The 2017 National Arbor City Awards

The National Arbor City Awards will once again take place this year (2017), this is a partnership between the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), TOTAL South Africa and the Institute for Environment and Recreation Management (IERM). TOTAL South Africa is the main sponsor of these exciting awards.

The whole idea behind this competition is to encourage local municipalities to green their areas of jurisdiction and promote environmental conservation and development, thereby securing a healthy living environment for residents in all settlement areas. It provides incentives and rewards to municipalities who are doing their best in terms of greening and landscape management, especially in the townships and new settlement areas. The competition further encourages the municipalities to create awareness on the importance of green landscapes and provides a platform for identifying challenges facing municipalities in the area of greening their environment.

The adjudication

Brieng notes will be prepared for the entrants to provide explanation about the competition. The rst phase of evaluation will be done based on a portfolio of evidence received from the municipalities and rst shortlist will be done. The shortlisted municipalities will then be further evaluated as follows:

• The panel will visit the shortlisted municipalities
• The municipalities will each give a presentation of approximately 45 minutes
• Selected projects will be visited
• Judges will discuss and complete scoring sheets
• An average score will be calculated to determine the winner.

Categories and Prizes

The competition provides for three categories i.e Metropolitan municipalities, category B local municipalities and a category for rural municipalities. The metropolitan category only has a rst prize winner. The category B local municipality has rst and second prize winners, and the rural municipality has rst prize winner only. The latter category was introduced in the year 2016 to encourage small and rural based municipalities to enter the competition and engage in environmental and greening matters. These municipalities will be required to demonstrate real potential in order to qualify for the
competition.

Entry Forms

Competition entry forms are available on the departmental website, namely: www.da.gov.za
These forms can also be obtained on the IERM website, namely: www.ierm.org.za
The departmental regional oces will also mail the entry forms to municipalities in their provinces.

For further information regarding the competition, please contact

Mr Michael Modise: Tel.: 012 309 5787 • Fax: 012 309 5839 • E-mail: MichaelMod@daff.gov.za

The closing date for entry forms is 31 May 2017

The closing date for portfolios of evidence is 06 June 2017