Keywords

11.1 Imagining a Sustainable Urban Future

The threat of extreme temperatures has become a recognised climate hazard worldwide and presents a challenge to urban planners, public health officials and the disaster management community in Africa as resource-poor countries may be ill-equipped to handle these challenges (Scott et al. 2017). South Africa’s towns and cities must also plan for increasingly uncertain times linked to climate change and implement actions that allow for climate resilience and sustainable urban development.

While there are many pathways towards urban sustainability, tree planting appears to be a path that can quickly deliver a range of benefits to urban residents. In urban areas, green spaces, green infrastructure and natural ecosystems can be a source of environmental, ecological, aesthetic, health and economic benefits to different socio-economic classes of residents (Adegun 2019; Pataki et al. 2021; Paumgarten et al. 2005) and may also ultimately provide a low cost form of urban climate adaptation (Ordóñez 2015) as well as providing for some climate mitigation through carbon sequestration (Pataki et al. 2021). As cities are recognised as being major emitters of CO2 emissions, tree planting in urban areas is seen as a cost-effective way to partially mitigate urban emissions through above ground carbon storage (Ren et al. 2019).

Urban tree planting can be a cost-effective way to manage climate change impacts and protect residents (and livestock) from hotter climate change conditions and the urban heat island effect by providing shade and a cooler microclimate (Tan et al. 2016; Won et al. 2015; O’Neill et al. 2009), Mature trees with larger crowns that are in a healthy condition will provide more ecosystem services than younger, smaller trees, and a city with greater urban tree canopy cover will experience more ecosystem services like heat mitigation than a city with lower canopy coverage (Edmond 2017).

From the Paris Agreement of COP 21, the mass planting of trees have been proposed as a key climate mitigation solution to deal with the ‘climate emergency’, but noting that urban greening, while having climate change benefits, is not the same as the controversial mass planting of trees or mass rehabilitation of natural forests to sequestrate carbon as a so-called effective climate change solution (Lewis et al. 2019; Lindenmayer et al. 2012). The mass tree planting to absorb carbon is controversial, particularly where it may involve the replacement of non-forest biomes with trees (Veldman et al. 2015). For example, in the Drakensberg Afromontane region, the establishing of plantations in the natural areas of the grassland biome would be met with strong resistance.

To create a more sustainable Phuthaditjhaba will require imagining or envisaging a different future that embraces the principles of the UN SDGs. Yet, to create a sustainable city (Goal 11) in Phuthaditjhaba, residents and the municipality will need to strive towards a ‘greener’ future city. This will involve on-going tree planting as the city expands, amongst other activities. This paper is a contribution to the thought processes required in envisaging and planning tree planting in Phuthaditjhaba, but understanding the actual process to achieve the benefits of tree planting in Phuthaditjhaba will require additional research to determine what trees to plant and where, to determine the effects of shade on buildings and home interior comfort, the benefits of a ‘greener’ urban environment on human health and mental health, and also for livestock health in the surrounding environment.

11.2 Municipal Structure and Planning for Climate Change at Phuthaditjhaba

The municipal structure in South Africa consists of large district municipalities divided up into clusters of smaller local municipalities. Both types of municipalities must prepare Integrated Development Plans (IDPS) on a five year cycle. There is also a role for SALGA (South African Local Government Association) in ensuring that municipal planning includes mandatory urban greening. SALGA is a national, voluntary political association that serves human settlements and municipal planning, and includes membership of South Africa’s 257 municipalities. SALGA’s website had various webinar offerings during 2020 on ‘Trees and Climate Protection’ and ‘Greening and Open Space Management’, with these linked to national arbor month.

The Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Response Plan (2016) highlights agriculture and the water sectors throughout the entire Free State province as the most vulnerable to climate change impacts (Thabo Mofutsanyana Climate Change 2016). Informal and agriculturally-based livelihoods will be at risk. Also of note is the risk of increased isolation of rural communities (with roads not maintained, railway links and bridges damaged from flooding and erosion) and also the increased migration away from these areas over time. In terms of greening, the Thabo Mofutsanyana Climate Change Assessment mentions developing better commonage land management (p. 72), but there is no mention of urban greening, tree planting or investing in ‘green infrastructure’ that could provide increased resilience in towns and farms within the municipality. The Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Response Plan (2016) also does not mention the impact of increased heat stress as a health risk for the human population in this area.

