In order to promote awareness of trees in Namibia, Luise Hoffmann, chair of the Botanical Society of Namibia (Botsoc) at the time, initiated an annual Tree Award in 2007. The aim of the award is to recognise individuals, companies and organisations that have made a special effort to save and protect Namibia’s indigenous trees or to plant trees and create awareness about Namibia’s indigenous flora. Each year, we call for nominations from the public for worthy recipients. People from all over Namibia are encouraged to nominate deserving candidates. The committee assesses each nomination, and awards are presented at a ceremony held at the National Botanical Research Institute. This event commemorates National Arbor Day, which takes place on the second Friday of October.

This is not a competition – there are no first prizes. Everyone who cares about trees is a winner, but only three Tree Awards are allocated annually. Awards are issued to people who have saved indigenous trees from the axe and bulldozer, or planted a number of indigenous trees and successfully nurtured them for at least three years. In addition, we issue Certificates of Recognition to people who do not quite qualify for an Award but have contributed to the conservation of Namibia’s trees. The purpose of the awards is to make people aware of the value of indigenous trees, to prevent them from indiscriminately chopping down trees and to discourage them from planting aliens that do not belong here. We have a wealth of indigenous trees in our country.

Each awardee receives a framed certificate from Botsoc and an indigenous sapling suitable to their area. Trees are kindly sponsored by Namib Trees CC. Over the past 17 years we have issued 69 awards.

2024’s Tree Awards went to Sally Harper and Kai Sturm. Sally, for saving and nurturing young camel thorns (Acacia erioloba) damaged by builders and bulldozers, and for making the residents and management of Omeya Golf Estate aware of the importance of young camel thorn trees. Kai, for planting about 60 individuals of 22 indigenous tree species from all over Namibia at his family’s Namib Naukluft Lodge. A Certificate of Recognition went to the Rust family of Erongo Private Reserve for accepting, replanting and nurturing 81 confiscated, poached elephant’s foot (Adenia pechuelii). As readers may be aware, plant poaching is becoming an enormous problem in Namibia and South Africa, with hundreds of rare and protected plants being smuggled out of the country. Although the authorities are really on the ball, and many have been prevented from leaving the country, finding suitable sites to relocate them is a significant problem. They are mostly specialised to specific habitats, and sadly many are so badly damaged when removed from the wild that they cannot be rescued.