On 2 September 2020 the EU Delegation in South Africa engaged with national, provincial and local South African government stakeholders, as well as representatives from industry and civil society, in an online dialogue on the theme of green SMME recovery. This engagement forms part of various initiatives in the build-up to the #Team Europe Climate Diplomacy Week, which runs … [Read more...]
The importance of youth participation in environmental governance
South Africa’s democracy is a combination of a representative and participatory democracy, meaning we elect our representatives to govern our country on our behalf, but that public participation is entrenched as a crucial element in South Africa’s Constitution to ensure our growing democracy reflects the will of the people. Through public participation, South African … [Read more...]
Media’s role in good environmental governance and public participation
Climate change, the main existential crisis of our day, remains under the public radar in 2019 South Africa. Inadequate media coverage is in part to blame. Whether or not South African media are reporting on the climate crisis and encouraging public participation, and how they do it, affects how the public perceives and engages on the issue. Climate change is already … [Read more...]
Environmental literacy key to a secure climate future
Conservation consciousness and environmental literacy are key to securing an environmental future for all people, says the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Barbara Creecy. ”Conservation consciousness cannot be the exclusive domain of a select and privileged few. It must be a key component of our environmental literacy,” said the Minister during her keynote … [Read more...]
From the mouth of babes: now is the time to listen
It was time. Human limits had been reached and overstepped. How long did the children have to bear the conflict between what they know and how the world is run? For how long do we expect them to trust that somehow some miracle will save them? We have raised them to ask questions – they are informed. They can no longer be placated. It was a bittersweet experience to march … [Read more...]
Big business dominates farming while small producers wilt on the vine
Agricultural policy still favours neoliberal models of big agro-business and works against small producers who simply don’t have the resources to compete. It’s difficult not to conclude that this policy has been hijacked deliberately to channel resources from smallholders into commercial and corporate pockets. Read the full article at Daily Maverick. … [Read more...]
Calls for long-term protection of Cape Town’s breadbasket
The Philippi Horticulture Area (PHA), the unique 3,000ha farmlands located within the city of Cape Town and in the heart of the Cape Flats has been the city’s breadbasket since 1885. The City of Cape Town is processing developments of 50,000 houses, 2 shopping centres, a private prison, private school. This will delete the farmlands and destroy the Cape Flats … [Read more...]
Why we can’t leave saving the planet to environmentalists
In the fall of 2004, two young environmentalists, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, triggered a firestorm of controversy with their essay, The Death of Environmentalism. In it they argued that the politics that dealt with acid rain and smog can't deal with global warming. Society has changed, and our politics have not kept up. Environmentalism must die, they concluded, … [Read more...]
Comment on organic farming policy
SA's Draft National Policy on Organic Farming was presented by the National Department of Agriculture at Elsenberg, Stellenbosch last week. It is the culmination of work done since 1998. 'Finally the organic sector is being acknowledged and supported,' said Liz Eglington from Blue Sky Organics. ' I am extremely happy with the result.' This important document is now open … [Read more...]
Island to be powered by coconuts & sunshine
In the Malay language, the coconut palm is called 'pokok seribu guna,' meaning 'the tree of a thousand uses.' Make that one thousand and one. In just over a year's time, the entire chain of the Tokelau islands plans to get 100 percent of their energy from a heavenly mix of coconuts and sunshine, according to United Press International. It is perhaps incontestably … [Read more...]