Phuthaditjhaba (28°32′00″S 28°49′00″) is a remote and under-developed rural–urban settlement in South Africa and is seen as the ‘capital city’ of a rural area known as QwaQwa. The apartheid Bantustan of QwaQwa was created in 1974 as an artificial nation for the Sotho-speaking people. After the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994, Phuthaditjhaba and surrounding rural QwaQwa and its villages form part of the Maluti-a-Phofung (MAP) local municipality, one of the local municipalities within the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality in the Free State Province, South Africa. The other small towns in Maluti-a-Phofung are Harrismith and Kestel. The rural areas include communally-owned land of and commercial farms. As at 2016, the Maluti-a-Phofung local municipality had a population of 353 452, with the population of Phuthaditjhaba said to be 54 661 (MAP Profile 2018; MAP 2017; MAP Annual Report 2015; Municipalities of South African 2012).

Phuthaditjhaba is 1664 m above sea level. The climate is mild, and generally warm and temperate. This climate is considered to be Cwb according to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. The warm season is from November to March and temperature averages 24.4 °C in summer with highs that can reach 29.7 °C and with an average low of -0.5° C in winter (May to August). The rainy season is between October and March each year, with a total average annual rainfall of 1020 mm (climate-data.org, no date). There is almost no rain during winter, but snow and frosts can occur during June and August (Weatherspark, undated). These weather and climate conditions would influence the selection and planting of urban trees. Phuthaditjhaba is already experiencing impacts attributed to climate change, including heat waves, droughts and strong wind (Melore and Nel 2020).

Currently Phuthaditjhaba consists of a low density rural–urban sprawl with a modern economic centre, a shopping mall, a sports stadium, a showcase municipal complex and modern hospitals. Surrounding Phuthaditjhaba are the rural villages of QwaQwa located on difficult montane topography. Over the years very few urban trees were planted and thusPhuthaditjhaba has no urban parks or green belts or street trees, although it can be said that there are many semi-natural vegetated spaces in the landscape because of its rural nature. Both rural QwaQwa and Phuthaditjhaba are perhaps unique in that the village and urban areas are in close proximity to the Golden Gate Highlands National Park (containing QwaQwa National Park) and the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountain range; within sight of the Drakensberg Escarpment, the UNESCO World Heritage Site (The Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site) which includes the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park in South Africa—which is a collection of 12 protected—and the Sehlabathebe National Park in Lesotho. Yet, there has been no attempt to bring the ‘montane landscape’ into the urban environment to foster urban greening.

Despite its scenic location, the settlement is beset with many challenges relating to under-development and a lack of local economic activities. HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis are prevalent. Also, the Maluti-a-Phofung municipality was put under provincial administration in 2018 because of the collapse of governance and the misappropriation of municipal funds (Felix 2020). This situation required the province to take over the day-to-day governance of the municipality as per Sect. 139 of the South African Constitution as a measure to correct the poor management situation (Head 2019).

People in Phuthaditjhaba and the surrounding rural area of QwaQwa generally have very fragile livelihood systems which can be expected to become more precarious as climate change impacts are felt (Melore and Nel 2020:4; UNICEF 2011; Meadows and Hoffman 2003; Slater 2002). The bulk of persons in Maluti-a-Phofung municipality reside in Phuthaditjhaba and more than half depend on social grants (Melore and Nell 2020:5). Over 50% of the community of the entire Maluti-a-Phofung municipality is unemployed (2018 figures), with around 25% of the Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality earning around R400 per month and another 12.5% is earning in the region of R800 per month, all below the national baseline of R800 pm for a basic living wage (Maluti-a-Phofung IDP 2018). From published municipal reports, it is hard to find unemployment figures specifically for Phuthaditjhaba or the other individual towns in this municipality, but figures are likely to be dire. The Free State province has the second highest overall unemployment rate in South Africa, second to the Eastern Cape (Polity 2021).

The Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Response Plan (2016) outlines the impacts projected for the Free State province and this district municipality for the 2020–2050 period (Thabo Mofutsanyana Climate Change 2016). There is a projected increase in average temperatures of 2.3 °C and an increase in the number of very hot days, up to 142.15 very hot days per annum in the Free State province. Also, projected is a possible increase in the number of heat wave events by 17.5 days per annum over large parts of the province, which may impact on human and animal health, on crop yield and may lead to the increased occurrence of fires in grassland areas. There is uncertainty around rainfall projections, with some models and projections indicating a decrease in rainfall of more than 65.39 mm per year and other projections indicating an increase of 35 mm per year. The rainy season is likely to start later and last for a shorter amount of time.

There are already hints of the types of difficulties that climate change might bring to Phuthaditjhaba, for example, dealing with protracted droughts and difficulties in securing a reliable water supply for Phuthaditjhaba. The Fika Patso dam which has supplied Phuthaditjhaba for decades has almost dried up (Motsoeneng 2016) requiring an emergency pipeline to be built from the nearby Sterkfontein Dam to supply the town with water (SANews 2020). Yet, while Phuthaditjhaba is under-developed, poverty-stricken and suffering from a variety of problems linked to poor municipal governance, it is not an over-crowded, un-serviced, high-density slum with appalling living conditions as experienced by 62% of sub-Saharan Africa’s urban dwellers (Schäffler and Swilling 2012). It could be argued that Phuthaditjhaba is a relatively new and small city and if good governance and economic opportunities can materialise, there remains the strong possibility that resilience and sustainable development can be achieved.

