Legislation: Mining Minister urged to use green laws to save crisis areas
The controversy over a proposed mine at Xolobeni along the Wild Coast is just one example of where legislation can be used to protect biodiversity, an issue in the spotlight this week, as the Minerals Department comes under increasing pressure to protect endangered ecosystems, writes Legalbrief. The Centre for Environmental Rights has sent a formal proposal to Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu, asking her to use legislation to restrict or ban mining, or even mining reconnaissance, in certain areas of ‘critical biodiversity’, reports Business Day. This came just before a Mining Indaba opened in Johannesburg yesterday. As Shabangu’s six-month moratorium on receiving new applications for prospecting rights comes to an end this month, the centre (representing 11 organisations) warned that in the past prospecting and mining rights in SA had been granted in some of these areas in spite of the existing statutory prohibition. A list of areas – including world heritage sites, national parks, marine protected areas, mountain catchment areas, sites recognised under the international Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and endangered and critically endangered ecosystems – was proposed. The report quotes Endangered Wildlife Trust CEO Yolan Friedmann as saying the request was ‘not something that has come on the back of nothing. Section 49 of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act allows this. We are calling on her to enact (it).’ The proposal was also sent to Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa, SA Biodiversity Institute CEO Tanya Abrahamse and Chamber of Mines CEO Bheki Sibiya.
Full Business Day report
Act
Government says that full responsibility for managing the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process will still be transferred from the Minerals and Energy Department to the Environmental Affairs Department – but not soon. The Cape Argus notes that this was the word last week from Environmental and Water Affairs Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi at a World Wetlands Day celebration at Verlorenvlei, on the West Coast near Elands Bay. There is concern in environmental circles at the slow progress in transferring full EIA responsibility to her department, which was supposed to have happened during a three-year process that started in April 2008. Some doubts have been expressed privately that, because of an apparent intergovernmental ‘turf war’ over effective political control of the crucial mining sector, the transfer might not happen at all.
Full Cape Argus report (subscription needed)
The Mineral Resources Department has proposed fresh hearings next month into the appeal by various Wild Coast communities and NGOs against the grant of a mining licence to extract minerals from the pristine dunes at Xolobeni. A Financial Mail report states that the project was first mooted by Australian junior miner Mineral Commodities nine years ago but is fiercely opposed by some communities and environmentalists. Community spokesperson John Clarke says holding another set of hearings is a waste of time as the consultation process has been shown to be flawed all the way through. The Xolobeni mineral sands project is an example of the conflict over sensitive environmental areas that August amendments to the National Environmental Management Act (Nema) seek to address. University of KwaZulu-Natal associate professor Ed Couzens said the mining industry once again was receiving preferential treatment as it was excluded from having to comply with the new regulations for the time being.
Full Financial Mail report
Nema
And, a report has raised serious concerns about the granting of a mining licence to Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources SA (TEM) in 2008 – to mine titanium in the Xolobeni area of the Eastern Cape – saying the licence was apparently granted in spite of several regulatory requirements not being fulfilled. Business Day notes that the preliminary report, by a task team appointed by former Mineral Resources Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, questions how the mining licence could have been granted before a feasibility study was conducted. The team’s preliminary report – only in the public domain this week – is signed March last year. Lawyers for the Legal Resources Centre said they received the report only on Monday last week.
Full Business Day report
On a positive note, the SA mining sector is looking increasingly well placed to deal with climate change. The global mining sector is largely adopting a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to climate change actions, with only a few companies implementing sustainability measures, while others cite the lack of a business case to introduce any response, a KPMG survey has found. However, according to a Mining Weekly report in SA, the situation was said to be quite different, as the local mining industry was viewed as more diverse and mature, with a growing awareness of the impacts of climate change in the local economy. ‘In SA, a large number of mining companies are responding to the challenge by adopting climate-friendly practices,’ said KPMG Head of Mining in Africa, Ian Kramer. ‘Some of the reluctance to move can be attributed to regulatory uncertainty. However the release of the SA Green Paper (on Climate Change) gives the sector an opportunity to make its voice heard and address some of the issues that the paper seems to neglect in terms of impact on mining,’ he is quoted as saying.
