A brand-new Nature Reserve is on its way to being declared in South Africa, a landmark moment for securing the future of the unique biodiversity and cultural heritage of the Soutpansberg Mountain Range. Friday 3 December 2021 marked a pivotal moment for a visionary group of conservation-minded landowners, as a provincial Gazette Notice of Intent to Declare a Nature Reserve … [Read more...]
Homegrown technology provides water to communities in need
The Vumela Fund, established by FNB Business and Edge Growth, today announced a new investment in Kusini Water, a cleantech enterprise that provides clean drinking water to local communities and corporates by manufacturing mobile, solar-powered water purification systems made from locally sourced macadamia nut shells and nanotechnology. The investment will enable Kusini … [Read more...]
South Africa’s first climate finance deal is a promising start
Climate and environmental justice groups cautiously welcome the $8.5 billion partnership announced at COP26, but demand transparency about the scope and conditions, and accountability by lenders, beneficiaries and the South African government. The partnership between the governments of South Africa, the US, the UK, France, Germany and the EU will mobilise $8.5 billion (R131 … [Read more...]
Investing in young talent will secure future of the green economy
The GreenMatter Fellowship, which nurtures talented young high-performing academics in the environmental field, believes that if corporates in South Africa would invest in young talent, there would be a significantly brighter future for the green economy in the country. South Africa is increasingly considered one of the more progressive nations in the world when it comes to … [Read more...]
Planting seeds of success for new woman researchers
Every morning at 8 undergraduate students stream into the University of Witwatersrand’s biology lecture hall, weaving through the sea of wooden desks to find their seats. Today’s lecture: plant physiology. The next generation of biologists sits attentively as the complex processes through which plants function unravel before them, new words like “RuBisCO” and “mesophyll” … [Read more...]
Is SA doing enough to avert a water crisis?
As South Africa battles the third wave of Covid-19 vaccinations and amidst the chaos, destruction and looting that has taken place in parts of South Africa in recent weeks it’s easy to forget another looming catastrophe: a water crisis with potentially devastating consequences. In the Eastern Cape dam levels are perilously low after a multi-year drought with dams servicing … [Read more...]
Positioning South Africa for a green recovery
Following the devastating impact which the Covid-19 pandemic has had on South Africa and the world, governments, corporates, and citizens collaborate to focus on a green economic recovery. This is a result of the pandemic being inextricably intertwined with global environmental issues such as biodiversity loss, climate change, air and water pollution. The South African … [Read more...]
PET bottle recycling benefits the environment while creating income
Despite global market contractions, and now the rolling economic impact of Covid-19, South Africa’s PET plastic recycling value chain has kept its wheels turning, delivering another positive annual recycling rate while creating thousands of jobs for informal reclaimers who returned to work under level three of the national lockdown. According to new statistics released by … [Read more...]
Concern over Minister Gwede Mantashe’s fixation on nuclear power
Extinction Rebellion South Africa shares the concern voiced by many people and organizations over Minister Gwede Mantashe’s unreasonable fixation on nuclear power. In May, Minister Mantashe said, when addressing the Portfolio Committee: “We are going to explore all options, when there is appetite for nuclear in the market, we will go ahead with it.” Is that a sound … [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...]
Global funding helps Cape Town school go solar
Solar micro-leasing marketplace Sun Exchange announced on Wednesday that it would be a key partner in providing solar power for several Western Cape Education Department schools, starting with Protea Heights Academy in Cape Town. Sun Exchange enables schools and businesses to have solar power installed with no upfront or ongoing operational costs. With immediate savings on … [Read more...]
UN Climate Fund should not support fossil fuels
More than 250 organizations, movements and communities from developing countries have called on the United Nations' Green Climate Fund (GCF) to ban the use of its funds for fossil fuel and other harmful energy projects and programs as it gathers for its 7th Board Meeting. "To use climate funds to finance fossil fuel and other harmful energy projects is totally unacceptable," … [Read more...]
Help protect our ocean and coastal communities
Millions of people living along the coast and elsewhere in rural Africa are dependent upon natural resources from which they harvest unsustainably. Some coastal communities are among the poorest in the world and are extremely vulnerable to the potential negative effects of climate change. They have no choice but to continue to use the diminishing resources upon which they … [Read more...]