11.3 Global Efforts to Achieve Urban Sustainability and Climate Resilience

Urban populations around the world have increased fivefold since 1950 to the extent that there is now an urgent need to reduce the environmental impacts caused by urban dwellers as well as improve their quality of life, creating sustainable development (Ferreira et al. 2021). Since the 1992 Earth Summit, there has been a concerted global effort to promote a more sustainable type of human development that will also create resilience in times of climate change. These hopes are encapsulated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) and the United Nations Vision 2030 document on Sustainable Development which outlines 17 Goals towards achieving multifaceted and interlinked forms of sustainable development (UN SDG 2015). Goal 11 aims to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, while dealing with climate change for both the rural and the urban domains is part of the UN SDG Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

In Africa, achieving a widespread sustainable urban domain in African cities may not emerge for some time for compelling reasons linked to chaotic urban transitions and a disintegration of formal urban planning (Yeboah and Obeng-Odoom 2010), but this does not mean that African municipalities and their residents, business and civil society should not continue to promote human development that has less impact on the natural environment (Buyana et al. 2019).

11.4 Increased Urban Heat as a Health Threat

Heat is a growing health risk, due to burgeoning urbanisation, an increase in high temperature extremes, and demographic changes in countries with ageing populations (Tuholske et al. 2021). Hot extremes including heatwaves have intensified in cities and there have already been record-breaking monthly mean temperatures and heat waves in many parts of the world due to climate change (IPCC ARC 2014: 15)The 2003 European heat wave killed 70 000 persons, mostly the aged (Muthers et al. 2017; Robine et al. 2008). The psychological, social and cultural dimensions of a changing and hotter climate are also of concern, as are the impacts of increased heat on human health, mental health and well-being as well as livelihoods, society in cities and settlements, and water supply and food production (IPCC AR6 Summary for Policymakers:14).

Projections for climate change in Africa show an increased vulnerability of cities to climate change impacts (Jagarnath et al. 2020). The CORDEX (Coordinated Regional climate Downscaling Experiment) model shows that weather patterns in African countries are anticipated to become more variable and intense, with a greater frequency and duration of heat waves (Dosio and Panitz 2016), including in South Africa (Dosio 2017). A Heat Wave Magnitude Index has been developed to be able to quantify heat waves over time (Dosio 2017). Observations in South Africa already show an increase in the number of ‘hot’ days (National Treasury 2018; UNICEF 2011). The intensity of extreme heat events now poses a significant threat to South Africa, with a trend of more frequent, more intense heat wave trends already becoming clear (Van der Walt and Fitchett 2021). In South Africa, average temperatures are already rising and mean monthly temperatures are projected to reach 2.0 °C by the 2050s and 4.2 °C by the 2090s under a high-emission scenario (RCP8.5), while other emission scenarios could see fewer of these changes. One of the most serious heat consequences for South Africa is the projected increase in the number of ‘hot days’ (TMax > 35 °C). By mid-century, the Northern Cape, North West and Limpopo are expect to see an increase of 20 to 40 days ‘hot days’ per year, and by the end of the century projections that hot days will occur more than 120 hot days per year across the country’s interior (World Bank Report South Africa 2021). Heat impacts will present significant public health challenges in South African towns and cities, and adverse health effects will occur depending on the quality of housing and the existing health of the persons living in the house (Wright et al. 2019).

Precipitation and evaporation changes will be highly variable over South Africa, but a decrease in the number of raindays is expected across all hydrological zones (World Bank Report South Africa 2021). Drought will be a growing risk, made more severe by increased daily temperatures.

11.5 The Urban Heat Island Effect

The process of urbanization and the increasing amount of built infrastructure alters local environments, changes wind flows and creates hot impervious surfaces, leading to an increase in the ambient temperature of the urban environment known as the urban heat island (UHI) effect (Kraus and Scharf 2019). While already well known in other parts of the world, African cities are beginning to experience this effect. Nairobi, for example, with a population of four million, is showing signs of the urban heat island effect that is of growing concern (Ongoma and Mwangi 2020). Preventive actions include: establishing heat wave warning systems; making cool environments available (through air conditioning or other means); public education; planting urban trees and other vegetation; and modifying the built environment to provide proper ventilation and the use materials and colours that reduce heat build-up and optimize thermal comfort (O’Neill et al. 2009). It does not appear as if the heat island effect has been noted or studied in Phuthaditjhaba. A study by Melore and Nel (2018) showed that Phuthaditjhaba already manifests the impact of climate change with increasing summer temperatures, fluctuations in rainfall leading to periodic severe shortages of water, increased incidences of drought, strong winds, flash floods causing soil erosion and rock falls from hillsides, along with a reduced biodiversity (Melore and Nel 2018).

