eThekwini Municipality is planning the following activities for its International Biodiversity Day celebrations:

Alien Plant exhibition

This will be prepared in conjunction with Wildlife and Environment Society South Africa (WESSA), and will be displayed in the foyer of the City Engineers Building (eThekwini Municipality), where the Environmental Management Department is located. The exhibition will be displayed for a week and will aim to raise awareness amongst city officials about the threat of alien invasive plants to biodiversity.

Launch of Green Roof Pilot Project

The Environmental Management Department will launch its Green Roof Pilot Project, which forms part of the eThekwini Municipality's Municipal Climate Protection Programme.The outcomes of this launch will be as follows:

- To raise awareness of biodiversity and climate change issues amongst city officials. The event will be attended by the City Mayor, the City Manager and numerous heads of department and city officials.

- To highlight the work that is being done by the Municipality to increase biodiversity and to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change

- To share the benefits of green roofs with those who attend the launch. Apart from the positive role that green roofs play in increasing inner city biodiversity, they also perform climate change adaptation and mitigation functions. Green Roofs reduce urban storm water runoff and distribute runoff over a longer period of time, thus reducing storm surges and infrastructural damage. Water that washes over Green Roofs is absorbed by the soil and by the plant’s root system. This is especially important in urban areas where hard surfaces cause rain water to flow quickly over the surface and can cause flooding, placing a significant load on the stormwater system of the city. Green Roofs also ameliorate the impacts of climate change by reducing air temperature through the absorption of heat and through evapotranspiration. They also reduce the temperature inside buildings and hence reduce their energy consumption via reduced use of air conditioners. This will contribute towards climate change mitigation and is critical given the energy challenges currently facing our country.

- As a pilot project, it is intended that the pilot project will be the catalyst for a city wide roll out of similar projects.

- A media release through the Municipality's Communications Department, will also serve to highlight the above issues to a much broader spectrum of ratepayers, businesses, politicians and others.