World Environment Day 2019 - SA's natural wonders

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World Environment Day 2019 - SA's natural wonders

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Selene Brophy | 05.06.2019

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It's World Environment Day and as always, we're well aware our beautiful, natural spaces need so much more than just a day to ensure worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment.

However this long standing tradition, started in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries. The travel and tourism industry in particular has rallied around the opportunity to highlight ways and means to conserve and protect our environment.

'The green road to carbon neutrality'

This year the theme is focused “Air Pollution”, #BeatAirPollution.

SANParks Chief Executive Officer Fundisile Mketeni says Air Pollution, is of particular importance given its impact on Climate Change.

Air Pollution also impacts on our natural environment, altering habitats of animal and plants and is recognised as one of the biggest environmental risk to health in the world – which makes the push to be carbon neutral so vital, according to Mketeni.

SANParks is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2045 – and is currently assessing and quantifying the carbon footprint of all its 19 National Parks to make SANParks ‘greener’ in its operations. While the timeframe seems long it is aimed at greenhouse gas emissions related to energy, air and vehicle travels across the parks.

Initiatives currently in play include Tankwa Karoo National Park, close to Sutherland near the border of the Northern and Western Cape that is solely using renewable energy in their facilities.

Kruger National Park (KNP) on the other hand has constructed two ‘green buildings’ - the Skukuza Science Leadership Initiative Centre and the Skukuza Safari Lodge.

KNP also has eight solar plants throughout the park, based at Skukuza, Lower Sabie, Nkuhlu Picnic Spot, Tshokwane, Stolsnek Ranger Post, Pafuri, Shimuwini, and Sirheni. Lower Sabie operates on 100% solar during the day and electricity during the night, and Skukuza runs on 10% solar during the day.

In addition all ranger posts are now 100% solar run and tests for the transitioning to solar system at Head Office are underway.



Spreading the message to upcycle

To mark World Environment Day, Emirates gave its old advertising billboards in South Africa a new lease of life, transforming the PVC Flex material into hundreds of reusable bags.

In an effort to spread the message of sustainability and make a positive impact on local communities, the advertising banners collected from across South Africa, were given a second life - the heavy-duty, PVC Flex material was upcycled to produce school bags that were donated to students of Emfundisweni Primary School in Alexandra.

A total of 517 square meters of PVC Flex material was collected and sent to Johannesburg, where Emirates commissioned Soweto-based entrepreneur Raymond Phiri of Motion Bags to design and create the bags.

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5% of SA’s oceans protected

South Africa is prioritising its oceans, with the official gazetting of 20 new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

Adding impetus to the swell of ocean conservation, Ocean iMPAct, a coalition of organisations including WILDOCEANS (a programme of the WILDTRUST), Ocean Unite and WWF-SA, Ocean iMPAct aims to advance the focus on the protection of the oceans around South Africa.

The ‘Only This Much’ campaign played a significant part in seeing the official expansion of MPAs as announced by South Africa’s cabinet in October 2018 - increasing protection from 0.4% to 5%.

The MPA target of 10% has been set for 2020 - and paving the way for African states to support a global target of 30% strongly protected by 2030.

“MPAs are an essential tool for ocean health. They protect the oceans and the resources people depend on from risks such as climate change, over-fishing and mining. We look forward to supporting government to achieve the effective management of these new MPAs,”says Dr Jean Harris, WILDOCEANS Executive Director

“We believe that the ‘Only This Much’ campaign played a significant part, working alongside responsible government institutions and with key civil society organisations, in helping to secure 5% marine protection in Year 1 of the project and aim to play a similar, supportive role this coming year in securing at least 10% in MPAs with the ‘Ocean iMPAct’ campaign,” said van Nijkerk.