11.6 Aim of This Study

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the urgent need for tree planting in Phuthaditjhaba as a way to create a more liveable and sustainable urban environment and protect current and future residents from the impacts of heat as well as other potential manifestations of climate change. In Phuthaditjhaba, urban street tree planting could be an important low-cost action to mitigate climate change. The paper seeks to alert town planners, policy makers and decision makers in Phuthaditjhaba and the Maluti-a-Phofung local municipality that resources will be needed to deal with the human health impacts of climate change. The paper aims to show that urban tree planting can be a straightforward, practical activity that involves digging holes and planting trees, and that this bas, low cost activity can create jobs and a local horticultural economy and help Phuthaditjhaba prepare for climate change. The paper also highlights the limitations of tree planting and that many factors influence the outcomes of urban tree planting.

11.7 Green Assets and Green Infrastructure

Urban greening and establishing a green infrastructure in towns and cities has become part of the international contemporary theory and practise of landscape architecture and ecological design around the world (Rottle and Yocom 2010). Green Infrastructure refers to ecological systems, both natural and engineered, that act as living infrastructure. Green Infrastructure elements are planned and managed primarily for storm water control, but also exhibit social, economic and environmental benefits (Kim and Song 2019). ‘Green assets’ and ‘green infrastructure’ also refer to the vegetation and landscapes of parks, public open spaces and servitudes within a city, often to allow water to move in the landscape (Pauleit et al. 2017). The term ‘urban forest’ refers to all trees within an urban area, including those in parks, golf-courses, school yards, street plantings, wastelands, nature reserves, riverine areas and so on and all deliver ecosystem services (Wu 2016). Mass planting of trees is also seen as a nature-based solution to climate change and air pollution i.e. mitigation, but probably has more value in adaptation efforts. The planting of new urbane forests would require that trees are planted on large spatial scales beyond municipal boundaries, and maintained over the long term, to ensure effectiveness (Pataki et al. 2021).

11.8 Developing Useful Relationships with Urban Trees

In the developed world, urban trees in parks, yards, streets and vacant areas have been features of urban design and landscape architecture for some time and have created public value for residents, including beautifying the environment. In more recent times, urban tree planting and other uses of vegetation in the developed world are considered to have benefits in terms of urban cooling, habitat creation for wildlife, reducing stress and illness in residents, as well as increasing property prices (Pataki et al. 2021). However, Pataki et al. (2021) warn that urban greening advocates must use evidence, rather than received wisdom, to inform urban policy and decision making, and that urban greening initiatives can distract from more fundamental problems driving urban inequality, i.e. urban tree planting is but one aspect of creating sustainable and equitable cities.

In the developing world, residents’ relationships with trees and tree planting rely on practical resource needs. For example, in rural areas, the use value of trees is in usually terms of fruit, firewood, building materials and livestock fodder and these uses are reasons for planting or protecting trees. There are also cultural and gender issues related to planting trees in rural areas. Other less obvious benefits from trees are derived from customary local practices like planting hedgerows to demarcate land boundaries and secure tenure (Dewees 1995). A study in Malawi showed that the marital status of women and where they lived influenced their likelihood of planting trees in the homestead. This is related to the form of marriage and inheritance patterns in Malawi, as well as the status of the married woman and how they acquire land (Hansen et al. 2015).

In rural South Africa, trees are valued for their direct use value. Shackleton et al. (2006) found that in many places fuelwood is still used, with rural households either collecting their own or purchasing wood. Fortunately, the wood is often collected from alien invasive species and so contributes to alien tree clearance. Pote et al. (2006) showed the value of natural wooded ecosystems to South African communities in terms of fuelwood and construction timber, especially for those living next to these ecosystems. Paumgarten et al. (2005) found that in villages in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo Provinces of South Africa, villagers utilise a range of trees in home-gardens for various purposes, although predominantly for fruit and shade. Trees were either planted or actively retained in a household’s home-gardens. The most preferred species were exotic fruit trees in Limpopo Province and a mix of exotic fruit and shade trees in the Eastern Cape. Trees also provided shelter and shade for livestock and generally improve the aesthetics of a property.