Full Mining Weekly report
Survey
SA Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said yesterday she hoped amended minerals and mining legislation would be passed by Parliament by the end of the year. These amendments are intended to address weaknesses in the current legislation. An Engineering News report notes that the Department of Mineral Resources had reviewed the current legislation and the proposed amendments would be presented to Cabinet and, once agreed by Cabinet, set before Parliament. The Minister also announced that a new Electronic Mineral Management System was being implemented to replace the National Mineral Promotion System (NMPS). The NMPS was discredited by scandal last year, says the report. The new approach was based on a Geographic Information System, which included data on, for example, environmentally sensitive areas, to prevent the granting of licences covering such regions.
Full Engineering News report
Analysis
Energy: Thorium is a workable alternative to uranium – expert
It is indisputable that SA faces enormous challenges relating to security of energy supply, Professor Eben Mulder, Director of the Post Graduate School of Nuclear Science and Engineering at North West University, writes in the Cape Times. There is a virtually unknown alternative to the standard uranium fuel cycle for nuclear power reactors, he notes, explaining that it offers a variety of significant strategic and economic advantages. This alternative is thorium (Th-232). Faced with taxation on carbon dioxide production and the mounting cost of carbon sequestration technologies, fossil fuels are becoming expensive, while uranium is in dangerously short supply. Thorium occurs naturally and like uranium, Th-232 can transmute into a nuclear fuel that then undergoes nuclear reactions, releasing enormous amounts of energy. Mulder lists some of thorium’s important natural properties: Firstly, at no point in the thorium cycle – from mining to waste – can fuel or waste products be used as bomb material. Secondly, thorium is incapable of melting. Thirdly, thorium is radiotoxic for tens of years, as opposed to the thousands of years for uranium radioactive waste. Mulder argues that SA has a world-leading capacity in high-temperature gas-cooled pebble bed reactor technology. These reactors require virtually no modifications and no regulatory paradigm changes in order to accommodate thorium fuel. He posits that South African private industry, with government support, should employ the skills and capacity to beneficiate thorium resources to provide cheap base-load electricity, eliminate energy constraints that inhibit the country’s economic growth, and provide cost-effective, environmentally friendly process heat and steam for the chemical industry.
Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)
Africa
Conservation: Zim ivory stockpiles grow
Zimbabwe’s ivory stockpile has rocketed to 42 000 kg, up from a previous record of 29 000, but the country cannot sell it due to a ban, state media reported last week. A report in The Times quotes Romana Nyahwa, acting director for Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife, as saying: ‘At the moment there is a nine-year moratorium on the international sale of ivory from Zimbabwe; it will end in 2016.’ The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) imposed the moratorium in an attempt to curb poaching. ‘But it is not definite that after 2016 we will be able to sell our ivory,’ added Nyahwa. She said the country would have to apply for a special permission from CITES to sell the tusks. It costs Zimbabwe $13m annually to secure the stockpile. Most of the tusks, valued at $10m, were collected from conservation areas and rural districts countrywide.
Full report in The Times
General: Namibia outlaws sand mining in Swakopmund
The Namibian Environment and Tourism Ministry says that the sand mining taking place in the Swakop River is in violation of the permit issued by the Agriculture, Water and Forestry Ministry, says The Namibian. It has stipulated that no sand mining should be allowed to continue without an Environmental Impact Assessment and an environmental management plan in place that detail requirements for the prevention of environmental damage. The Swakopmund municipality had been given the right to manage sand mining in the Swakop River, but it has been uncontrolled for the past two years. A ‘degree of grace’ may be given to sand miners to continue mining at current sites, but no leniency will be granted for new sites in terms of the Environmental Management Act.
Full report in The Namibian
Act
General: Study warns of investor land-grabs in Africa
African nations risk giving investors access to large areas of land in one-sided deals that fail to deliver real benefits, according to the first legal analysis of contracts published last week by the International Institute for Environment and Development (Iied). A report on the Iied site notes that the study analyses 12 recent contracts through which investors have leased large areas of land in east, west, central and southern Africa for various agricultural activities. It found many problems with the contracts but also some signs of positive deals. A number of the contracts reviewed appear to be heavily biased in favour of the investors, granting them long-term access to land at low cost while, in return, requiring little from investors in the form of benefits for local people and safeguards to protect the environment.
