city on the planet, according to Treepedia. According to City Parks and Zoo, there are 10 million trees across Johannesburg, mostly in private gardens.
Our trees provide many benefits to the citizens of Johannesburg. They bring oxygen, they absorb pollution, they cool us down, and according to some of the latest research, they may even bring the rain!
Our trees - their shade, their beauty - also bring us together, as Johannesburgers, and as South Africans. Our urban forest is an asset that we are all proud of, and that we cannot afford to destroy.
We know that many of the trees in Johannesburg are from somewhere else, but they deserve our protection no less than our own South African trees. Some of our trees may be invasive, but many are not - not least the Jacaranda trees, many of which grace our streets.
But our forest is under threat - particularly from the Council's own objective of increasing densities that will leave no space for trees. At present, there is no protection for Johannesburg's urban forest - while trees on streets and in parks are protected to some extent, trees on private grounds are not.
It has become vital to protect our urban forest and therefore JUFA has proposed that the following provisions be included in the new Land Use Scheme (section 2, part iv).
The Land Use Scheme will be a critical regulatory instrument, as it will supersede all existing town planning schemes and prescribe development obligations across Johannesburg.
The time to act is now - Let us amend the Land Use Scheme! Let us save our urban forest!
---
Amendments to the Land Use Scheme proposed by the Johannesburg Urban Forest Alliance
1. No street tree may be felled, killed, moved, or damaged (save for bona fide pruning) unless authorised by Council.
2. No indigenous tree, or any other tree on a private erf, that is more than 6 m in height, or more than 500 mm in diameter, or more than 10 years old, may be moved or damaged (save for bona fide pruning), without consent from Council.
3. The consent is to be informed by a policy to be determined by Council, in line with the protection of the City’s natural assets under the Spatial Development Framework.
4. The restrictions in (2) do not apply to trees that are listed as Invasive Species / Prohibited Alien Species in the Alien and Invasive Species Regulations, under the National Environmental Management Amendment Act.
5. All land development applications are to be accompanied by a site-specific tree audit, which indicates the location, size, and species of trees; whether any trees are diseased, or about to die; and whether any trees can be moved. The audit is to be undertaken by a certified arborist, at the owner's expense.
6. If trees are to be felled, and cannot be relocated at the owner's expense, their value should be determined according to their lifetime benefits, in line with a policy to be determined by the City of Johannesburg. The owner is to replace the equivalent value in the form of trees on site, and in other areas, as determined by Council.
7. If trees are felled, killed, moved or damaged (save for bona fide pruning) in contravention of the above, fines are to be levied on the owner and / or perpetrator according to the lifetime benefits of each tree. The fine will be in line with a policy to be determined by the City of Johannesburg, but not less than R10,000 per tree, to be adjusted for inflation.
Updates
June 28, 2018
We just hit five hundred signatures and I am honestly exhausted. It is a long road ahead to protect these trees but seeing this number tells me we are not fighting this battle alone.
Reached 500 supporters
June 26, 2018
Reached 100 supporters
March 13, 2018
March 11, 2018
The work is exhausting and the opposition is barely listening to us right now. Getting to one hundred signatures will at least force them to acknowledge we exist.
214 Comments
One of the reasons I love living in Kensington is because of the trees, many planted over 100 years ago. We are their guardians and MUST preserve them for future generations. Please, Mayor Mashaba, be our voice.
Rivonia is a good example of how a beautiful wooded suburb has been allowed to be overrun by developments, for which the infrastructure is totally inadequate, and one after the other, the great, old trees are being felled. It is a disgrace and a tragedy, those trees have stood for generations.
It’s heart-breaking to see the mature (sometimes century-old) trees simply bulldozed out of the way each time a stand is cleared for higher-density housing or offices. We are well on the way to losing our “largest man-made urban forest” status.
My family and I have planted over 50 trees in Parkhurst in the last 40 years. We see them being burnt by the homeless and cut down by neighbours who renovate. Some are 30m high and over 30 years old. They give pedestrians shade and homes for our diverse birdlife and insects.
Trees are life. We can't survive in the city without them. Currently they are being destroyed thoughtlessly and crudely by the modern day version of the invasion of the barbarians, ie developers. We need legislation with teeth.
Our trees are not just important to the beauty of our city, and our wellbeing, but they clean our air, helping pollution and help to alleviate carbon emissions.
Save the Urban forest!
Share this petition
Share this petition to help it reach more people.
Your share link
The scheme amendments were officially adopted today and our urban canopy now has the legal protection it deserves. My exhaustion after this long fight feels different now that we have secured this outcome. We must stay alert to ensure these new rules are enforced on the ground.
August 15, 2018
Final supporters
The mature trees that make up Johannesburg's Urban Forest are being cut down at an alarming rate. Our Urban Forest is a crucial environmental asset we cannot afford to lose.
JUFA has proposed amendments to the draft Land Use Scheme that will help protect our trees. Please sign our petition, your voice counts!
