Posts Tagged ‘ Endangered Wildlife Trust ’

Objection to Coal Mine Near Mapungubwe World Heritage Site | A media Release from The EWT

The Australian company Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL) recently announced that it had been awarded ‘unconditional new order mining rights’ for the Vele Coking Coal Project in Musina, Limpopo, by the South African Department of Mineral Resources. This despite the fact that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process on access and fuel storage for Vele is still under way and a water license has not been approved.

What’s more, no formal announcement to this effect has been issued to Interested & Affected Parties involved in this project. Mapungubwe National Park & World Heritage Site is managed by South African National Parks (SANParks) and its partners. The GMTCA is being developed based on the stipulations of a Memorandum of Understanding between Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe that was signed on 22 June 2006. These are officially mandated programmes in which the South African government, the province and private sector have invested.

With the official opening of the Mapungubwe National Park on 24 September 2004, the first of three national objectives for the region was reached. The other two objectives were the area’s listing as a World Heritage Site (done in 2003) and the establishment of a Transfrontier Conservation Area. Much time and financial investment went into these objectives and the World Heritage Site is expected to expand into Zimbabwe and Botswana.

A stakeholder group consisting of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the Mapungubwe Action Group, the Office of the International Coordinator for the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area (GMTFCA) and Peace Parks Foundation objects to all industrial activity in that part of the very sensitive Limpopo Valley without an approved Integrated Regional Development Plan. Comments to that effect have been filed in the Vele EIA and Environmental Management Plan (EMP).

The stakeholder group asked for more information regarding the awarding of mining rights, but their request has to date been ignored. The stakeholder group supported an external review and independent assessment of the Environmental Management Plan for the proposed Vele mine, undertaken by the South African Institute for Environmental Assessment. This was done to get an independent, unemotional opinion on the EIA process and content quality, assessing amongst others, factors like bias and regional context. The assessment identified significant problem areas and fatal flaws, which were duly pointed out to Department of Minerals and Energy (DME), the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs and Interested & Affected Parties.

No feedback on any of the identified issues has been received yet. Another planned development next to Vele, the Mulilo Power Station, is currently undergoing an EIA. Anglo Coal has also completed prospecting on the same coal field adjacent to Mapungubwe and several mining companies including CoAL are active in the coal field north of the Soutpansberg.

As part of the official Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) planning process, Peace Parks Foundation conducted a scientific, peer reviewed land use planning study of the larger Mapungubwe region, including an ecological and cultural sensitivity rating. This study proves without doubt that the area is extremely sensitive. The study was submitted to the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs and is available from Peace Parks Foundation. The stakeholder group strongly recommends that without an approved strategic regional plan for the Soutpansberg-Limpopo River region, no industrial development should be allowed.

It is however unclear who is responsible for cumulative impact assessment of industries and related infrastructure, water issues and the loss of jobs in the existing tourism sector in that region. Best practice environmental planning by mines should consider new legislation that states that the EIA process must consider cumulative impacts. However, the current process is running under the old legislation, which did not consider cumulative impacts.

The planned mine is situated next to the Mapungubwe National Park & World Heritage Site. It also falls within the broader Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape. The Kingdom of Mapungubwe is still under exploration by archeologists and carries the history of more than 50 000 years of human settlement. Stone Age humans and hunter-gatherers were followed by inhabitants of the iron-age, which saw the development of the Zhizo and Leopards Kopje people and conclusive evidence exists of these communities trading with far flung parts of the world. They pioneered farming, gold mining and the manufacture of gold ornaments and jewellery.

What eventually, in about 1220 AD, became the Kingdom of Mapungubwe is also inextricably linked with the dynasty of Great Zimbabwe. Peace Parks Foundation, Rupert Family Foundation, De Rothschild Foundation, De Beers, National Parks Trust and WWF-SA assisted SANParks by facilitating negotiations with landowners to either contract land or purchase properties to consolidate the core area of South Africa’s contribution to the proposed Greater Mapungubwe TFCA – the 30 000 ha Mapungubwe National Park.

The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, which follows the protected area footprint, was proclaimed a World Heritage Site in July 2003. Mapungubwe is home to the famous Golden Rhino – a symbol of the power of the King of the Mapungubwe people who inhabited the Limpopo River Valley between 900 AD and 1300 AD; at the time the largest kingdom on the subcontinent. The mine has the potential to bring all this to an end, threatening the World Heritage Site, the transfrontier conservation area and the tremendous tourism potential.

The presence of heavy industry in the area will impact enormously on its tourism and conservation, to such a degree that these activities will have to be reconsidered for the future. South Africa signed a binding document whereby it agreed to be a partner in a trilateral conservation development. By allowing that same conservation area to become part of an industrial area, it is not adhering to the spirit of that agreement.

Contact:

Johan Verhoef

International Co-ordinator Greater Mapungubwe TFCA

Tel: +27 (0)12 4203030

Yolan Friedmann

CEO Endangered Wildlife Trust

Tel: +27 (0)11 486 1102

www.ewt.org.za

2010
02/25
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Why Wetlands Matter | A media Release from The EWT

Many communities across Africa are directly dependent on wetlands for their survival, while wetlands provide indirect, but crucial services to many others. Yet despite this, these critical ecosystems are deteriorating and their capacity to provide goods and services is increasingly diminished as a result of human activities.

With the signing of the Convention on Wetlands in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 (the Ramsar Convention), the 2nd of February was declared World Wetlands Day. This is a day when we reflect on the benefits that wetlands provide and highlight the need for society to appreciate the value and functions of wetlands. The theme for World Wetlands Day 2010 is Wetlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change and the slogan is Caring for wetlands – an answer to climate change.

About 50% of South Africa’s wetlands have already been destroyed or converted through draining, the building of dams, incorrect burning and overgrazing, invasive alien species, waste disposal, water abstraction, agricultural, urban development and inappropriate land management. These losses are expected to increase as the human population grows and demand for water resources and land expands.

The benefits that humans obtain from wetlands can be classified into direct use, indirect and non-use:

  • Rural communities obtain direct benefits from wetlands when they harvest reeds for crafts, grow crops in wetland fields and extract water for drinking. They also obtain medicinal plants from wetlands, and at least 70% of South Africans are believed to use traditional medicine as their primary form of health care.
  • Indirect benefits include services such as the purification of water contaminated by industrial and domestic waste through physical filtration and dissolution of chemicals. Furthermore, wetlands mitigate floods and droughts by slowing down the flow of the water during the rainy season and storing water for release in the dry season. In this way they reduce the impact of natural disasters and reduce soil erosion, which would otherwise mean the loss of arable land and potable water. The unique and often spectacular biodiversity present in wetlands attracts tourists, which translates into socio-economic opportunities for local communities and increased revenue for the country.
  • Wetlands have for millennia provided breeding and feeding habitats for birds, insects, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Wetlands are thus rich in biodiversity and are important stop-overs for many migratory species, while some species are dependent on wetlands for breeding. Thus, how one country treats its wetlands has effects on species from across the globe. Wetlands are also important carbon sinks, playing a key role in mitigating climate change.

Thus wetland conservation is not only about the rural people who are directly dependent on them for their survival, but affects all human beings and several other species. Every wetland forms an integral part of a natural ecological system that supports human well-being and biodiversity. This applies to wetlands of all types irrespective of size or location.

The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is protecting African wetlands in a number of ways:

  • Development of wetland management plans: the International Crane Foundation/Endangered Wildlife Trust Partnership for African Cranes has been working closely with Ugandan communities and Nature Uganda since the 1990s. The programme helps communities that have a direct dependency on wetlands to develop management plans that will allow them to use the wetlands in a sustainable way. The community is very involved in the development of these plans, which are currently in the form of written guidelines. The next step is to have the plans ratified by the district council so that they become binding. The model is also being rolled out to other African countries, notably Kenya and Zimbabwe.
  • Wetland rehabilitation: Where wetlands have been degraded through human activity the ICF/EWT Partnership for African Cranes plays a supportive role in helping communities replant indigenous vegetation and effectively rehabilitate these wetlands.
  • Helping rural communities live sustainably: The EWT’s Conservation Leadership Group (EWT-CLG) runs the Rural Eco Warrior Programme, which works with potential leaders within rural communities to identify and solve environmental problems particular to that community. Ebumnandini in the Mpophomeni area of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands is a low-cost housing government initiative where about 75% of the houses have been built on a steep slope, with the remaining 25% built within the wetland area. This, together with uncontrolled grazing and burning regimes, soil erosion caused by livestock trampling, wind, rain and human movements, have led to parts of the Ebumnandini wetland becoming degraded. The EWT-CLG works with this community to prevent further degradation and to restore already degraded areas.
  • Developing nature-based tourism and protecting wetlands: Sam van Coller, a long time EWT supporter and representative of the Elizabeth Wakeman Henderson Charitable Foundation, introduced to the EWT-CLG to the Telekeshi community in the Waterberg region. Located within this community are a small wetland and a few rock art and Stone Age sites. The community plans to develop the area to cater for visiting tourists. A few community members have been trained as bird guides but as yet have not had a facility or the clients to make a living from their training. Despite being degraded due to overgrazing, erosion and alien plant invasions, the wetland area supports many bird species. The EWT-CLG is working with the community to address these issues and to restore the wetland to a more pristine habitat, which will contribute to the tourism package offered by the Telekeshi community and ensure that the community can continue to have clean water for drinking and washing.

The EWT also continually uses opportunities for awareness and education around the importance and value of wetlands, highlighting flagship species such as the Critically Endangered Wattled Crane Bugeranus carunulatus to drive home the urgency of wetland protection.

What can the public do to protect wetlands?

  • do not dump waste in wetlands;
  • adhere to approved urban development plans that clearly define wetland boundaries and buffer zones as no development areas;
  • do not litter or pollute our water ways as this enters and overloads our wetlands;
  • organise or participate in clean-ups in your area; and
  • support wetland conservation initiatives such as those run by the EWT.

The ICF/EWT Partnership for African Cranes is supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature, Rand Merchant Bank, Lufthansa, the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund, Eskom, SASOL, Millstream, Agricol, Senqu Clothing, PG Bison, the Dohem Family Foundation, the Vodacom Foundation, Whitley Fund for Nature, Sea World and Busch Gardens Conservation Fund. The Wattled Crane Recovery Programme is supported by the Mazda Wildlife Fund, Mondi Shanduka Newsprint, the KZN Crane Foundation and the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund.

Contact:               Osiman Mabhachi
ICF/EWT Partnership for African Cranes
Endangered Wildlife Trust
Tel: +27 11 486 1102

Graeme Wilson
EWT-Conservation Leadership Group
Endangered Wildlife Trust
Tel: +27 11 486 1102

Kerryn Morrison
ICF/EWT Partnership for African Cranes
Endangered Wildlife Trust
Tel: +27 11 486 1102

2010
02/10
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NGOs Respond to Growth in South African Wind Energy Sector | A media Release from the EWT & Birdlife SA

Wind energy is a very welcome addition to the South African energy mix, and is far ‘cleaner’ than coal-fired energy generation. However, this does not mean that it is without environmental impacts.

The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and BirdLife South Africa (BLSA) are concerned about the impact that wind farms could have on birds in South Africa if developed without appropriate consideration of the possible impacts, and have joined efforts to address this proactively.

“Cumulative impacts may be the greatest threat posed by wind energy developments to avifauna,” says Jon Smallie, manager of the EWT’s Wildlife & Energy Programme (EWT-WEP). “The EIA [Environmental Impact Assessment] process does not take these cumulative impacts into account adequately. We are concerned that more and more wind farms are under application, often in close proximity to one another, particularly in the Eastern and Western Cape”.

“While a particular site may be acceptable for development from an avifaunal point of view if viewed in isolation, when neighbouring areas are also subsequently developed, the combined impact of these multiple developments on certain bird species could be significant.” says Mark Anderson, Executive Director of BirdLife South Africa.

The impact of wind energy production on birds has been documented in countries such as Spain, Denmark and the USA, where this form of energy production is more established than it is in South Africa. Whilst certain sites have proven to impact significantly on birds, others have not, proving that it is possible for wind energy infrastructure and birds to co-exist if the correct sites are chosen. Only seven commercial size wind turbines are currently in operation in South Africa, three at the Eskom demonstration facility at Klipheuwel, and four at the private Darling wind farm. This means that our hands-on experience of the impacts of wind turbines on birds is very limited. This results in uncertainty in assessing or predicting the likely impacts of new proposed wind farms, since we have no local data on which to base our assessment.

