| Environment News Roundup for 2007 |
| Posted by Enviroadmin |
| Monday, 24 May 2010 19:45 |
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We would like to wish all our readers a very safe and peaceful Christmas and a happy and healthy 2008. If you are travelling over the December season please drive safely. 2007 has been quite a busy year with environmental news and our readership has almost doubled during 2007. Herewith is the final EnviroChat for 2007. SOUTH AFRICA ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS 800+ Year Old Modadji Cycads Chopped Down for 2010 Tourist Spot Modjadji cycads are chopped out in the Modjadji forest near Tzaneen to make pathways for pedestrians to braai areas for the 2010 events ... read more and see photos <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1579> . New Environmental Watchdog Group Formed Environmentalists have set up a federation intended to take legal action against mining companies and South Africa’s government with regard to a number of areas they claim have been badly damaged by pollution. “It’s for us to establish legal precedence and hold mining companies responsible” says environmental justice activist Mariette Liefferink, adding that high profile lawyer George Bizos is part of the federations steering committee. The federation already has a sizeable membership database comprised inter alia of NGO’s, Environmental Groups, Environmental Lawyers, Conservancies, Journalists, Communities and Ordinary Citizens. To join the federation mailing list please send your details to federation@environment.co.za <mailto:federation@environment.co.za> Business Rubbishes New Waste Proposal The government's legislative proposals to manage waste have been met with an outcry from businesses which raised their objections during parliamentary hearings. Whether it was Standard Bank's objections to the restrictions the proposals would place on the ability of banks to dispose of foreclosed property, or South African Breweries' (SAB's) concern about the bill's complexity, or the protest by the Metal Recyclers' Association over the inclusion of all forms of scrap metal in the definition of waste, the opposition of business to some clauses was unanimous ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1578> . Seal Alert-SA Bursting At the Seams I trust you all are well. It has been almost two months since my last update and it has been a hectic two months at that. After my meeting with the Prime Minister of Namibia and their follow-up meeting with the Fisheries Ministry, there has been complete silence. Seal Alert-SA has since presented two damning reports to the EU Commissioners and European Food Safety Review taking place ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1572> . Minerals & Petroleum Amendment Act and Amendments to National Environmental Management Act Postponed The amendments proposed to the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) and the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) have been postponed until 2008 when Parliament returns. These bills have met with much resistance from groups all over South Africa and have apparently caused much “what the hell are you guys up to” and in-fighting in the corridors of Parliament. This delay is only temporary relief for the holiday period but come early 2008 we urge all of you to voice your opinions on these bills by sending your comments to us on envirochat@environment.co.za <mailto:envirochat@environment.co.za> . We will forward your emails and letters to the powers that be. If you need further information on these bills please contact us on the same email address. Human tissue, old bandages and used syringes pile up South Africa is in the grip of a massive medical waste crisis as warehouses and other sites are illegally crammed with tons of rotting body parts and other highly hazardous hospital waste. Today the Sunday Times exposes one such warehouse, in Germiston, Gauteng — a few hundred metres from homes and nursery schools ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1573> . Highveld a National Pollution HotSpot The so-called Highveld area, including eastern Gauteng and western Mpumalanga was officially declared a national pollution "hotspot" by Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk. The Minister has given the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism two years to develop an air quality management plan, which must address the issues and provide for the implementation of the plan by a committee representing relevant role-players ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1565> . Green Fuel For Europe – No Food for SA The Eastern Cape is the latest target in Europe's quest for greener energy. In a story titled: "Biofuels plant planned for ELIDZ" (Wednesday 14 November) the Daily Dispatch outlined this planned "development" that shows the high price tag South Africans will have to pay. Before the German firm involved will even come to the proverbial table, South Africa must "invest" R1,5 billion. Not small change. But what will be a huge change is the enormous impact this industry will have on food security for South Africa as a whole ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1544> . Wild Coast Xolobeni heavy-minerals project on hold Australian mining junior Mineral Commodities (MRC), and its wholly owned subsidiary Transworld Energy and Minerals (TEM), has put on hold its proposed heavy mineral