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Re: SA's natural wonders more popular than ever as globe rallies to conserve and celebrate the environment

Post by Lisbeth »

SANParks is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2045 – and is currently assessing and quantifying the carbon footprint of all its 19 National Parks to make SANParks ‘greener’ in its operations. While the timeframe seems long it is aimed at greenhouse gas emissions related to energy, air and vehicle travel across the parks.
That's why they are so busy doing all the developments now O**


"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
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Re: World Environment Day 2019 - SA's natural wonders

Post by Lisbeth »

World Environment Day - 05.06.2019

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Happy World Environment Day! To mark this significant day, we are sharing some of the key findings from the recent IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and how the EWT is working to address the challenges highlighted in the report. The report is the most comprehensive biodiversity assessment ever completed, and is the first intergovernmental report of its kind.

Up to 1 million species are currently threatened with extinction, many within decades

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But all is not doom and gloom, and this picture would likely look a lot worse if it were not for the efforts of dedicated conservationists and their supporters – like you! The EWT has worked tirelessly for over 45 years to save wildlife and habitats, with much of our work dedicated to preventing species extinction. Fortunately, we have seen many successes. For example, South Africa and Malawi are the only countries with increasing Cheetah populations. Wild Dog numbers are also increasing in South Africa due to our efforts to secure safe space for them. In the last year alone, we saw an increase in populations of all three of South Africa’s crane species in KwaZulu-Natal, with total counts of 2,981 Grey Crowned Cranes, 313 Wattled Cranes and 1,216 Blue Cranes. These increases are attributable in part to the EWT’s long-term work to reduce crane conflict with farmers and make power lines safe.

75% of the terrestrial environment has been “severely altered" to date by human actions

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The EWT is committed to restoring habitats to their natural state, for the benefit of all. We do this through activities such as clearing of alien invasive plants, and working with landowners to secure their properties as protected areas through biodiversity stewardship agreements. To date, we have protected over 100,000 ha of grasslands and wetlands from unsustainable development!

85% of the wetlands that were present in the year 1700 had been lost by 2000

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Much of the EWT’s conservation efforts are centred around the protection, restoration, and management of wetlands and the catchments that feed them. Many of the threatened species we work with, including cranes and frogs, are entirely dependent on wetlands for their survival. The presence of flagship species also helps leverage support for the protection and restoration of wetlands. The EWT works closely with communities to restore and rehabilitate wetlands through actions such as alien plant control and re-establishment of indigenous plants.

More than 40% of amphibian species are threatened with extinction

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The EWT, through its Threatened Amphibian Programme, is the only NGO in South Africa to include frogs as a conservation focus. These efforts have paid off and, in 2016, the Pickersgill’s Reed Frog was downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered. In 2018, the EWT was also instrumental in having the first protected area declared for the Critically Endangered Amathole Toad, representing a huge achievement in the conservation of this highly localised species.

25 million km of new paved roads are expected to be built by 2050, with 90% of this construction occurring in least developed and developing countries

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The EWT’s Wildlife and Transport Programme works to reduce the negative impacts of transport infrastructure on wildlife, and ultimately improve driver safety through a reduction in wildlife-vehicle-collisions. Many of the proposed road infrastructure developments in Africa have the potential to affect protected areas with high conservation values, making this work even more important. It was also very timely that the first ever African Conference for Linear Infrastructure and Ecology (ACLIE), was co-hosted by the EWT earlier in 2019, as the continent is on the cusp of explosive development.

The global human population has increased by 105% (from 3.7 to 7.6 billion) since 1970 – unevenly across countries and regions

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The EWT was the first conservation NGO in South Africa to recognise the importance of Population, Health and Environment (PHE) programmes as a means of acknowledging women’s reproductive and health rights, and the role of empowering women to be in a position to determine their ideal family size, and incorporates this approach wherever possible. PHE programmes integrate improved sexual and reproductive health services with conservation actions and support for improved livelihoods and have been proven to result in greater health, human welfare, and conservation outcomes, than single sector approaches. The EWT is proud to be a member of the Population & Sustainability Network.


"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
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