Much to be proud of in our birds, beasts and blossoms

In these days of violence, crime and political uncertainty—and there seems to be more dark cloud and less silver lining—I have decided to start looking for good news, for positive things happening in this country.

And it is quite remarkable how much good news there is if one just takes the trouble to look for it; things that can make us South Africans proud of ourselves.

For example, unlike many other nations that plunder their natural forests for timber, grazing and farmland, South Africans have never liked cutting down trees. Quite the opposite in fact, because whenever trees in public places need to be removed, there is a huge public outcry.

Our architects have long learnt to try as far as possible to preserve as many trees as possible on building sites, often incorporating them into the buildings. And when trees stand in the way of urgent and inevitable progress, property developers have to handle the issue very carefully.

This is so probably because South Africa is not really a naturally forested country. Its commercial hub, the province of Gauteng, which boasts both Pretoria and Johannesburg among its cities, was treeless, rolling grassland before the settlers came and planted trees.

And plant trees they did. The early settlers of Johannesburg two centuries ago gave urgent attention to planting as many trees as they could. As a result, Johannesburg today is the most treed city in the world. When the geographic survey satellites pass over South Africa, they register semi-desert until they arrive over Johannesburg, and suddenly register “rain forest”!

The citizens of Johannesburg, who love their trees—especially the profusion of Jacarandas that line the major arteries and suburban streets and cover the city in a magnificent mantle of bright purple blooms every November—are having to deal with some painful environmental realities. One of these is that any Jacaranda tree that dies may not be replaced by an exotic tree, but only something indigenous. (Jacarandas were imported originally from Brazil.)

Not only that, but all over the country imported Australian Wattle trees, which grow in profusion alongside Eucalyptus groves in their thousands, are both being cut down in river beds and their roots poisoned because they soak up so much precious water.

While it makes environmental sense to do away with these exotic plants and trees, bird lovers are up in arms. A tree not being indigenous does not mean that local birds do not enjoy using them for nesting.

And talking of birds, these too are protected by all the citizens of South Africa with enormous zeal.

For a father to suggest to his young son that they go out for a morning of sport to shoot birds is not only unthinkable today, but considered cruel and heartless.

It is always a shock to South Africans who visit Europe to watch in dismay during the annual bird migration how the hunting season is opened for a few weeks to allow the shooting of birds as they move on their journey from one hemisphere to the other.

It is something most South Africans simply cannot understand. How can seemingly civilised people shoot down anything with wings, no matter how rare and inedible?

We seem to be able to kill each other on the roads, and in acts of violent crime without concern, but by heaven, anyone who harms an animal is in for serious trouble.

There is no question that in South Africa, where the environment is protected with considerable zeal, animals have a very special place. True, there are still some South Africans who hunt for sport, but their numbers are minuscule compared with those who cannot bear to see animals shot down. So abhorrent do most South Africans find hunting that it is hardly ever shown on television.

Culling is resorted to only when there are no other options. But before they simply shoot animals, the custodians of the country’s wildlife seem to go to extraordinary lengths and expense to move animals from an area of over-population to places where their species is scarcer.

One often sees on television news massive trucks and aircraft transporting entire herds of elephant over thousands of kilometres, rather than having them put down.

South Africa may be a developing nation and still in the adolescence of democracy, trying hard to keep up with the developed nations of the world, But when it comes to the environment, we can teach the world more than a thing or two.