A plot of land adjacent to the Jukskei River corridor functions as an open-air school dedicated to creating indigenous biodiversity and learning about the income-generating opportunities that lie within natural habitats. Kindly offered for use by V&M Engineering, this land is being established as a Food Forest - where community members and stakeholders play a role in the upkeep and development of an ecologically rich and nourishing biome.

A community tree-planting project was facilitated by Water for the Future (WFTF) in collaboration with the Green Business College who will further teach farming skills and food processing such as jam-making and food preservation. This green initiative forms part of WFTF’s overall ‘Sustainable Together” grant from the Goethe Institute and British Council which has helped to propel our public participation programme. Trees were donated by Trees and Food for Africa, with the ongoing support and landscaping acumen of Tony Bensusan, Victoria Yards’s head gardener, who compiled the rare indigenous list being planted here.

An urban forest is taking root within blocks of Daylight Point, alongside the designated riparian zone. Establishing a forest of indigenous trees furthers a host of Water for the Future’s objectives: from introducing the spring-cleaning effect of biodiversity, to creating communal access to the medicinal properties of some trees, and encouraging birdlife. Furthermore, the forest will support not just learning and economic potential, but also the physical and spiritual wellbeing and connectedness of the community and landowners to their surroundings.

As part of the Sustainable Together grant in 2021 (awarded to WFTF by Goethe Institut & British Council), we invited locals to an introduction on how to plant and take care of trees. Supported by Green Business College, green-minded community members were encouraged to get their hands dirty while learning about the importance of planting trees to address rising city temperatures due to climate change, as well as the medicinal value of these Camphor trees for blocked sinuses and headache. Thank you to Tony Bensusan, Victoria Yards head-gardener, for compiling lists and facilitating biome-appropriate trees for the project. The possibility of the trees bearing a green, healing economy for the community, aligns with goals for sustainable urban development being hatched by organisations and government departments throughout the valley. Understanding and applying the practical aspects of generating a rich ecology is a critical imperative of healthy future societies.