In Johannesburg, the Trees for Homes initiative sought to improve the lives of poor informal settlement residents at Zandspruit, a large informal settlement to the north of Johannesburg, through tree planting, with somewhat limited success. There were many issues complicating the successful planting of urban trees in informal settlements, notably political disempowerment, insecure tenure and the fear of being evicted before benefits of tree planting accrue (Mwazvita et al. 2016). This work showed that community and political attitudes to tree maintenance and care in different settings are also important and local governments need to be responsive to the different opinions relating to urban trees and understand who benefits from these trees and who will care for them (Saldarriaga et al. 2020). All these aspects attest to the cultural and practical difficulties in planting trees in any human-dominated setting, and would potentially also need to be understood in Phuthaditjhaba.

11.9 Modelling the Likely Success of Tree Planting in Urban Areas

While urban forestry or urban greening is advocated around the world as a way to enhance the liveability of towns and cities, as well as mitigating the effects of climate change, in practice, implementing urban tree plantings can be complex. Not much is known about of the way that trees respond in different urban localities, or how to get trees to perform optimally in a city street setting and how soon they will begin to provide benefits to urban residents (De Lacy and Shackleton 2014). It is therefore desirable to base the planting of urban trees on spatial and other data especially as the investment in tree planting and care can be substantial, and the failure of the trees to thrive is costly.

In order to capture and quantify the heat island effect in cities, here are now many sophisticated software options enable the modelling of the urban climate, including heat and air flows and the effect of buildings on air flows and urban temperatures, as well as modelling the potential impact of the urban tree canopy structure on urban heat.

To model the functioning of trees in the urban environment, micro-climate models, heat impact models and urban tree canopy models, to name a few. Urban Canopy Models (UCMs) are able to represent the amount of tree canopy that exists and that could potentially exist in a locality based on a number of pre-selected factors, as well as any changes in the urban forest (USDA Forestry 2019). These types of models can inform urban managers how to manage their urban forestry programmes and where to plant trees. UCMs also can model the exchange of moisture and heat between the city and its various surfaces (like buildings, roads and vegetation) and the atmosphere and allow for understanding and predicting heat flows in cities (Schoetter et al. 2020).

An example of a micrometeorological model for cities is UMEP (Urban Multi-scale Environmental Predictor), a city-based climate service tool that can identify heat waves and cold wave, the impact of green infrastructure on runoff, the effects of buildings on human thermal stress, solar energy production and the impact of human activities on heat emissions (Lindberg et al. 2018). DASH is another model that allows energy flows within cities to be modelled and can be coupled to an urban land surface model to examine urban heat fluxes (Capel-Timms et al. 2020).

Loughner et al. (2012) used modelling that linked a weather forecasting model with an urban canopy model to show that added vegetation does actually decrease air temperature in urban streets, reduces building wall and road temperatures, this achieved through a 50% tree cover which provide shade and evapotranspiration. The value of tree planting models and associated estimates of carbon capture and other benefits can be used to justify the budget for expanding existing urban forests (Pincet 2010).

Cavan et al. (2014) explain how the different characteristics of urban areas can be designated and mapped to provide geographical zones along with their urban climate patterns. This information helps to clarity the temperature regulating services provided by urban vegetation and assist in planning for urban greening. Mussetti et al. (2019) explain how their model, COSMO-BEP-Tree v1.0, is a coupled urban climate model with an explicit representation of street trees. The COSMO-BEF-Tree model was found to realistically respond to changes in the parameters defining the performance of street trees: leaf area density and stomatal conductance and allowed for city-wide studies on the cooling potential of street trees (Mussetti et al. 2019). These types of models can help city managers determine the optimum configuration of urban trees and the urban canopy and calculate how much shade is created or carbon sequestrated by trees (Werbin et al. 2020).

The ANUCLIM package is widely used to generate bioclimatic profiles from known species locations and these can be used to predict tree bioclimatic envelopes to be matched with the urban climate envelope for maximum tree efficiency (Xu and Hutchinson 2013). The climatic limits of tree species also need to be factored into urban tree planting decisions, using information about species and their optimum environmental habitats and limits.

11.10 Modelling the Future Tree Canopy at Phuthaditjhaba

Unfortunately, it is not currently possible to perform this types of sophisticated modelling for Phuthaditjhaba as there is no local climate data (Mukwada personal communication 2019). While it is not yet possible to deploy the various proprietary software products available to map the urban climate in Phuthatitjhaba and model where in the landscape to place urban trees, aerial photography or satellite imagery could be used to identify open areas in need of vegetation cover (Merry et al. 2013). Also, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to survey the landscape for suitable tree planting areas, and then, monitor the development of newly planted trees, is a cost effective way for managing the new tree plantings and monitor tree health. Other forms of information gathering, involving stakeholder and expert consultations, could be adequate to initiate tree planting in Phuthaditjhaba, on the basis of ‘any trees are better than no trees’.

