Investigating the potential for Jacaranda street trees to mitigate climate change in Tshwane, South Africa

Abstract

Climate Change poses a great risk to our future as species on Earth. The impacts thereof will have far reaching consequences on every aspect of our daily lives and ultimately on our ability to survive and thrive as humans. It is therefore important, particularly in urban areas where most of the human population live, for the investment of resources and expertise into mitigating these impacts and ensuring the resilience of urban areas. The urban forest provides climate change mitigation benefits for urban areas through carbon sequestration. In order to encourage investment and protection of the urban forest, this benefit must be quantified and afforded a monetary value. This study calculated the amount of carbon dioxide sequestrated by the Jacaranda mimosifolia street tree in the City of Tshwane and afforded this amount a monetary value in both South African Rands and American Dollars through the South African Carbon Tax Bill. This study followed the baseline study by Stoffberg (2006) looking at how much carbon dioxide had been sequestrated by the Jacaranda trees over the past 15 years post the baseline study and what monetary value do the trees now have through legislation that was not available during the baseline study. The study also observed the variables that may have affected the amount of carbon dioxide sequestrated by the trees. Although some areas saw a drop in the Total Carbon Dioxide Equivalent sequestrated since 2004, the total amount for the whole city remained stable. Through the Carbon Tax Bill, the value of these trees has increased significantly encouraging the municipality to invest in the maintenance and protection of the Jacaranda street trees in the City of Tshwane in order to preserve their carbon sequestration benefits