KZN ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT  -  April, May and June,  2009

BERGWATCH:

Bergwatch was involved, or offered advice, on the following activities in this quarter:

Visited to the Ingula Power Station: -.

I accompanied Di Dold on a guided visit to the Ingula Power Station at Braamhoek. I can comment that Eskom are really trying to be conscious of their surrounding environment during the building phase and in the results they hope to achieve when construction has been completed. If they achieve the results that the Drakensberg Power Station has, then Bergwatch can only commend them on their efforts. The off set purchase of 8000ha of wetland is really setting an example to other developers

Silverhill and Cleopatra Developments: -

I approached Afzelia Consultants with regard to the their moral standing on these two developments, currently under discussion and which are in the World Heritage Site Buffer zone. Afzelia are also consultants for EKZN Wildlife with regard to proposing and researching the Biodiversity Protection Areas. Their last presentation was to do with the uThukela Regional Council area, but the areas that they are proposing for BPAs, if carried through with the same principles into the Kamberg Municipal area, then these two developments will fall directly into the BPA. I questioned them taking money from the developer and the conservationist. Their reply was very vague and did not actually answer the question, but highlighted the public participation process that had to be undertaken, before the WHS Buffer zones are established.

Afriski 2000: -

I reported, to KZN Wildlife, adverts that I had seen advertising 4x4 trips to the escarpment edge, from Lesotho. I have been keeping in contact with KZN Wildlife staff including the Northern Area manager with regards to the 4x4 trails that have been advertised by the above company up to the edge of the escarpment above the chain ladder at Witsieshoek. The RNNP OIC, wrote Afriski a letter of concern. At our last liaison meeting, Afriski agreed to withdraw their advertising for this particular route. I understand that KZN Wildlife and Afriski have agreed to a meeting.

  uKhahlamba Park Management Meeting: -

I was unable to attend this meeting on 17 July, as I was only informed of the meeting on the 15^th  and could not make alternate arrangements at Sungubala to leave for the day.

  uMnweni Roadways: -

I have been in close contact with Jenny Longmore of KZN Wildlife, with regards to the two roads that have been graded along the nTonjelana and uMnweni rivers. I provided her with mapping and co ordinates for the road and went to see her at QEP. She has tried to get Mr Robert Ndlela of the local roads department out for a site inspection and I have offered to assist. To date no further arrangement has been made. Since John Hone’s letter of concern, this issue has circulated and reached various people including the Democratic Alliance. I have not responded to any of the correspondence from the DA, as I do not want Bergwatch to be seen as using politics, especially in the tribal areas, to further the cause of conservation. I believe that these kinds of potential environmental disasters should be tackled on sound technical and social principles, to reach an understanding.

  Vulture Count: -

Bergwatch aims to team up with the staff of RNNP in the annual Vulture count on the Amphitheatre in October. Notice of this will go out in the Spring edition of the “Bergwatcher”.

  Cyndi Jonker – Bergwatch Co-ordinator

 

COASTWATCH:

 

Estuaries: -

A few of our Coastwatch members were fortunate to attend the Estuarine, Coastal and Marine Habitat and Ecosystem Restoration: Offset as Mitigation/Compensation workshop sponsored by Transnet and held at Richards Bay in July.     This proved to be a very interesting workshop especially the discussion between the experts in this field.  The outcome of the discussion was that offsets could only be considered if they were “like for like”.  In other words, a wetland could not be rehabilitated in exchange for a mud bank.   That would not be like for like. Also, that one estuary could not be considered in isolation and the synergistic effects of anything that was done in one estuary on other estuaries along our coastline,  had to be taken cognizance of as they were interlinked.
If anyone would like more information on this please contact Di Dold.

 

Marine pipelines: -

We have had a very productive meeting with senior personnel from Huntsman regarding their marine discharge pipeline at Umbogintwini and were able to view their video footage of the annual inspection of the pipelines integrity.