To: Mayor Herman Mashaba, Executive Mayor
City of Johannesburg
We, the undersigned, support the amendments to the new Land Use Scheme (see below), proposed by the Johannesburg Urban Forest Alliance (JUFA), which brings together environmental, heritage and residents' associations from across the city.
Johannesburg has one of the world's greatest urban forests. In fact, it is the sixth largest green city on the planet, according to Treepedia. According to City Parks and Zoo, there are 10 million trees across Johannesburg, mostly in private gardens.
Our trees provide many benefits to the citizens of Johannesburg. They bring oxygen, they absorb pollution, they cool us down, and according to some of the latest research, they may even bring the rain!
Our trees - their shade, their beauty - also bring us together, as Johannesburgers, and as South Africans. Our urban forest is an asset that we are all proud of, and that we cannot afford to destroy.
We know that many of the trees in Johannesburg are from somewhere else, but they deserve our protection no less than our own South African trees. Some of our trees may be invasive, but many are not - not least the Jacaranda trees, many of which grace our streets.
But our forest is under threat - particularly from the Council's own objective of increasing densities that will leave no space for trees. At present, there is no protection for Johannesburg's urban forest - while trees on streets and in parks are protected to some extent, trees on private grounds are not.
It has become vital to protect our urban forest and therefore JUFA has proposed that the following provisions be included in the new Land Use Scheme (section 2, part iv).
The Land Use Scheme will be a critical regulatory instrument, as it will supersede all existing town planning schemes and prescribe development obligations across Johannesburg.
The time to act is now - Let us amend the Land Use Scheme! Let us save our urban forest!
---
Amendments to the Land Use Scheme proposed by the Johannesburg Urban Forest Alliance
1. No street tree may be felled, killed, moved, or damaged (save for bona fide pruning) unless authorised by Council.
2. No indigenous tree, or any other tree on a private erf, that is more than 6 m in height, or more than 500 mm in diameter, or more than 10 years old, may be moved or damaged (save for bona fide pruning), without consent from Council.
3. The consent is to be informed by a policy to be determined by Council, in line with the protection of the City’s natural assets under the Spatial Development Framework.
4. The restrictions in (2) do not apply to trees that are listed as Invasive Species / Prohibited Alien Species in the Alien and Invasive Species Regulations, under the National Environmental Management Amendment Act.
5. All land development applications are to be accompanied by a site-specific tree audit, which indicates the location, size, and species of trees; whether any trees are diseased, or about to die; and whether any trees can be moved. The audit is to be undertaken by a certified arborist, at the owner's expense.
6. If trees are to be felled, and cannot be relocated at the owner's expense, their value should be determined according to their lifetime benefits, in line with a policy to be determined by the City of Johannesburg. The owner is to replace the equivalent value in the form of trees on site, and in other areas, as determined by Council.
7. If trees are felled, killed, moved or damaged (save for bona fide pruning) in contravention of the above, fines are to be levied on the owner and / or perpetrator according to the lifetime benefits of each tree. The fine will be in line with a policy to be determined by the City of Johannesburg, but not less than R10,000 per tree, to be adjusted for inflation.
Updates
June 28, 2018
We just hit five hundred signatures and I am honestly exhausted. It is a long road ahead to protect these trees but seeing this number tells me we are not fighting this battle alone.
Reached 500 supporters
June 26, 2018
Reached 100 supporters
March 13, 2018
March 11, 2018
The work is exhausting and the opposition is barely listening to us right now. Getting to one hundred signatures will at least force them to acknowledge we exist.
214 Comments
The high temperatures brought upon by climate change and higher CO2 emissions can be effectively fended off by protecting our mature trees in Johannesburg, including those lying on private property. We ask that s by-law be passed to protect those mature trees.
One of the reasons I love living in Kensington is because of the trees, many planted over 100 years ago. We are their guardians and MUST preserve them for future generations. Please, Mayor Mashaba, be our voice.
Rivonia is a good example of how a beautiful wooded suburb has been allowed to be overrun by developments, for which the infrastructure is totally inadequate, and one after the other, the great, old trees are being felled. It is a disgrace and a tragedy, those trees have stood for generations.
It’s heart-breaking to see the mature (sometimes century-old) trees simply bulldozed out of the way each time a stand is cleared for higher-density housing or offices. We are well on the way to losing our “largest man-made urban forest” status.
My family and I have planted over 50 trees in Parkhurst in the last 40 years. We see them being burnt by the homeless and cut down by neighbours who renovate. Some are 30m high and over 30 years old. They give pedestrians shade and homes for our diverse birdlife and insects.
Trees are life. We can't survive in the city without them. Currently they are being destroyed thoughtlessly and crudely by the modern day version of the invasion of the barbarians, ie developers. We need legislation with teeth.
Our trees are not just important to the beauty of our city, and our wellbeing, but they clean our air, helping pollution and help to alleviate carbon emissions.
Save the Urban forest!
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The high temperatures brought upon by climate change and higher CO2 emissions can be effectively fended off by protecting our mature trees in Johannesburg, including those lying on private property. We ask that s by-law be passed to protect those mature trees.