Other practical challenges of street tree planting are not to be underestimated, for example, selecting compatible trees that will survive in this landscape and then ensuring they survive after planting.

11.11 A Quick Survey of the Urban Landscape in Phuthaditjhaba

An informal drive-through landscape analysis of Phuthaditjhaba along the Mota Road, the main thoroughfare from the University of Free State’s QwaQwa campus to the Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge, showed a hilly landscape with a regular arrangement of homesteads, each with formal or informal dwellings. Using Google Earth, it can be seen that the overall plan of Phuthaditjhaba appears logical and formal (Fig. 11.1). Although many properties do have trees, the general impression of Phuthaditjhaba is of a vast, treeless and semi-rural landscape, also revealed by Google Earth (Fig. 11.1). This is in contrast to other towns in the eastern Free State province which are well-endowed with street trees and trees in private gardens, school yards and town squares, many planted during early settler days and now mature (author observations).

Fig. 11.1
figure 1

Google Earth image of part of Phuthadijhaba, QwaQwa, in the Free State Province, South Africa, showing dense and well-organised settlements located on the flatter parts of a generally mountainous terrain, while in the hilly areas, the rugged landscape has meant that the dwellings are much more informally laid out (Google Earth image, 2018)

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There are many pedestrians walking at the side of the Mota Road, but the pavements at the side of the roads in Phuthaditjhaba are not formally defined or paved. There are no storm water drains to remove water from the road and pedestrian areas, resulting in vast muddy areas. Mature trees (exotic species) are evident in some homesteads, schools, churches and missions and on the sides of some roads. Taxi ranks, shopping centres and bus stops do now have pavement trees and are thus very hot in summer (author observation). At the edge of the urban areas are hills, fields, rivers and valleys which are very badly encroached upon by alien woody vegetation (author observations, 2018). There are also areas of commonage in QwaQwa for small scale farmers, but there are major resource management problems in these communal grazing areas (Masiteng 2004).

11.12 Creating a Desire for Urban Greening

Figures 11.2 and 11.3 show the local rural–urban landscape. Using local photographs, a photomontage (Figs. 11.4 and 11.5) was created using Paint.net, a free imaged editing software, to show a small increase in the presence of trees can enhance the aesthetic appearance and shade comfort of homesteads in Phuthaditjhaba. The types of trees in the photographs are not known to the author, but are growing in the area.

Fig. 11.2
figure 2

Source Author

General view on the Mota Road, one of the main roads through Phuthaditjhaba. There are some trees along this road, but not in areas where people are present on a day-to-day basis, for example walking to shops. Image 2018.

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Fig. 11.3
figure 3

Source Author

View east from the Mota Road, showing the sprawl of homesteads and single storey dwellings in a generally treeless environment. Winter 2018.

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Fig. 11.4
figure 4

Source Author, Winter 2018

View east from the Mota Road, the main road through Phuthaditjhaba to the Witsieskhoek Lodge, showing rural nature of homesteads and the generally treeless environment.

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Fig. 11.5
figure 5

Source Author, 2018

Photomontage, using Paint.net, a free image editing software, showing the potential visual and shading effect of increasing the number of trees in the landscape.

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These images were included as a suggestion as to how a visual interpretation of concepts and the aesthetic of urban greening at Phuthaditjhaba could be marketed to local decision makers and funders. As well as visual interpretations, information about the threat of climate change and impact of heat on the health of residents of Phuthaditjhaba would need to be shared during stakeholder discussions about the benefits, costs and limitations of urban tree planting. Getting widespread buy-in is likely to be a challenge because of all the difficulties and constraints currently facing South African municipalities (Averchenkova et al. 2019).

11.13 The Need for Quantitative Research

Although sophisticated methods are available to model how an area would respond to urban greening and allow investigations to understand how different percentages of vegetation, different types of vegetation (trees, shrubs and grasses) and the use of different planting forms (copses, avenues, thickets, parks) would enhance the microclimate of this city and its streets, there is no useful data available currently. However, discussions about the various climate change-related ecosystem service benefits of urban greening and tree planting is known from the published literature and international examples. Also, in the absence of detailed research and modelling, the ‘rough guess’ approach to establishing an urban forest in this impoverished setting would involve mixed street plantings in different settings and different densities with homestead trees, street trees, trees in school yards, church and clinic gardens, and trees in natural areas, wastelands and parks, potentially creating public areas that are safe and shaded during heat waves.

