“Greening means much more than the planting of trees, keeping parks clean or maintaining a garden. It is the conscious decision to take action in preserving the environment as a whole,” says former Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) Horticultural Technical Specialist Alan Buff. Buff joined the City in 1971 in horticulture as an apprentice after working in similar fields in England. 

“My passion for the environment comes from my parents. When we lived in England where I was raised, which was right after World War II, it was compulsory to have a vegetable garden. As a result I was always in the garden growing fruit and vegetables,” says Buff. 

This sparked his interests in growing plants and led him to owning his own greenhouse. 

Buff has worked in a number of different departments within Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo. He has had roles in cemeteries, street trees, botanical gardens, parks operations and eventually the training department with various administrations tasks. 

One of the City’s well-known projects he has worked on is the greening legacy. The main objective was to plant and grow a green environment for the community along with planting more trees.  

“The trees were scattered more in the north of Johannesburg than what were in the south of the City. Through research and hard work we managed to evenly spread out trees and amend the uneven ratio of trees between north and south,” he says. 

Part of the legacy research was air quality, which allowed them to see the different pollutions that were present, as well as the traffic from the various industries and the impact it had on the environment. 

“Research then clearly indicated the need for more trees throughout the city, especially in the more underprivileged areas in our regions. This also formed part of our strategy to offset the greening imbalance,” says Buff. 

Buff also worked closely with the parks department in Soweto in the early 1970s. His experience at the time was that Soweto was already planting a large number of trees for many years before he joined. 

“Their nurseries use to produce a lot of plants, which were given out at a very low cost to enhance the number of trees in the suburb. However, at the time when trees were planted, many were cut down and used as firewood,” he adds. 

To offset this imbalance he noted that education was key. 

“I also played a big part in introducing education around greening in schools. We ran programmes with the conservation department and further distributed to schools within the communities. We didn’t only cover trees but we actually encouraged them to start their own vegetable gardens, which was eventually taken over by the City’s department of Community Development.” 

Buff says the city has planted between 2 000 and 3 000 trees every year since the early 1900s.

An astounding greening achievements that Buff has under his belt is the introduction of a policy to council in 1992 in which Johannesburg parents were allowed to bring the birth certificate and were issued with a small tree that could be planted and grown at the same time as their new-born child.

“I have around 400 trees at my house, mainly fruit trees for food security. Trees are air, food, beauty and so much more than we actually know. Trees will now and tomorrow remain a vital part of human and animal survival,” he says.

Another policy implemented by Buff was the memorial trees. “We would plant trees on behalf of people who have passed away. That was important because if you think on average around 18 000 to 20 000 people pass away a year in Johannesburg and that meant a lot of trees were to be planted,” he says. 

Buff spent a number of years being part of a team that also replaced dying trees throughout the City and with the two policies in place it helped the tree-planting movement. 

Today, there are a number of Champion Trees across the City that has survived the tests of time and has a valuable presence within the society of Johannesburg, much like the Wits Champion blue gum tree. 

Buff retired in 2017, however, he still finds himself fighting for the environment and upholding the green legacy in his personal capacity. He now spends most of his time working with individuals or institutions searching for lost or historical graves and crematoriums. 

“I quite enjoy research and discovery, it’s one of my other passions. I have a strong interest in eco-tourism, the people who passed away, the heritage and the history behind them,” he says.