SUSTAINABILITY - The African Mirror

May

02

2022

India’s UPL applies to flush toxic pesticides into South African sea

SUSTAINABILITY

INDIAN agrochemicals manufacturer UPL Ltd has applied for permission to flush water contaminated by a toxic pesticide spill in South Africa's city of Durban directly into the sea or the sewerage system, the company said. The municipal authorities have judged the pesticides -- which were being contained in a dam that overflowed during devastating floods that struck the eastern port city earlier this month -- as being "highly toxic to the environment". Looters set fire to a UPL warehouse containing the pesticides during a wave of looting and arson in July last year. That caused a chemical spill which shut down…

Apr

28

2022

By The African Mirror

SA’s green transition to cost over $64-billion

SUSTAINABILITY

PROMIT MUKHERJEE SOUTH AFRICA'S efforts to wean itself off coal and focus on renewables, battery storage, electric vehicles and setting up a green hydrogen economy would require funding of over a trillion rand ($63.70 billion) by 2030, a top government official said on Tuesday. In November, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union agreed to offer a $8.5 billion package to help South Africa accelerate a transition from coal. South Africa is the world's 12th biggest emitter of climate-warming gases and the biggest in Africa. It is a coal-intensive economy where a fleet of decades-old and inefficient…

Apr

27

2022

By The African Mirror

Climate may not directly drive conflict but it’s critical for building peace

SUSTAINABILITY

CLIMATE change isn’t a direct driver of conflict. Most scientists agree on this and it’s reflected in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II Report. There isn’t a straight line between climate-related risks and conflict-related outcomes. The report compares the impacts of climate change with those of other global trends. The latter include “biodiversity loss, overall unsustainable consumption of natural resources, land and ecosystem degradation, rapid urbanisation, human demographic shifts, social and economic inequalities and a pandemic”. It finds that: Compared to other socioeconomic factors the influence of climate on conflict is assessed as relatively weak. But the…

Apr

21

2022

By The African Mirror

Early warnings for floods in South Africa: engineering for future climate change

SUSTAINABILITY

SEVERE weather, rain and flooding are at the forefront of the minds of many South Africans, especially those in KwaZulu-Natal. Early last week (11-12 April 2022), the province’s coast received heavy rain, with some areas recording over 300mm in 24 hours. This is about a third of the annual rainfall in KwaZulu-Natal. The rain was caused by a strong cut-off low weather system off the east coast of southern Africa. Cut-off lows frequently occur off this coast during the autumn months. These systems can cause localised flooding as well as large wave events. The port city of Durban (in the…

Apr

18

2022

By The African Mirror

SA floods “a teachable moment”

SUSTAINABILITY

KIM HARRISBERG AS downpours swamped South Africa's third-largest city this week, residents lucky enough to still have internet access and power shared harrowing videos of highways turned into rivers, collapsed buildings and flood-capsized cars. The deluge has killed more than 300 people in KwaZulu-Natal province, and with more heavy rain expected on the weekend residents and experts questioned whether the city had prepared sufficiently for worsening weather extremes. "We don't have the government's attention," complained Siya Gumede, 26, outside his home in Shakaskraal township north of Durban - a home now with only walls after a neighbouring church collapsed onto…

Apr

16

2022

By The African Mirror

Local knowledge adds value to mapping flood risk in South Africa’s informal settlements

SUSTAINABILITY

THE current flooding in South Africa’s coastal city of Durban is dire and reports indicate that hundreds of people have died and thousands directly affected. Several months’ worth of rainfall has fallen in a day or so, and the effects have been catastrophic. The problem of floods in Durban is not new. Between 1980 and 2010, there were over 77 disastrous flood events in KwaZulu-Natal province and others. The flood events can be categorised as disastrous when lives are lost, people are displaced and property is destroyed. Authors GARIKAI MARTIN MEMBELE, PhD researcher at University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of KwaZulu-Natal…

Apr

14

2022

By The African Mirror

Africa’s large aquatic animals are being hunted and traded: we assessed the scale

SUSTAINABILITY

ACROSS most of the world, and particularly in the tropics and subtropics, large wild aquatic animals – such as manatees, turtles and dolphins – are being hunted and traded. This is not a new phenomenon. Aquatic animal meat has been eaten, and sometimes used as remedies or in traditional ceremonies, throughout history. This type of consumption is widespread. In some places, this wild meat is an important source of nutrition, income, and cultural identity. Yet opportunities to exploit wildlife for economic gain – often illegally – increase the number of animals hunted in some places. Coupled with growing human populations,…

Apr

07

2022

By The African Mirror

How legal hunting supports African rhino conservation

SUSTAINABILITY

WHILE the UK government has been considering a ban on imports of hunting trophies, the South African government recently approved an annual maximum quota of ten legal trophy hunts of endangered black rhinos for 2022. South Africa has permitted white rhino hunts, without quota limits, since 1972. The South African government’s approval of this year’s quota is consistent with previous approvals since legal black rhino hunts started in 2005. Approval for hunting is given only when specific individual animals to be hunted meet a set of criteria established by a scientific rhino management group. Author MICHAEL 'T SAS-ROLFES, Oxford Martin…

Apr

05

2022

By The African Mirror

‘It’s our sun’: Rural South Africans seek greater gains from clean energy

SUSTAINABILITY

KIM HARRISBERG THE grassy greens and browns of South Africa's semi-desert Karoo region are fast becoming dotted with flashes of silver and white, as solar and wind farms spring up across the vast, sun-soaked land in Northern Cape province. But nearby communities - where unemployment and drug-use are a persistent problem - say that even as profits trickle into their towns, more can be done to distribute fairly the benefits from the renewable energy they believe belongs to them. "There was excitement when we saw the (solar) panels being built," said Rose Bailey, a social worker in De Aar, a…

Apr

05

2022

By The African Mirror

Rangers concerned deep water port could threaten Congo’s sea turtles

SUSTAINABILITY

HEREWARD HOLLAND EACH year Christian Ndombe and other park rangers scour the beaches of Democratic Republic of Congo's vanishing coastline for turtle nests, bringing the eggs to a hatching centre where they are incubated for eight weeks. Rising sea levels and erosion have consumed almost a quarter of the turtle's nesting grounds, the rangers estimate. Now a new concern is emerging in the form of a port, which the government says will bring jobs and lower the cost of imports, but that rangers worry will further endanger them. "The problem we have at the moment is that to really protect…