River water quality: -

We have recently been made aware of another river initiative, this time the Umbilo River, which has a forum which meets approximately twice a year to discuss ways in which this river can be improved in terms of discharge into the river and general water quality.  We attended the last meeting. This is very important due to the fact that this river discharges into the Durban Bay and is one of the sources of pollution into the bay.    WESSA is currently looking at ways in which we can “adopt” this river in order to remove aliens, improve local interest in terms of looking after this river and in general see if a river can effectively be cleaned up and made a fully functioning river from source to sea on a sustainable basis.   More about this in future reports.

 

DUCT (Dusi – Umgeni Conservation Trust) members are still working extremely hard on trying to get the Dusi-Umgeni river cleaned up and functioning as a healthy ecosystem.    A great deal can be learned from this organization.

 

EIA’s: -

Carolyn Schwegmann continues to very effectively comment on behalf of WESSA on all incoming EIA’s in KwaZulu Natal.

The following are new applications only - May, June, July - and comments on basic assessment reports, scoping reports and EIR’s which began before May have not been included.

    Total Number: 80

-    Road Upgrades, mainly rural access roads:    32

-    Municipal building upgrades, including a fire station:      3

-    Storm damage repairs (roads, stormwater infrastructure, river bank stabilisation):    5   

-    Wastewater Treatement Works:    1

-    Sewage Reticulation upgrades:    3

-    Water Supply Projects (offstream storage, treatment works):    4

-    Cemetary:    1

-    River Canalisation:    1

-    School Upgrade:    1

-    Residential alteration/extension (in coastal zone):    3

-    Low Cost Housing Projects:    8

-    Residential Housing (multi-unit):    3

-    Eskom Projects (substation upgrades, new transmission lines):    7

-    Service Centre (filling station, shops):    1

-    Poultry Farm Expansion:    1

-    Cellular Phone Infrastructure:    5

-    Airport Expansion:    1

-    Ethanol Plant/sugarcane project:    1

 

As you will see from the above, this is a daunting task in anyone’s book, and congratulations go to Carolyn for a job well done.

 

STOP THE SPREAD- An invasive alien species awareness campaign: -

Stop the Spread has a new logo! Many thought the old one represented invasive plants only and was not representative of all the other invasive species out there. The new logo was designed by Michael Viljoen from Echobravo .  See if you can spot the rat! Remember it is one of the greatest invaders throughout the world.

The logo is the branding tool of the campaign and we need everyone ‘out there’ to know what it stands for immediately they see it.  Please remember to ask me for the logo when you are doing any invasive alien projects and you can print it out and help promote the campaign.   

Weedbuster week is in October but an event organized at anytime through the year qualifies in the build-up. Please will you all consider organizing one invasive alien event this year to show your support in stopping the spread. Let me know what you are doing and if there is anything I can do to help. The National theme is “MY river, my life”: but the Provincial Advocacy and Communications IAS Forum has  decided to use “Stop the Spread” as a sub theme for KZN. The forum wants to show KZN that we are all working together to stop these weeds and that the general public are participating in every way they can.

The Best Practice Operating Forum has been reinstated and the first meeting held. This forum is open to all in the field and will concentrate on emerging weeds, herbicides, legislation, biocontrol and the latest information. Here it is possible to meet with representatives from the different Municipalities and Government departments. Diarise the 3^rd December for the next meeting and contact Ryan Brudwig if you want your name on the attendance list. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

KZN Wildlife called a meeting of interested stakeholders to discuss the Mallard duck problem. These beautiful aggressive ducks interbreed with our indigenous yellow billed ducks and the resulting hybrids are not sterile .They are posing a threat to our indigenous wildfowl and we are looking at ways to counteract this. If any of you know where there are Mallards or mallard hybrids swimming around gaily, please do let me know as they are now an invasive species.

Working  for Water, Nurseries Partnership, Ezemvelo Wildlife and WESSA:KZN are combining to create an educational stand on Invasive Alien Plants combined with their Plant me Instead “campaign” at the Sunday Tribune Garden Show which is on from the 25-27^th September. We will be taking over the whole of one of the halls and combining with various landscapers to raise awareness of what to, and what not to, plant in your gardens. Come and see us there and enjoy the show.