11.14 Phuthaditjhaba Tree Planting Master Plan

Trees for urban planting in Phuthaditjhaba need to be thoughtfully selected to be compatible with the ecologically sensitive montane grassland landscape. Trees that already grow in the area, and are not invasive, could be considered. If very large trees are needed in certain settings, they would have to be from outside the area or even exotic species. Because Phuthaditjhaba is located in a high altitude montane grassland biome, there are very few natural trees in the region, although there are forest patches and suitable trees species may be found in these forests. However, as these forests are found on moist southern slopes (Adie et al. 2017), they may not cope in a dry urban setting but should be investigated none-the-less.

A ‘Recommended Phuthaditjhaba Street Tree Planting List’ should be developed containing a listing of trees generally recommended for planting within the pavement strip area. This list would guide both the municipality and NGOs wishing to work with community tree growing projects on appropriate trees to consider. The list should include a variety of tree shapes and sizes that can be utilized in a variety of circumstances. The street trees selected for Phuthaditjhaba should be drought and frost resistant, and where desired, have dense crowns to provide shade. Long-lived trees should be selected, and while it is important to select indigenous tree species, species survivability could be a more important attribute (Gilbert et al. 2014). Another important aspect to consider is underground water availability and to not plant physiologically ‘thirsty’ trees that strongly remove soil water through transpiration, for example eucalypts. It would be preferable to purchase saplings at least 1.2 m tall, rather than beginning with seed cultivation, to save time. If available, saplings up to 5 m in height can be transplanted, although bigger saplings will cost more. Constraints on water supply to the new trees need to be resolved as young trees do have to be watered once a week for the first 1 – 2 years. However, most of the annual rain falls in summer months, so trees should be planted just before the first rains. As the tree planting could be phased over several years, the budget and risk could be spread out, perhaps over a five year period. This period might also be useful for local entrepreneurs to become established to provide trees to the municipality and plant them.

A well-designed urban tree planting scheme should attempt to create a diverse urban forest structure, with street plantings and a variety of wooded habitats, and also be flexible enough to respond to future needs with an understanding of how urban landscapes function now and might function in the future (Gilbert 2014). The following considerations are essential for successful urban tree planting: choose suitable regions for planting trees and identify priority land tracts based on planting feasibility and protection; choose the right tree species for the local site conditions and then, keep the trees healthy and ensure resources for tree maintenance (Werbin et al. 2020).

Taken at its most straightforward, a simple tree planting Master Plan should contain a list of approved trees for street trees, as well as street tree planting and maintenance guidelines of residents, municipal officials and/or property developers. In general, urban street trees must be neat, medium-sized (20 – 30 m tall) trees that do not have aggressive root systems. They should preferably be evergreen so as not to drop leaves, and should not produce messy flowers or fruit that drop on pavements. It is preferable to plant long-lived trees that will survive in an urban setting. High tree mortality due to drought or disease can be a serious setback. Efforts would need to begin to either source the saplings or set up a local nursery to produce these.

For close spacing, street trees should be planted 6–20 m apart, depending on the species and their canopy spread. Trees that will grow very large need to be planted 20–50 m apart. It is obviously more cost effective to plant trees further apart and this also allows for more growth of the tree canopy over time, but will take longer to form a closed canopy. Also, if trees are planted close together, they develop tall with fewer side branches, while if planted further apart, the trees tend to produce branches close to the ground which require management and frequent pruning.

An estimate of the length of roads using Google Earth in one section of Phuthaditjhaba revealed about 120 km of roads. Planting a tree every 10 m of road for 120 km would require 12 000 trees, while planting trees 20 m apart would require only 6 000 trees. These are not insurmountable numbers of trees to source and plant, and at a basic ZAR500.00 per tree, 12 000 trees would cost ZAR6 million, while 6 000 trees would cost ZAR3 million. The total length of roads in Phuthaditjhaba would need to be determined for a full cost. These cost estimates exclude the cost of labour, fertilizers and water, fencing to protect the young trees and on-going maintenance of the trees.

11.15 Bylaws and Urban Trees

In most urban cities around the world, urban tree planting is the responsibility of the municipality and is supported by policy, budgets, bylaws and guidelines and requires the services of professional people trained in horticulture to implement and maintain the tree plantings. This is not the case in many of South Africa’s small towns and cities. Bylaws to keep livestock off the streets must be enforced. Municipal bylaws relating to municipal trees are needed for any urban tree planting. It must be illegal to damage or destroy urban street trees in Phuthaditjhaba, with penalties which may include fines.

An important constraint to tree-planting in South African townships, small towns and informal settlements are vandalism and theft of trees, livestock damage, and inadequate water for tree survival (Guthrie and Shackleton 2006). Roads, properties and common lands are not usually fenced in South African towns, so livestock graze along the road verges and will eat any new trees planted and even completely strip or remove more mature trees. Thorny tree species were damaged significantly less (13%) than non-thorny species (77%) when used as street trees (Shackleton et al. 2017).

