Network set up to monitor Highveld air quality
August 25, 2008
Posted in Green News
Anybody driving into Joburg on a winter’s morning will have seen the air pollution that obscures the city skyline. It’s particularly bad in the mornings and late afternoons and, according to the department of environmental affairs and tourism (DEAT), much of it is caused by residential coal burning and veld fires. The area is also home to many heavy industries.
As part of plans to improve the air quality in the area, DEAT has set up ambient air quality monitoring stations, funded by the Royal Danish Embassy, in Ermelo, Hendrina, Middelburg, Secunda and Witbank. Others will be installed in Balfour, Middelburg, Standerton and Witbank, says DEAT in a media statement. Each monitoring station is equipped with instruments to measure pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, ozone, benzene, lead and carbon monoxide, as well as mercury. Read more
Database of SA species launched
August 25, 2008
Posted in Conservation
The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) has launched a website that I’m sure will come in useful for people with an interest in the conservation status of South African fauna and flora. By looking up a species, such as wild dog, on the SANBI Species Database you’ll find brief descriptions of its distribution, habitat, common names, threats, and whether the species is threatened or endangered or not.
There are three main types of special status that a species may have in South Africa, according to the site: a threatened or protected species, listed under the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act (NEMBA) regulations; a CITES listing; or an IUCN red-listing.
Xolobeni update: minerals department meets communities
August 25, 2008
Posted in Conservation
The department of minerals and energy has decided to hold more meetings with the communities affected by the proposed mining operations in the Xolobeni area of the Wild Coast after the minister’s visit on August 15, reports Mining Weekly. Bheki Khumalo, the department’s spokesman, was quoted in the report as saying, “With a thing like this, you can’t impose it, you have got to get the buy in of the community, you have got to use persuasion, you can’t use force.” He added that “a series of consultations with those groups will continue over the next weeks” . Read more
Animal news in brief
August 22, 2008
Posted in Conservation
ELEPHANT MASSACRE IN THE CONGO: Poachers have killed a fifth of the elephants in the DRC’s Virunga National Park this year, Reuters reports. The park lies in eastern DRC on the border with Rwanda and Uganda. Read the full story.
SA PLAN TO SAVE THE SEABIRDS: The department of environmental affairs and tourism has launched a plan of action to help prevent seabirds from being killed by the fishing industry. More than 28 species of albatross and petrel have been recorded caught by South African fisheries. Thirteen of them are threatened with extinction. The National Plan of Action for Reducing the Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Long-line Fisheries (NPOA-Seabirds) illustrates the country’s commitment to managing seabirds and fisheries responsibly, says DEAT.
Also this week, the WWF released a report which it says underscores the need for international co-operation on preventing seabird deaths. Dr Samantha Petersen, manager of the WWF Responsible Fisheries Programme, “This report substantially improves our understanding of the circumstances under which seabirds are killed and for the first time reports on experiments conducted in South African waters to develop techniques to reduce seabird bycatch under local conditions.” Read more on WWF site
LONESOME GEORGE, LONESOME NO MORE?: Lonesome George got his name because he is the last remaining Pinta Island tortoise. For years researchers have been hoping that he would breed with a tortoise from a similar Galapagos subspecies at the research station where he has lived since 1972. George has two female companions in his corral, but scientists seem to have struggled to coax him to reproduce. But there appears to have been a breakthrough because two nests containing eggs have reportedly been found in George’s corral. Eight eggs have been incubated and fingers are crossed that genetic tests will show that George is the father. Read more on the Galapagos Conservancy website
Update: Suspended conservationists
August 22, 2008
Posted in Conservation
No further light seems to have been shed this week on why the three conservationists of the Northern Cape department of tourism, environment and conservation were suspended. An official from the deparment was reported by Sapa on Tuesday as saying that it was an internal matter and the department would not comment on it. Sapa also reported that a call had been made for a commission of inquiry into the Kamfers Dam saga. The Northern Cape head of the African Christian Democrat Party, Francois van Wyk, has requested that the province’s premier, Dipuo Peters, urgently appoint a commission of inquiry. He said the province’s economy depended on eco-tourism and that the suspension of three senior conservation officials who worked with the flamingo project would cause huge damage nationally and internationally.
