Pollution
Pollution
HRW Issues Cholera Warning in Zimbabwe
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that Zimbabwe’s capital Harare is at risk of repeating a cholera outbreak five years ago that killed over 4 200 people.
The organisation says that a long-running sanitation crisis in the city of two million means drinking water is often taken from wells that are contaminated with sewage from broken pipes.
HRW Southern Africa director, Tiseke Kasambala, points out that, “In many communities there is no water for drinking or bathing, there is sewage in the streets, there is diarrhoea and typhoid and the threat of another cholera epidemic.”
To read the article titled, “Zimbabwe warned on risk of cholera outbreak,” click here.Source:Times LiveBotswana Silent Over Fracking in the Kalahari
According to Wagdy Sawahel, while a fierce debate rages about fracking in South Africa and elsewhere, the Botswana government has been silently pushing ahead with plans to produce natural gas, keeping the country in the dark as it grants concessions over vast tracts of land, including half of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve - the ancestral home of the San.
Sawahel says that a new documentary film - the High Cost of Cheap Gas - has uncovered incontrovertible evidence that drilling and fracking are underway in Botswana and that international companies are planning massive gas operations in the future.
However, he says that there has been little attempt to inform the public, despite growing international concerns about the harmful effects of natural gas production.
To read the article titled, “Fracking the Kalahari,” click here.Source:All AfricaHRW Warns on Cholera Risk in Zimbabwe
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that Zimbabwe’s capital Harare is at risk of repeating a cholera outbreak five years ago that killed over 4 200 people.
The organisation says that a long-running sanitation crisis in the city of two million means drinking water is often taken from wells that are contaminated with sewage from broken pipes.
HRW Southern Africa director, Tiseke Kasambala, points out that, “In many communities there is no water for drinking or bathing, there is sewage in the streets, there is diarrhoea and typhoid and the threat of another cholera epidemic.”
To read the article titled, “Zimbabwe warned on risk of cholera outbreak,” click here.Source:Times LiveFracking Process Contested
If energy companies and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) are successful, the Karoo a semi-desert wilderness, will soon be home to scientists and geologists mapping out shale gas fields touted as game-changers for Africa's biggest economy, and determining whether fracking will work here.
The fracking process is incurring challenges from multiple opponents - pro-fracking activists assert that a lengthy legal fight is inevitable.
"After the licence has been granted, there is going to be legal battle after legal battle after legal battle," states chairperson of the Karoo Shale Gas Community Forum, Vuyisile Booysen.
To read article titled, “Water, wealth and whites - SA's potent anti-fracking mix,” click here.Source:SABC NewsELA Disappointed in Mid-term Budget
Environmental group, Earthlife Africa , says Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan’s medium-term budget policy statement is clear that government must curb spending where possible.
The organisation argues that fiscal responsibility should be applied to the planned dirty and dangerous energy investments in coal and nuclear.
"We are dismayed that Minister Gordhan is continuing to support our over-reliance on coal by indicating future spending for a new coal-fired power station, Coal-3. This contradicts National Treasury's own statements that South Africa needs to reduce its carbon emissions, the very reason that Treasury wants to place a tax on carbon," it explains.
To read the article titled, “Mid-term Budget fails to deal with carbon emissions: Earthlife Africa,” click here.Source:SABC NewsGreenpeace Requests Meeting With Putin
Environmental organisation, Greenpeace, has asked for a meeting with Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, following the arrest of the entire crew of the group’s ship that protested against Arctic oil drilling in Russia.
Greenpeace executive director, Kumi Naidoo, states that he was willing to travel to Moscow at any moment to secure the release of the 30 crew members of the Arctic Sunrise icebreaker.
“We are willing to face the consequences of what we did, as long as those consequences are within a nation’s criminal code as any reasonable person understands that code to be,” he explains.
To read the article titled, “Greenpeace chief asks to meet Putin after arrests”, click here.Source:The CitizenHuman Waste in Rivers Used to Irrigate Crops
Bacteria-riddled river water used to irrigate most fresh produce in South Africa poses an extreme health risk.
According to a report, the river water contains levels of E.coli bacteria that are as much as 10 000 times more than allowed by the World Health Organisation and the Department of Water Affairs.
The report further warns that not only is this dangerous for people but it might have a highly damaging effect on this country's international trading status and cause a suspension of exports of fruit and vegetables.
To read the article titled, “Human waste in rivers used to irrigate crops,” click here.Source:Times LiveNGO Submits Proposals for a Carbon Tax
The World Wide Fund for Nature in South Africa (WWF-SA) has submitted its proposals to the National Treasury for a carbon tax.
The organisation says this will in effect help the country create an economy with a smaller carbon footprint.
It further argues that the driving force behind this proposal is the need to steer the economy away from its dependency on fossil fuels.
To read the article titled, “WWF-SA submits proposals for a carbon tax,” click here.Source:SABC NewsDeveloping Countries to Outpace OECD in Carbon Emissions
According to the figures released US Energy Information Administration (EIA), developing countries' carbon dioxide emissions will outpace emissions from the developed countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) over the next three decades.
The EIA says energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from developing countries will be 127 percent higher than in the world's most developed economies by 2040.
It says under the policies currently in place worldwide, carbon emissions will grow 46 percent by 2040 from a 2010 baseline.
To read article titled, “Developing countries to vastly outpace OECD in carbon emissions,” click here.Source:SABC NewsFracking Battle Heading to Court
According to John Yeld’s article titled, ‘Fracking battle destined for court’, a bruising and probably extremely expensive court battle over the controversial fracking method for shale gas in the Karoo now seems inevitable.
The African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe, threw down the gauntlet and his challenge was immediately accepted by the anti-fracking alliance of Afriforum and the Treasure the Karoo Action Group.
The latter’s chief executive, Jonathan Deal, responded quickly, accusing the ANC of having allowed the decision about shale gas development ‘to become mired in secrecy and misinformation’.
To read the article titled,” Fracking battle destined for court” click here.Source:IOL News
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