Full report on the Allafrica site
Report
World
General: Deep-sea mining companies face no-limits claims
Deep-sea mining companies will bear unlimited liability for any ecological damage they cause in international waters, a panel of 11 UN judges ruled last week in Hamburg. An Earthtimes report notes that they were issuing a long-awaited legal opinion on who pays for accidents when minerals are gathered from the seabed in international waters. Although no country has begun commercial mining, licences can be issued by the International Seabed Authority, which is part of the UN system and is based in Kingston, Jamaica. The authority had asked the judges in Hamburg for the ruling on the hypothetical issue. Ruediger Wolfrum, a German judge on the tribunal, said he hoped most nations now adopted those legal standards in their national law. Some 161 nations have signed the Law of the Sea Convention.
Full Earthtimes report
Convention
Legislation: EU states can ban GM crops for public order
EU governments could ban the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops to maintain public order in the face of popular opposition to the technology, the bloc’s executive says in a draft document. A report on the PlanetArk site says that bans could also be justified on public morality grounds, such as religious or philosophical concerns over GM technology, according to a list drawn up by the European Commission as part of plans to let states decide whether to grow or ban GM crops. The list was drafted after EU countries asked the Commission to spell out the grounds on which they could justify proposed GM crop bans. While it is not yet final, it gives a clear indication of the Commission’s likely recommendations.
Full report on the PlanetArk site
Climate change: Organised crime possibly behind carbon market hacking
Organised crime may have stolen EU emission allowances last month, and national authorities are working with Europol to catch the thieves, a top EU climate official has said. Business Day notes that a series of computer-hacking attacks, which led the EU regulator on 19 January to suspend the registries in 30 countries that track carbon permits, show some member states and firms neglected security rules, Jos Delbeke, Director-general for Climate at the European Commission, said. ‘Investigations are being carried out by member states, and the Europol is involved,’ the report quotes Delbeke as saying. ‘Protracted closures’ may jeopardise liquidity in the six-year-old carbon programme, said the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), at a time when global climate talks are stalled and industries in Japan and the US oppose the introduction of cap-and- trade plans.
Full Business Day report
Europe must bridge a €2.2trn ‘carbon capital chasm’ if it is to meet 2020 carbon emissions reduction targets, says a report in The Independent. It notes that the EU needs to invest €2.9trn in changes to its buildings, energy and transport infrastructure to reduce emissions. And given the state of public finances most of that will have to come from financial institutions, a study from Accenture and Barclays Capital said last week. The headline number is equivalent to about 2% of Europe’s GDP, while finance to the low-carbon sector has fallen by around three-quarters since before the global financial crisis. But with tweaks to government policy and new financial instruments such as ‘green bonds’, the 2020 target can still be met, Accenture’s managing director of sustainability, Peter Lacy said, according to the report.
Full report in The Independent
Study
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) last week launched a €150m fund to forward purchase certified emission reductions (CERs) or carbon credits that were expected to be produced between 2013 to 2020, from greenhouse-gas reducing projects, either directly financed by the IFC or by local banks financed by the IFC. An Engineering News report states that this was aimed at helping to reduce GHG emissions, extend carbon markets, and increase access to finance for projects that promote environmentally friendly economic growth.
Full Engineering News report
The deepest recession since the 1930s has failed to reverse rising global carbon emissions, as plummeting industrial output in the west was offset by the continuing rapid expansion of China and a handful of other emerging economies, new statistics for 2009 show. According to The Ecologist, while US emissions fell substantially in 2009 to levels not seen since 1995-96, China surged ahead with an increase of more than 13% on the previous year – the equivalent of adding the yearly emissions of Germany, Greece and Peru combined. However, green campaigners want to stop western companies using the focus on China and their own falling output as an excuse for backpedalling on climate change. They have urged governments in developed countries to strengthen their emissions targets to prevent businesses from taking what would amount to an ‘emissions holiday’.
Full report in The Ecologist
Statistics
The UK is likely to feel bigger costs from climate change than most other EU countries, a report concludes. A BBC News report states that rising sea levels are likely to impact the nation harder than most, negating economic benefits from increased tourism and possibly farm yields. The findings come from a study funded by the European Commission. It projects a net cost for most EU nations, but a net benefit for a few. The researchers took four different scenarios of warming into account, and saw the biggest impact on the British Isles at the high-temperature end – a rise of about 5°C from now.
Full BBC News report
Study
There’s bad news for US environmentalists – Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, has introduced legislation to block the Environmental Protection Agency from taking any action to regulate greenhouse gases to address climate change, reports The New York Times. His broadly written Bill is one of several assaults on the EPA’s regulatory authority that will be coming from Republicans and coal-state Democrats in both houses of Congress in coming days, the report says. Joe Mendelson, global warming policy director for National Wildlife Federation, called the Barrasso Bill a ‘frontal assault’ on the nation’s basic environmental laws. ‘It would create a parade of polluter loopholes allowing for unlimited carbon pollution,’ Mendelson is quoted in the report as saying.
Full report in The New York Times
Experts hope that the arrival of giant Cyclone Yasi on the coast of Queensland, already hit by massive floods last month, will help bring more of a sense of urgency to the political debate over climate policy, says a report in Business Day. Australia has endured two of its deadliest summers on record, blamed in part on global warming, but record fires, floods and cyclones have not persuaded it to take strong action on climate change. ‘If you want a picture of what a hostile and costly environment looks like, we’ve had it in spades over the past couple of years,’ John Connor, CEO of the Climate Institute think tank, is quoted as saying.
Full Business Day report
Fertilising the oceans to boost the growth of tiny plants that soak up greenhouse gases is unlikely to work as a way to slow climate change, a UN-backed study shows. A report in The Times notes that such ‘geo-engineering’ schemes would be hard to monitor and were likely to store away only small amounts of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, according to a report by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. The review, by scientists in seven countries, said 13 experiments in recent years showed faded optimism that iron dust or other nutrients could spur growth of microscopic marine plants and permanently suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Firms including Climos, Atmocean Inc and the Ocean Nourishment Corp have been looking into ocean fertilisation technology as a way of offsetting emissions of greenhouse gases from factories, power plants and cars.
Full report in The Times
Summary document
Energy: US companies probed for alleged illegal ‘fracking’
Several US energy companies may have violated environmental rules by injecting diesel into the ground without permits as part of a controversial natural gas drilling technique, according to findings from Congressional probe released last week. According to a report on the PlanetArk site, the probe of diesel use in hydraulic fracturing, a practice that has allowed drillers to tap abundant shale gas, found that oil services firms such as Halliburton and BJ Services, which was bought by Baker Hughes Inc, injected millions of litres of fluids containing the fuel into wells between 2005 and 2009. A total of 12 companies were cited in the probe for using diesel without proper permits. Democrats who sponsored the probe in the House of Representatives urged the Environmental Protection Agency to look into this matter.
Full report on the PlanetArk site
Greenpeace has released a new study projecting solar investments to double by 2015 as costs are expected to drop by a further 40%. A report in The Times notes that the report shows how global investments in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology could double from €35-40bn today to more than €70bn in 2015. The report foresees that PV alone could account for 12% of European power demand by 2020, and up to 9% of the global power demand by 2030. The report quotes European PhotoVoltaic Industry Association president Ingmar Wilhelm as saying: ‘Solar photovoltaic technology has, for many years now, shown increased power efficiencies and cost reductions.’ In addition to its environmental benefits, the report shows solar energy to be a sustainable way to address concerns about energy security and volatile fossil fuel prices, as well as a substantial factor in economic development.
Full report in The Times
Report
Conservation: Malaysian peat swamps obliterated for palm oil – study
Peat swamp forests, home to such species as the Borneo pygmy elephant, are being obliterated in Malaysian Borneo to make way for palm oil plantations, according to a study. A report in The Independent quotes the Netherlands-based Wetlands International who said that the ecologically important forests could disappear from Sarawak state by the end of the decade if the destruction did not stop. The study said that Malaysian Government figures seriously underestimated the extent of the problem, and that studies it conducted using satellite images and field surveys gave a very worrying picture.
