Over 100 fishermen headed out to sea off Cape Town recently to reel in some of the ocean’s greatest scourge – plastic. In recognition of World Ocean Day, 20 boats took part in Africa’s first Plastic Fishing Tournament, covering over 30-square kilometres of the Atlantic Ocean and retrieving 300kg of plastic debris within three hours. The tournament and the impact of marine … [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...]
EWT assesses South African companies’ impact on biodiversity
Out of 354 South African companies assessed by the Endangered Wildlife Trust for their performance towards reducing their impacts on biodiversity, only 79 even recognise biodiversity as a material issue, indicating that much work needs to be done to gear up South African corporates to understand the critical role of nature-based capital in their supply chains. On 8 December … [Read more...]
Working together to solve South Africa’s crises
My journey in activism started about four years ago, after my family was severely affected by the water crisis that hit the Western Cape. I saw first-hand how the drought was affecting small-scale farmers, including my mother, who rely on rain to grow crops and feed cattle. When you see your cows dying, you see money going down the drain. I conducted research on the internet … [Read more...]
EU must tackle forest destruction to reduce the risk of pandemics
While the world continues to grapple with the devastating consequences of Covid-19, WWF is calling for urgent action to address the key drivers it has identified which will cause future zoonotic disease outbreaks. In a new report Covid-19: Urgent Call to Protect People and Nature, WWF identifies a number of environmental factors which drive the emergence of zoonotic … [Read more...]
Ethical consumerism: shepherding back biodiversity
Climate change, over-population, pollution, plastic-filled seas. The threat to biodiversity, which ensures we have any future at all, is overwhelming. What can I do, I ask myself, to turn back the tide? Are my attempts at recycling, buying free range and organic food, signing Greenpeace petitions, boycotting products that contain palm oil and using public transport making any … [Read more...]
