There is a gap of knowledge when comes to selecting indigenous trees compare to the exotic trees for urban greening. This is is a grave concern because Namibia is a driest country and thus water is a very scare commodity.Big towns like the City of Windhoek, Swakopmund, Walvis Bay and others do recognize the importance of trees within the urban areas, they are usually faced with a challenge of increased water bills resulted from watering of trees, shrubs etc. In most cases this leads to some gardens to be abandoned for sometimes in order to recover such debts. This to me is not a smart solution and certainly not a solution anyone is looking for. The problem with increased water bills is actually a direct result of planting EXOTIC PLANTS over INDIGENOUS. this is particularly a case because exotic plants requires more water to grow compare to the indigenous plants.
Some people argue that they prefer exotic plants because they look more attractive, produce nice flowers, nice shades than the indigenous. This to me is a false believe because, I have toured the country enough to see nice indigenous trees, with nice shapes and flowers within our forests. I would like to see more nurseries propagating our indigenous plants. The Government, and particularly the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry play a pivotal role in this by reducing the imports of flowers/plants from other countries like South Africa. Moreover, MAWF should stock up their nurseries with all kid of indigenous plants and also start promoting the use of indigenous trees in landscaping and gardening. This will help to reduce water usage while at the same time encouraging towns to start looking after their landscapes. Generally, apart from providing shades, the presence of trees in urban areas have many benefits such as regulating air quality, reduce energy consumption, conservation of biodiversity within cities, reduce pollutants, supplying us with fresh air (oxygen) and many more.
Some people argue that they prefer exotic plants because they look more attractive, produce nice flowers, nice shades than the indigenous. This to me is a false believe because, I have toured the country enough to see nice indigenous trees, with nice shapes and flowers within our forests. I would like to see more nurseries propagating our indigenous plants. The Government, and particularly the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry play a pivotal role in this by reducing the imports of flowers/plants from other countries like South Africa. Moreover, MAWF should stock up their nurseries with all kid of indigenous plants and also start promoting the use of indigenous trees in landscaping and gardening. This will help to reduce water usage while at the same time encouraging towns to start looking after their landscapes. Generally, apart from providing shades, the presence of trees in urban areas have many benefits such as regulating air quality, reduce energy consumption, conservation of biodiversity within cities, reduce pollutants, supplying us with fresh air (oxygen) and many more.
Jakarada
That's an interesting proposition that you're making. Are you a landscaper yourself? I'm asking this thinking that it would also be interesting to hear from those who have experience in landscaping, in terms of other factors that they consider apart from attractiveness, flowers, and shades.
ReplyDeleteYes Festus, I'm a landscaper myself and I have done some research on the Importance of Urban Green Spaces where I also found out reasons why people prefer exotic plants over indigenous when developing their landscapes
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