 

Other events: -

International day of Biodiversity was celebrated on the 22^nd May with invasive aliens as this year’s theme. Ethekwini and “Stop the Spread” put up a large display in the Planning Building which looked great and gave good publicity connecting the two issues.

Durban Museum has also agreed to put up a display on invasive plants and you can see this on the first floor. They too are promoting the campaign and using the logo.

The National Associations of Conservancies had its 2009 AGM here in KZN and a request went out to all their members that they join us in Spreading the word and “Stop the Spread!”

Do not forget The Botanical Society’s annual Indigenous Plant fair on the first weekend in September- great place to get advice from the experts and to buy your plants for spring. “Stop the Spread” stand will be featuring the invasive garden ground covers and have suggestions for indigenous alternatives.

So please all WESSA members, do not STOP….. GO, Go Go!

Please note that my email address has changed to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Article by Lynne Thompson – “Stop the Spread” Co-ordinator

Waste: -

The Section 21 company called USE-IT has now been set up and our first official meeting has taken place.   This company has been granted initial capital from eThekwini to get this project up and running for a three year period.

The aim of the materials recovery programme for the eThekwini municipality is to be a leader amongst all SA cities to add value to waste from residential, commercial and industrial activities, in so doing, giving rise to new business development and job creation.   In other words, using waste as a resource.

A critical aspect is the deviation of waste from landfill before contamination this is achieved through strategic interventions at the source of waste disposal through the collection processes and re-directing valuable waste commodities through to an intermediate processing facility and eventually re-manufacturing of new and environmentally compliant products.  By doing so, the municipality will be positioning itself as a centre for “green investment” which is currently a shortcoming in most S.A. cities.

In anyone would like more information on this, please contact Di.

 

S.A. Non-Governmental Organisations Pesticide Network: -

This national network of NGO’s meet bi-annually to exchange ideas and network on what the various organisations have been doing in terms of pesticide issues.  If anyone is interested in getting involved, please contact Di.  We are looking for enthusiastic people to get involved.

 

 

CLIMATE CHANGE

 

I believe the following great news coming from Jim Taylor, our National Education Director, will be of interest to our members:

“WESSA obtained funding from the Goldfields Foundation via WWF to develop a suite of courses with a climate change imperative, aligned to unit standards from the Environmental Practice qualifications. This range of short courses in environmental practices will focus on developing the capacity of workers and managers in a range of contexts - local government, business, industry and agriculture. This is in order to enable changes in practice to more environmentally sustainable options.

Education for sustainable development is a critical component of any meaningful response to the global environmental crisis – at individual, organisational, national and international levels. Such education is not merely about creating awareness but rather about developing proactive changes in practice that are informed by and through critical education processes. Education can support changes in practice through three important strategies: developing capacity for preventative and adaptive strategies, mitigation of existing pressures and advocacy.”

If you would like further information on these courses please contact Di Dold.

 

 

BRANCHES

 

We are starting to once again see some really active watchdog activities coming out of our Branches or from our members directly.

Our Kingsburgh Branch has been very active in looking after the Illovo Lagoon area for a number of years and requested help when they were made aware of some artists impressions on developments proposed for this area.   After following up , a much clearer understanding has been obtained and meetings are going to be held with all the role players to take forward local interest in the area.

Sani Branch has held their AGM and both Di Dold and Mumsie Gumede attended this function.

What a positive vibe there is in this Branch.    Di was also able to discuss the proposed Sani Pass upgrade with the local community members.

I would like to make mention of the outstanding work being done by Heather and Graham Cairns of Umhlanga.  Although this work is not being done under the auspices of the local Branch but under the Regional office, it is absolutely vital.  This positive watchdog role has had a number of positive repercussions and it is a role that I believe needs to be replicated in all our Branches.   Well done, Heather and Graham.