mining operation at Xolobeni, along the Wild Coast of South Africa. It is understood that the companies would be meeting to review whether or not to proceed with the mining right application ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1566> . Africa is the 'worst victim' of climate change Findings in an intergovernmental panel on climate change’s fourth assessment synthesis report states that arid and semiarid land in Africa is set to increase by bewteen 5% to 8% (between 60-million hectares and 90 million hectares) by 2080s under a range of climate-change scenarios. “Africa has become the worst-off victim of worldwide climate change,” ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1576> . BHP Billiton shareholders call for moral stand on lucrative trade The world's biggest mining company is facing a revolt from shareholders who want the group to stop excavating uranium. Activist plan to use the annual meeting of BHP Billiton, which last year made record-breaking profits of $13.4bn (£6.7bn), to force the company to take a "moral stand" and pull out of the highly profitable trade in uranium ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1563> . Eskom told to halt project THE National Nuclear Regulator (NNR), the body responsible for nuclear safety has slammed the brakes on Eskom’s planned pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR). This is because of problems with the manufacture of safety equipment. The suspension of the manufacture of safety-related components came in October (under the radar) and remains in force ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1581> . 'Horror list' of problems at Pelindaba The National Nuclear Regulator is battling to keep employees, has fallen behind on equity targets, and risks its requests for increased funding being turned down by the Treasury because of its "extremely problematic" underspending. Its report for 2006/07 - described by the Coalition Against Nuclear Energy as "horror reading" - also highlighted security at nuclear facilities as "a major concern" ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1582> . WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS Ireland rejects uranium prospecting applications Ireland's Natural Resources Minister, Eamon Ryan, said on Monday that would not grant prospecting licenses to two companies which had applied for government permission to explore for uranium in the country. The rejections signalled a "wider policy decision to prohibit such activity in Ireland", the Ministry said in a statement ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1568> . Ambitions of nuclear power industry are a fantasy The prospects of a nuclear power renaissance in Britain are zero and the global industry is in steep decline, Green MEPs warned yesterday. An independent consultants' study, the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2007, casts severe doubts over the government's expected proposals this year to build up to 10 nuclear power stations to replace a rapidly ageing capacity. "The gap between the expectations being promoted by the nuclear industry and reality are perfectly highlighted by the bungled attempt to build a new reactor at the Olkiluoto plant in Finland. After only two years of construction the project is already two years behind schedule and the budget is set to be overrun by 50% or €1.5bn [£1.08bn]. It seems clear that the grandiose ambitions of the nuclear industry will remain in the realm of fantasy." ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1562> . Chinese birth defects soar Birth defects in Chinese infants have soared nearly 40 percent since 2001, a government report said, and officials linked the rise to China's worsening environmental degradation. The rate of defects had risen from 104,9 per 10 000 births in 2001, to 145,5 in 2006, affecting nearly one in 10 families ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1567> . Australia Electrifies Bali Climate Conference To hearty applause from delegates at the opening session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali today, Australia announced that its new government has ratified the Kyoto Protocol and accepted binding limits on its emission of greenhouse gases. The move ends Australia's isolation from most of the international community on climate change, but leaves the United States more isolated in its anti-Kyoto stance ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1569> . Governments must say no to Biofuels Biofuels must not be promoted as a solution to climate change, Friends of the Earth International said today, just a few days before key United Nations climate change talks start in Bali, Indonesia. The environmental group, speaking ahead of the 3-14 December Bali talks, warned that an increase in the use of biofuels - also widely known as agrofuels - would have disastrous social and environmental impacts .. read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1577> . Sustainable farming highlights - some 223,000 farmers in southern Brazil using green manures and cover crops of legumes and livestock integration have doubled yields of maize and wheat to 4-5 tons/ha - some 45,000 farmers in Guatemala and Honduras have used regenerative technologies to triple maize yields to some 2-2.5 tons/ha and diversify their upland farms ... read more <http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1574> . That’s it folks .... see you in 2008. |
