"Eleven of the twelve years from 1995 to 2006 were the hottest since 1850," is one of the shocking facts concerning climate change.

Climate change was one of the 20 first trends discussed by Mr Alistair Stewart of the Molozi Trust Forestries in a presentation on February 26.

"One knows one is in trouble when annual insurance weather risk contracts rise from $2billion to $45 billion last year," Mr Stewart said at a Forestry South Africa Workshop dinner at the Plaas Gastehuis.

Another trend is called the Carbon Footprint.

"Each person in this room produces about 10 tons of CO2 each year … That is the bad news. The good news is that every 15 trees absorb one ton of carbon dioxide. This fact should be used to stop indigenous forest clearing and encourage afforestation," Mr Stewart said.

It would seem, however, that planting forests outside of the tropics to mitigate climate change could be a waste of time. It seems that carbon sequestration by trees only applies to those trees in the tropics. Another trend is to build timber homes, since a timber frame house is more energy efficient than an energy-inefficient brick, iron and cement house.

The emphasis on productivity is an important trend.

South Africa has to invest in productivity and measure productivity. Mr Stewart took an example from the forestry industry where, in North America and Europe, they are trying to fell, clear, extract and deliver trees to a saw mill within a 24-hour timeframe, and are presently at 48 hours.

"South Africa is at seven days and more in most cases," Stewart said.

Mr Stewart belongs to a group which has been successful in organizing the establishing of seven biospheres in seven countries, including the first under-sea biosphere.

"We have started the process of establishing a biosphere in the Soutpansberg, several heritage sites in Eastern Europe and a few national parks," said Mr Stewart.

He presented his distinguished guests, mostly from the forestry sector, with a memento of the Soutpansberg region. It was a booklet of local scientists who had collated the scientific information of the flora and fauna of the Soutpansberg.

The Soutpansberg holds plants belonging to 1066 different genera and this exceeds the number of genera in the world-renowned Cape Floral kingdom, which is one of only six floral kingdoms that cover the earth. The Soutpansberg is also remarkable for the diversity of its arborescent species; it holds 594 of these species – a higher number than any area of comparable size anywhere else in South Africa. The Soutpansberg also holds 50% of the world’s family of spiders, 250 species of butterflies in 95 genera, 28% of fresh-water fishes, 56% of Southern African birds and 145 mammal species, which make up 60 % of South African species. The booklet is titled A first Synthesis of the Environmental, Biological and Cultural Assets of the Soutpasnerg.

Mr Stewart, born in Elim Hospital in 1937, holds an Economics Degree and a CA from Wits University and an MBA from Edinburgh, Scotland. He presently lives on the Molozi Forestry in the summer months, and when Scotland has its summer months, you will find him and his wife, Helen, there.