Following President Ramaphosa’s Youth Day speech last week – which mostly focused on the unprecedented high unemployment rate and lack of opportunities – young small-scale fishers, along the coast, say they are concerned that government does not recognise their value as South Africans who are self-employed and trying to create sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their … [Read more...]
Vaal communities protest dirty steel plant
Long-suffering communities in Sharpeville and Bophelong in the Vaal area have gathered outside ArcelorMittal South Africa Limited’s (AMSA’s) main steel plant in Vanderbijlpark today to protest against ongoing pollution, non-compliance with environmental laws, failure to engage meaningfully with fence line communities and unclear plans to decarbonise AMSA’s operations. The … [Read more...]
Communities call out questionable oil and gas projects
It has been two years since The Green Connection, under its Who Stole Our Oceans campaign, started working with coastal communities whose livelihoods are being threatened by offshore oil and gas projects. The initiative is focused on protecting the oceans, particularly through opposing offshore oil and gas. In addition, and critical to the campaign, is empowering coastal … [Read more...]
Employment opportunities in organic waste management
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment is making the management and processing of organic waste much easier by removing the requirements for expensive and drawn-out waste management permits. New norms and standards for composting and the treatment of organic waste, signed into law in 2022, will make establishing processing facilities much cheaper and the … [Read more...]
Revision of SA’s Integrated Resource Plan needed
With legal action in progress against the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), Karpowerships SA and the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, The Green Connection says it is happy that no Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with the companies were signed, today. The Green Connection's Strategic Lead Liziwe McDaid says, “As the climate crisis intensifies, South … [Read more...]
Big Tobacco, clean up your mess!
Protect our Next advocacy organisations have launched a campaign calling for Big Tobacco to clean up its mess called ‘Susa Udoti Wakho - #yourbuttsstink.’ The 2022 World Health Organisation (WHO) theme - “Tobacco: Threat to our environment” - focuses on the damaging impact tobacco has on the planet throughout its lifecycle, including deforestation, erosion, water pollution … [Read more...]
Developing a sustainable venison sector in Africa
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations says that wild meat possesses several added advantages over domesticated species in terms of range usage, physiological and ecological adaptations to the African environment, disease tolerance and productivity, crediting it among the healthiest meats available. This year as part of the annual Taste of Game campaign, … [Read more...]
Protecting SA’s oceans from offshore oil and gas
Yesterday, The Green Connection launched its public awareness and information sharing campaign – which is part of a bigger initiative, called Who Stole Our Oceans – in a bid to stop further government investment in fossil fuels, particularly offshore oil, and gas. According to The Green Connection’s Strategic Lead Liziwe McDaid, the goal of the public campaign is to … [Read more...]
Creating solutions that address climate change
GreenCape in collaboration with Indigo Development & Change conducted a two-day climate change mitigation and adaptation, and skills development workshop for youth and community leaders, civil society, community-based and non-government organisations in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape. The workshop took place from 24 to 25 May 2022 and is a strategic education and awareness … [Read more...]
Public invited to comment on Bellville’s future
The Greater Tygerberg Partnership (GTP) urges local residents, businesses, and investors to comment on the City of Cape Town’s draft local spatial development framework (LSDF) for the Bellville Central Business District (CBD). The draft LSDF proposes the City’s vision for the regeneration of the Bellville CBD, the second metropolitan node of the Mother City. Bellville CBD … [Read more...]
NERSA opposes decision to block Karpowership licenses
On Thursday 19 May, the same day that the minister of Mineral Resources and Energy laid out the department’s uninspiring budget for 2022/23, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) notified The Green Connection that it will oppose the NGO’s court application to review and set aside the decision to grant three electricity generation licenses to Karpowership … [Read more...]
Decommissioning of coal-fired power plants needed
Concerns surrounding a global climate emergency have brought into sharp focus the need to mobilize increased investment flows towards clean energy. Such flows are needed to fund incremental power generating capacities that are non-polluting. Capital is already shying away from backing new coal-fired thermal power plants. These complementary imperatives and trends are … [Read more...]
SA youth say, “It is time to put Mother Earth on a carbon diet”
Barely two weeks after the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) visited KwaZulu-Natal to engage communities on climate change and the just transition, the province was hit with the worst floods we have ever seen. No longer merely environmental activist rhetoric, the floods are just more evidence that climate change is real and has devastating impacts, especially for … [Read more...]
