As a host city for South Africa’s 2010 FIFA World Cup, the eThekwini Municipality decided to host a “climate neutral” event, and offset associated carbon emissions. The total unavoidable carbon footprint was declared as 307,208 tons carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent.  The municipality has committed to mitigating this carbon footprint through a series of local natural habitat projects that not only achieve this climate mitigation aim, but also result in increased climate adaptation capacity within ecosystems and communities.
 
In terms of the offset, a ‘reforestation’ project aiming to offset approximately 50,000 tons CO2 equivalent was established in the buffer area of the municipality’s Buffelsdraai Regional Landfill Site. The landfill is situated north of Durban, near Verulam, and aims to create a natural carbon sink.  The project was initiated in November 2008. By 1 October 2012 approximately 284 hectares, of the 757 hectare municipal-owned buffer area around the landfill, had been replanted to forest habitat.  The total area projected to be reforested is approximately 520 hectares, the balance being made up of woodland and riverine forest already on the site.

While the project is a ‘carbon sequestration’ initiative it is simultaneously ensuring the improved supply of a large number of other ecosystem services (e.g. flood attenuation, sediment regulation, biodiversity refuge conservation, river flow regulation). All of these further enhance local climate change adaptation. This is by means of improved community resilience to climate change events, and as a result of healthy local ecosystems. All reforested areas were previously either farmland (currently under sugarcane), with limited productive capacity, or infested with invasive alien plants.

The eThekwini Municipality appointed the Wildlands Conservation Trust (WCT), as implementing agent for the reforestation project at Buffelsdraai, and this included the roll-out of the WCT’s well-established Indigenous Trees for Life Programme (ITFL). The ITFL programme assists unemployed people, who are subsequently known as ‘Treepreneurs’, to set up small-scale indigenous tree nurseries at their homes. The project has engaged 685 local community members, as Treepreneurs, in the surrounding Osindisweni, Buffelsdraai, Ndwedwe and KwaMashu communities. Tree seedlings are exchanged for credit notes, which can be used to obtain food, basic goods and/or pay for school fees, at regular ‘Tree Stores’ that are held in the participating communities.

Since inception, the project has created a total of 374 jobs (24 full-time, 10 part-time, 340 temporary) for members of the surrounding communities.  At regular intervals, mass planting drives are held, during which members from the local communities are employed to assist with planting the trees out at the project site.

Early indications are that the socio-economic benefits of programme are significant, with increased education and food security being reported (Greater Capital, 2011).  Communities benefitting from the project are some of the most impoverished and vulnerable in Durban. The social impact assessment also found that the first 2 years of project implementation demonstrated the following positive impacts: