On Friday 11 October a team from Royal Dutch Airlines got to work on planting a forest that contains 270 trees, 2,818 herbs and about 13,550 other plants at the Mother of Peace orphanage, in the North Riding rural region near Diepsloot in Johannesburg.
The planting of this ‘Forest of the Future’ forms part of a sustainability initiative from Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) for the communities near Diesploot, who will take over the care of the food forest.
The planting at the Mother of Peace orphanage kicked off the world’s oldest airline’s birthday month – celebrating KLM’s 100 years in the aviation industry.
In September this year, KLM got thousands of Gauteng school children to fly a record-breaking 14,456 paper planes, which they’d made from recycled paper. These paper planes were then recycled to produce mulch to be used for compost in this sustainable food forest.
Planted over an area of land comprising 2,000 square kilometres, KLM’s intentions are that this food forest ‘will become a consistent, sustainable source of food for both the orphanage and communities in and around the Diepsloot region’.
Along with many other airlines, KLM has had to address issues around the negative environmental impacts of flying. The ‘Forest of the Future’ initiative is one attempt to introduce more sustainable practices, including addressing issues of food security.
Featured image: Unsplash
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