The recently formed EWT-BLSA partnership intends to address the situation through the following activities: proactive engagement with the wind energy industry; the commissioning of a national strategic assessment of wind energy and birds; and the ongoing provision of input into EIAs for new wind farms through comment as Interested & Affected Parties. A national strategic assessment will assess the risks to both birds and developers by identifying, at an early stage, geographic areas of concern in South Africa where birds could be significantly impacted on by wind turbine development, and areas where impacts would be of low significance.

In this way, potential risks related to birds could be identified early on, saving developers unnecessary costs and avoiding negative impacts on birds. The assessment will also identify and document different techniques to mitigate the impacts on birds where necessary, and will involve the wind energy industry in assessing the feasibility of these techniques.

Much needed best practice guidelines for avifaunal assessments for EIA’s will also be developed. Since the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (NERSA) announcement of the feed-in tariff in 2009, applications for wind energy developments (predominantly by Independent Power Producers) have been gaining momentum in South Africa. Wind energy is generally considered a far more environmentally friendly energy option than traditional coal-fired power stations because of the lack of harmful emissions, the independence from mining operations and the fact that wind is a freely available, renewable resource. Furthermore, with wind energy the power supply can be placed closer to where it is needed, eliminating the need for extensive power lines cutting across the landscape, which have major environmental impacts.

Wind turbines do however impact on wildlife, and in particular on birds and bats. The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Wildlife & Energy Programme has worked on reducing the impacts of energy infrastructure on wildlife since 1996, offering practical advice and developing mitigation measures to prevent the negative impact of power line infrastructure on wildlife, through effective partnerships with industry players such as South African electricity utility Eskom.

Work has also benefited the industry by reducing the impacts of birds on the lines and providing cost effective solutions to the developer. The Programme is a world leader in the mitigation of bird/power line collisions and electrocutions. BirdLife South Africa is one of the leading South African environmental NGOs, responsible for the conservation of birds and their habitats. BLSA is part of BirdLife International and as such collaborates with other BirdLife partners around the world, including countries with a well established wind energy industry. BLSA’s international partners will be asked to assist with advice when developing proactive measures to reduce the risk of wind farms on South Africa’s birds.

We believe that this partnership, in collaboration with ornithological institutions, conservationists and wind developers, will be uniquely positioned to ensure that the potential for clean wind energy is realised without undue impact on our birds. We invite any interested parties to contact us if they feel they can contribute to our work, and believe early collaboration will lead to better results for all stakeholders.

For more information please contact:

Jon Smallie

Manager Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Wildlife & Energy Programme

Tel: +27 11 486 1102

Mark Anderson

Executive Director BirdLife South Africa

+27 11 789 1122

Or the EWT Media Office

Tel: +27 11 486 1102

2010
02/10
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Birding Counts for Climate Change – A press release via The EWT

The environment in which we live and on which we depend is changing fast as a result of changes in the global climate, and also because of land-transforming human activities. Our ability to weather these changes depends on our capacity to detect them as soon as possible.

From cranes and korhaans to queleas, a new booklet describes how monitoring and research on birds can provide us with the early warning signs that we need to protect our native bird species, and there are many such signs in the Western Cape: plummeting numbers of African Penguins, invasions into new areas by Red-billed Queleas, and Southern Black Korhaans no longer seen in places where they were plentiful twenty years ago!

Many of the findings in the booklet are based on data collected for scientific programmes by trained members of the public. By counting birds or recording their presence at particular places and specific times of the year, these “citizen scientists” are helping scientists to build a jigsaw puzzle of our biodiversity. The 16-page illustrated booklet was produced by the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the University of Cape Town’s Animal Demography Unit, with kind support from the Royal Danish Embassy in Pretoria. It will be available to politicians, farmers, conservationists, teachers and anyone else who is interested.

The booklet will be widely distributed in South Africa and also handed out to delegates at the United Nations climate change conference (COP15) in Copenhagen this December.

