January 17th

By Mutt Mulligan

South Africa works to restore living landscapes

The United States isn’t the only country where drought is an issue, and there are some lessons we can learn from other drought-stricken countries. Take South Africa, for instance.

Cities like Port Elizabeth have been impacted by land degradation and desertification for years. The city has doubled in size since 1997, while increasing water supplies to under-served surrounding areas. These circumstances combined with climate change to result in severe loss of top soil, which has had a huge impact on farms across the region.

As a result, Santam, South Africa’s largest agricultural insurer, and other organizations are actively trying to reduce risk to farmers. These groups are funding a program to stop land degradation and restore the degraded water catchment systems.

So far, 3.7 million trees have been planted and new weirs have been built and are already making a difference. Trees are just one element of living landscapes (others include grass, plants and shrubs) that positively impact the environment and our health.

Trees help clean the air, create oxygen, cool urban areas, conserve energy and save water. To learn more about the benefits of trees, click here. To find out how you can preserve the living landscapes in your yard – even in a drought – go here.