Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest lender, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) of Japan are reportedly about to finance a 1,443-kilometer crude oil pipeline through Uganda and Tanzania. If built, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) would be the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world. Extinction Rebellion SA condemns the pipeline project and will take … [Read more...]
Plans for logging in Ebo Forest denounced by civil society
Greenpeace Africa and local communities denounce a decision by the Government of Cameroon to open up 68,385 hectares of pristine rainforest to logging. The fate of a 65,007 ha zone of Ebo, also threatened with logging, remains unclear and must also be spared from chainsaws. The 14 July decree to log a zone about half the size of London blatantly ignores requests by local … [Read more...]
Reopening local tourism to secure employment for many
Under lockdown level 3, many sectors have been allowed to trade or operate to some degree. However, the tourism and leisure sectors have remained closed for months, impacting on thousands of jobs and the finances and well-being of millions of South Africans. Reopening local tourism may contribute to securing employment for many, which would act as a lifeboat for vulnerable … [Read more...]
SA’s waste reclaimers tell of their lockdown relief
Informal waste reclaimers have spoken of the dire straits they are facing after being forced to stay home as non-essential workers during the Covid-19 national lockdown, leaving their families unsure of where their next meal will come from. In response, the country’s packaging sector has rallied to their aid, raising funds for the donation and distribution of electronic … [Read more...]
Nature must be protected to reduce the risk of future pandemics
There is a single species that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic - us. As with the climate and biodiversity crises, recent pandemics are a direct consequence of human activity – particularly our global financial and economic systems, based on a limited paradigm that prizes economic growth at any cost. We have a small window of opportunity, in overcoming the challenges of … [Read more...]
COVID-19: An urgent Maasai cry for help
Avaaz has received an urgent cry for help from Nashulai, the award-winning Maasai-led nature conservancy in Kenya that our movement helped to launch. COVID-19 has devastated Nashulai, and the brave community behind this visionary conservation project are staring starvation and destitution in the face. The conservancy relies on tourism, and it's collapsed. As a result, there … [Read more...]
Condemning eco-fascism in the time of COVID-19
People have commented on the virus in many different ways. You may have seen posts connecting the impact of the coronavirus with positive changes in the environment. We are greatly concerned by these, and as climate justice activists, we wish to address this urgent issue. COVID-19 has definitely changed our lives; isolation, working from home and shocking news headlines have … [Read more...]
No more eviction for crucial Joburg recycling NPO
A group of 110 waste collectors will not be thrown out of their waste-sorting depot at Pirates Sports Club in Greenside. WastePreneurs, an initiative that helps to uplift Joburg’s informal waste collectors, has won its first interdict against the City of Johannesburg Property Company (JPC), repealing its eviction from Pirates. In what has been hailed as a “small but … [Read more...]
Constitutional Court rules against Mpumalanga coal mining
The Constitutional Court has had the final say on the approvals for a coal mine inside an Mpumalanga Protected Area and Strategic Water Source Area. Earlier this month, the Constitutional Court refused the mining company’s final challenge of a 2018 High Court decision to set aside Ministerial approvals for the proposal coal mine. The Mabola Protected Environment near … [Read more...]
Recycling plastic presents income opportunities for South Africans
One of the best motivating forces for recycling plastic waste comes from the income opportunities that it creates. This is why South Africa has such a large sector of informal waste pickers – citizens that collect plastic recyclables from landfills and other waste streams and sell them to recycling companies for a profit. Waste management is an important part of society. … [Read more...]
Meet the Brazilian tribe fighting to save the Amazon
Brazil's National Institute for Space Research has reported over 80,000 fires in the country as of Sunday night, with more than half of these in the Amazon region. This coupled with an 85% increase in deforestation this year compared to last, and a rate of deforestation at one and a half football pitches a minute, is threatening the future of the world’s largest tropical … [Read more...]
Feasibility studies almost complete for Batoka hydropower plant
Zambia and Zimbabwe will start building the 2,400 MW Batoka Gorge hydropower plant next year, a company jointly owned by the two governments said on Tuesday. The Batoka project involves construction of a dam, powerhouses, roads, transmission infrastructure and houses in both Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) said in a statement. Feasibility studies … [Read more...]
Ramaphosa named in multi-billion-rand coal pollution court case
It has been 12 years since the South African government officially recognised the lethal levels of air pollution caused by the Eskom and Sasol plants on the Mpumalanga and east Gauteng Highveld. In that time, with international experts linking our national coal-fired pollution to thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of chronic illnesses a year — costing the economy in … [Read more...]