Slow uptake for solar geysers. I’m not surprised.
August 22, 2008
Posted in Renewable energy
South Africans need incentives to replace their electric water heaters with solar water heaters because the conversion process isn’t going well, Dorothy Mahlangu of the Gauteng local government said at the Green Building Expo in Midrand this week. [Engineering News] Why am I not surprised? Last October when my electric geyser broke, I wanted to replace it with a solar geyser, but I didn’t and here’s why.
My insurance would only pay out about R4,500 to replace my geyser (because that is what it cost for a replacement electric geyser). I asked a plumber to recommend a solar geyser company – having heard that not all solar geysers are equal – this was before Eskom published its list of approved suppliers. I was told a new solar geyser, plus installation etc, would cost in the region of R18,000.
So, let’s just assume that I would have got a R3,000 consumer rebate from Eskom (which I suspect may be on the generous side), add to that the R4,500 from my insurance, and I would have been left needing R10,500 to pay for a new solar geyser. But I would have had to apply for the rebate after I’d paid for the geyser, so I would, in fact, have needed to have R13,500 handy. Compare that with getting a new electric geyser installed for basically no extra cash except the insurance excess, which I think was less than R1,000. Guess which option I chose?
I still would like a solar geyser, but I just can’t afford it.
E-waste in numbers
August 21, 2008
Posted in Green News
Green IT was the theme of this year’s Gartner Symposium Africa, held this week in Cape Town. Over the course of the event speakers rolled out facts and figures on e-waste and the impact information technology is having on the environment. Here are a few of the many stood out for us:
460 000 – The number of PCs that reach “end-of-life” every day.
550 million – The number of mobile phones that reach “end-of-life” every year.
2% – The contribution of the IT industry to global carbon dioxide emissions, roughly equivalent to the output of the airline industry.
60% – The percentage of toxicity in landfill sites due to e-waste.
2%-3% – The percentage of landfill sites that are e-waste.
95%-98% – The percentage of PC materials that can be recycled.
6 ounces – The typical yield of gold from 1 ton of PC boards.
1 ounce – The typical gold yield from 1 ton of rock.
E-waste: Johnny Clegg speaks out
August 21, 2008
Posted in Green News
Although e-waste only accounts for 2% to 3% of the content of landfill sites it contributes about 60% of the toxicity of those sites. This is according to African Sky’s Johnny Clegg who was speaking at the Gartner Symposium in Cape Town yesterday.
Well known for his musical career, Clegg said that there were many misconceptions about e-waste and its consequences. Among these, he said, was that companies would not be held liable for illegal dumping of old IT equipment. Clegg said that just because old IT equipment had been handed over to a “recycler”, companies were obliged to ensure that equipment was correctly and safely recycled. Read more
IT, airline industries: equal polluters
August 18, 2008
Posted in Transport
Asked about which industries contribute the most to carbon emissions most people would likely pick on the transport and heavy engineering sectors. It’s unlikely that many would finger the IT sector. But, according to IT analysts Gartner, the IT sector emits just as much carbon dioxide as does the airline industry. At the annual Gartner conference in Cape Town today senior vice president, Peter Sondergaard, said that the company estimated that the IT sector accounted for two percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, roughly the same as the airline industry. According to research quoted by the UK Independent, it takes around 1.8 tons of chemicals, fossil fuels and water to produce a PC.
SA trawl fishing kills thousands of sea birds a year
August 18, 2008
Posted in Conservation
Scientists who monitored catches on 14 different vessels trawling for hake in the Benguela Current, off South Africa’s west coast, estimate that about 18,000 seabirds may be killed a year in this fishery alone, reports Birdlife International.
The majority of bird deaths were a result of collisions with wires – known as warp lines – leading from the stern of the vessels. “Most mortality relates to the dumping of fishing waste behind the boat. This attracts seabirds which can either hit the warp lines or become entangled in the nets,” said Dr John Croxall, chairman of BirdLife’s Global Seabird Programme Read more
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