Pollution

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says that the 2° temperature target endorsed by climate scientists to ensure that the Earth does not undergo runaway climate change effects will likely become unattainable.

WWF chief executive officer, Dr Morné du Plessis, argues that, "The way things are right now, there's no way we'll come under 2°. A lot has to change before we can even make it."

Du Plessis points out that the planet has to have the capacity to absorb our waste, including the emissions that we put out through generating electricity, the plastic, the rubble.

Environmental activist organisation, WWF South Africa (WWF-SA), says that ethical extraction of shale gas leaves many questions around the process of hydraulic fracturing or fracking unanswered.

WWF-SA chief executive officer, Dr Morné du Plessis, points out that the organisation has from the outset of these discussions around shale gas, made it clear that it has major concerns over the carbon intensity of shale gas extraction.

South Africa has lifted a moratorium on shale gas exploration in the country's semi-arid Karoo region, where the extraction technique of ‘fracking’ might be deployed.

According to Minister in the Presidency, Collins Chabane, Cabinet endorsed a recommendation of the report on the lifting of the afore-stated moratorium.

The Department of International Relations says that developing countries are frustrated by having to limit industrial expansion to avoid pollution.

International Relations Minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, says that, "Countries with high standards of living are mostly responsible for the rise in greenhouse gases, and especially the early industrialised nations from Europe, North America and Japan."

Non-governmental organisation, New Economics Foundation, says that South Africa is one of the most miserable countries in the world - even unhappier than Zimbabwe.

In its ‘Happy Planet Index’, the organisation states that citizens of a happy country should have a life expectancy of 87, their level of happiness should be eight out of ten and their carbon footprint should not be bigger than 1.7 hectares per capita.

Environmental organisation, Greenpeace, has demanded that the government halts all discussions aimed at expanding nuclear power production in South Africa.

The organisation states that its activists blockaded the premises of the Industrial Development Corporation where the conference on 'Nuclear Power's Future for Africa' was underway.

The organisation’s anti-nuclear campaigner, Ferrial Adam, has been quoted as saying that, "If you have a combination and a proper mix of energy with solar and wind, you don't have to get stuck on having a large base load."

Two civil society organisations have warned that, despite comments from Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, about the need for improved water management, government policies and practices are yet to show urgent reform.

In a report released this week, the Centre for Environmental Rights, found that pressure on the country’s constrained water resources, including mining pollution, the failure of some municipal water treatment services, and agriculture’s overuse and pollution of water resources, is becoming ‘increasingly acute’.

The Chamber of Mines has warned that if acid mine drainage is not treated to remove the salts from the water, mining activities in six provinces could be affected.

In its document, Chamber of Mines, states that at the moment, desalination is not part of the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority’s short-term plan to rectify the Witwatersrand’s acid mine drainage problem.