The booklet can be downloaded here

Please contact Phoebe Barnard or Les Underhill if you would like more info on the booklet.

2009
12/21
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The way forward for Cheetah and Wild Dog Conservation – EWT Media Release

EWT

Member of the IUCN – International Union for the Conservation of Nature

A new report will guide the way forward for Cheetah and African Wild Dog conservation in South Africa. Carnivore conservationists will establish a Biodiversity Management Plan for these species based on this report, for submission to the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs. If accepted and signed by the Minister, it will become legislated, providing an enforceable means of achieving the plan’s outlined objectives.

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus) share similar biological traits and face similar threats. For this reason the decision was taken to coordinate their conservation. Both species are wide ranging and occur at naturally low densities, even in protected areas. Both are adversely affected by competition with other large predators, and both are declining in number, primarily due to persecution by humans.

The goal of this plan is therefore to improve the status of Cheetah and Wild Dogs within their historical range in South Africa, and the objectives are to:

  • develop capacity in all aspects of Cheetah and Wild Dog conservation in South Africa;
  • improve knowledge of the conservation biology of Cheetah and Wild Dogs across South Africa;
  • develop and implement mechanisms for the transfer of information relevant to the conservation of Cheetah and Wild Dogs and ensure active stakeholder commitment;
  • minimise and manage conflict and promote co-existence between Cheetah, Wild Dogs and people across South Africa;
  • minimise adverse effects of existing land use patterns and promote practices conducive to the conservation of Cheetah and Wild Dogs;
  • improve national and provincial governmental commitment to the conservation of Cheetah and Wild Dogs in South Africa;
  • review, and where necessary amend international, regional and local legislation, norms and standards, policies and protocols affecting the conservation of Cheetah and Wild Dogs, and promote the compliance thereof; and
  • establish viable populations of Cheetah and Wild Dogs within a matrix of land uses using a metapopulation approach in these species’ extirpated and resident distributions.

The Wildlife Conservation Society and Zoological Society of London are coordinating a continent-wide conservation planning process for Cheetah and African Wild Dogs in Africa, under the auspices of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Cat and Canid Specialist Groups. This has involved the convening of a number of regional conservation planning meetings, followed by national meetings. The southern African conservation action planning meeting was held in Jwaneng, Botswana in December 2007 and the Endangered Wildlife Trust then took the lead role in coordinating the South African national conservation action planning process.

The first step in this process was the convening of a Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA) workshop for Cheetah to complement the PHVA conducted for Wild Dogs in 1997. During recent years, Cheetah have been reintroduced into at least 37 small to medium sized fenced reserves, significantly increasing the numbers and geographic range of the species. However, most of these reserves contain small populations, and without coordinated management, there is a risk that inbreeding will occur. The PHVA provided the tools to manage isolated reintroduced populations as a coordinated metapopulation, where subpopulations are linked by management interventions.

Following the PHVA, the National Conservation Action Planning meeting for Cheetah and Wild Dogs was held in June 2009, in Bela Bela, Limpopo. Here stakeholders mapped out a comprehensive conservation strategy for Cheetah and Wild Dogs in South Africa.

Another workshop was then held in September 2009 to discuss the way forward for Cheetah conservation. At this workshop it was agreed that the EWT’s Carnivore Conservation Group (EWT-CCG) would coordinate the process, while the EWT’s IT 4 Conservation Group (EWT-IT4CG) is well placed to develop the baseline Cheetah database. This will contain information critical to ensuring demographic and genetic integrity of the Cheetah population and avoiding over-population in small reserves.  The next step is to gain buy-in from all landowners with Cheetah on their property and to put together a management plan for the Cheetah metapopulation.

The report that will form the basis for the Biodiversity Management Plan for Species has been finalised and is available here . The Biodiversity Management Plan for Species will take another year to finalise.

The national planning process was made possible by a grant to the EWT by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation’s African Cheetah Initiative.

Ends

Contact: Harriet Davies-Mostert
Endangered Wildlife Trust
Manager, Carnivore Conservation Group
Tel: +27 (0)82 507 9223
Email: harrietd@ewt.org.za

Or

EWT media office
Tel: +27 (0)11 486 1102
Email: media@ewt.org.za

2009
11/05
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