11.16 Generating Livelihoods from Growing and Supplying Trees

Planned carefully, a widespread urban greening activity could create a horticultural economy in Phuthaditjhaba, creating livelihoods for hundreds of persons, noting that planting and maintaining a full complement of street trees at Phuthaditjhaba could take many years, thus enabling a full business lifecycle perhaps of 20 years. A local tree-growing horticultural economy could include growing and planting a wide variety of useful indigenous decorative and shade trees, fruit and fodder trees and other plants for a systematic urban greening programme, also involving green infrastructure for flood control (wetland vegetation, lawns) and other landscape design plantings (hedges, lawns, flowering plants, fruit trees, vegetables) and urban agriculture. This economy could be developed with start-up, donor funding or private sector investment, based on a well thought through ten year business plan. Landscape restoration, alien plant removal and appropriate indigenous shrub and tree planting (Venter et al. 2020) would also require different types of plants to restore the quality of natural areas in and around Phuthaditjhaba and could provide for local investment and business entities of a ‘green economy’. Planting thousands of trees in an area with a critical water shortage would need to be addressed creatively.

11.17 Who Must Act?

Constraining factors hindering the establishment of a comprehensive urban tree planting in South African municipalities need further research, but are likely to include a lack of political support and scarcity of resources, as well as little sense of urgency about climate change impacts on the urban society. Insufficient funds and a lack of specialised or technical personnel for design and implementation of a tree planting programme have been found to explain the lack of new urban tree planting in South Africa (Averchenkova et al. 2019). To ensure that a tree planting policy is developed and put into action in Phuthaditjhaba, relevant stakeholders (politicians, municipal officials, special interest groups, not-for-profit organisations, traditional leaders and local communities) must be consulted and consensus reached that such a policy is indeed necessary investment for a future liveable and sustainable city.

If a formal mandate (and budget) was issued by government for urban greening in preparation for climate change, then municipalities would have to develop and implement such plans. This mandate should come via SALGA, with SALGA ensuring that the less well-resourced municipalities in South Africa receive adequate resources for urban tree planting as an urgent climate adaptation measure that will also create more sustainable and liveable urban environments.

11.18 Discussion and Recommendations

The theory and practice of ecological design for a sustainable ‘green’ city is very evocative and urban greening appears attractive for a variety of reasons, including aesthetic benefits, creating social and mental wellbeing in urban areas, and providing for urban heat island mitigation and shade provision for general hotter conditions. Various tree species can also provide fruit, timber, fuelwood, fodder and other harvestable materials for certain communities. Trees also take up carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and store it as wood, and above ground carbon storage by trees can be part of mitigation planning. The Thabo Mofutsanyana district municipality has a climate change strategy, but urban tree planting is not listed as an action. The Maloti-a-Phofung local municipality, within which Phuthaditjhaba is located, appears trapped in a crisis of inadequate provision of basic infrastructure and services to residents. There is no attempt to begin dealing with future threats linked to climate change, for instance, investing in urban street tree planting to create shade to help residents deal with heat waves. It is likely that the residents of the Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality and Phuthaditjhaba may not see urban greening as a priority as they battle daily to get water and struggle with a few hours of electricity each day. Yet, it could be argued that climate change adaptation activities should begin immediately, perhaps initially as a tree planting programme, in order to avoid disadvantage to residents in the form of rapidly manifesting climate change impacts.

Despite the crisis of meeting residents’ current basic needs, it would be important for both the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality and the Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality to develop an affordable urban greening and tree planting strategy and begin planting trees immediately. To give effect to urban tree planting, the Maloti-a-Phofung local municipality within which Phuthaditjhaba is located, will need to develop either a basic ‘get started now’ tree planting scheme which can be developed over time into a more comprehensive Tree Planting Master Plan, working towards the over-arching aim that by 2050, urban greening is well underway, and an urban canopy is strongly developed across Phuthaditjhaba.

A widespread and vigorous campaign for urban tree planting must be established, highlighting the long term benefits of urban trees. This could be done through research collaboration and information sharing with environmental NGOs, schools, churches, civil society and municipal officials, to create local campaigns, policies and plans. A wise urban tree planting strategy must create awareness about the benefits of tree plantings several years before proceeding to ensure acceptance by stakeholders. A local horticultural economy could be created through the growing and supplying of good quality saplings and other urban greening vegetation.

Urban tree planting should form a mandatory aspect of South African municipal climate change adaptation planning, disaster risk reduction planning, as well as planning to create sustainable urban settlements and urban greening and tree planting should be championed by SALGA. If urban tree planting is to be carried out in Phuthaditjhaba, it should begin immediately.