• SDG Document (Sustainable Development Goals

•  Sunday School – Ryan the Rhino

• Youth – Care for Creation Manual – Youth Resource

• An Olive Agenda: First thoughts on a metaphorical theology of development – Steve de Gruchy

• Laudato Si – Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the environment and human ecology

• Special Environment Days 

• Eco Morning Prayer

• Shot hole borer information

In 2017, the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer (euwallacea fornicatus) was detected on London Plane trees in the KwaZulu-Natal National Botanical Gardens in Pietermaritzburg. Native to Southeast Asia, this beetle has a symbiotic relationship with the fungus (Fusarium Euwallaceae) which serves as a food source for the adults and their larvae.

The beetles can attack a wide range of living exotic and indigenous trees. In susceptible trees the fungus slowly kills the tree. First, the tree’s vascular system begins to fail, leaves begin to thin on the ends of the branches, eventually turning brown, leading to the branch and eventually the tree dying.

The PSHB problem should be treated as quickly as possible as this beetle has the potential to drastically change our urban areas and natural systems. The disappearance of trees could affect birds, insects and browsers and change the face of Africa.   The potential for devastation of food bearing trees could impact negatively on the economy and the provision of jobs in the agricultural sector.