Full report in The Independent
Study
A 10-year project, ‘Assessing the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems’ (Safe) will assess impact of the rapid spread of palm oil plantations. It will determine whether setting-aside natural forests within plantations can save threatened species such as the orang-utan, pygmy elephant and clouded leopard. A report in The Ecologist notes that researchers from Imperial College London and The Royal Society are beginning to analyse the impact of palm oil plantations on biodiversity across an estimated 20 000 ha site in Borneo – the largest project of its kind in the world. The project will look at whether these isolated patches of forest are able to support and sustain high levels of biodiversity. The palm oil industry has already shown a willingness to accept the findings. One of the world’s largest producers, Sime Darby, is funding the study and the research team said it is in discussions about involving other companies, including Singapore-based Wilmer.
Full report in The Ecologist
SAFE
Water: Catastrophic drought in the Amazon
A widespread drought in the Amazon rainforest last year caused the ‘lungs of the world’ to produce more carbon dioxide than they absorbed, potentially leading to a dangerous acceleration of global warming, says a report in The Independent. Scientists have calculated that the 2010 drought was more intense than the ‘one-in-100-year’ drought of 2005. They are predicting it will result in some 8bn tons of carbon dioxide being expelled from the Amazon rainforest, which is more than the total annual carbon emissions of the US. Scientists believe that the highly unusual nature of the two droughts, which occurred in the space of just five years, may be the result of higher sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic, which could also be influenced by global warming.
Full report in The Independent
Study
Water: EPA to regulate perchlorate
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reversed Bush administration drinking water policies, announcing that it will regulate perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel, and 16 other chemicals – called volatile organic compounds – that can cause cancer at high enough doses. A report in The Washington Post quotes EPA administrator Lisa P Jackson who said the perchlorate decision ‘is about protecting the health of between 5 (million) and 17 million Americans that are exposed to perchlorate in the water they drink’. The EPA said it would take another two years to propose a perchlorate regulation, a pace that angered some environmental groups. The EPA has collected 39 000 public comments regarding perchlorate regulations.
Full report in The Washington Post
General: Lipton Tea testing on animals comes to a halt
Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has succeeded in stopping the owner of Lipton and PG Tips teas, the giant Unilever group, from using animals to show the curative properties of its teas, states a report in The Times. PETA said London-based Unilever had bowed to 40 000 emails and meetings between the group and company officials, and halted the testing. The report quotes PETA as saying: ‘No more piglets will be infected with E. coli toxin and have their intestines cut apart while they are still alive… rabbits’ heads won’t be cut off, and other cruel tests that involved tormenting and killing animals simply to study the health effects of tea products and ingredients will no longer take place.’
Full report in The Times
Enviro Briefs
* Two men were arrested last week when they were caught with R10 000 worth of abalone in Port Elizabeth. Both men appeared in court on charges of illegal possession of abalone.
− The Herald (subscription needed)
* Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has published the National Domestic Waste Collection Standards. Non-recyclable material such as perishable food waste must be collected at least once a week and recyclable materials must be collected once every two weeks.
− BuaNews
* Tall buildings that obstruct views of Table Mountain and the sea will be monitored and restricted once the City of Cape Town’s tall building policy goes ahead. In the draft tall building bylaw, developers and architects will have to follow certain guidelines in terms of height, before any plans are approved, city architect Liezl Kruger said.
− Cape Times (subscription needed)
* A farmer outside Ga-Rankuwa, north of Pretoria, will be charged with defeating the ends of justice after he allegedly removed crocodiles from his farm, the Hawks said yesterday. Spokesperson McIntosh Polela said 200 live crocodiles were found at the farm on Friday and the farmer was ordered not to remove them, but only 20 were there yesterday.
− The Citizen
* The City of Cape Town has released a list of nature reserves to be proclaimed in terms of national legislation. This month sees a public participation process about this initiative, with people being invited to comment on the proclamation of each reserve and on its integrated management plan.
− Cape Argus (subscription needed)
* The Ugandan National Environment Authority (Nema) is set to study the quality of air in Kampala to help formulate new air quality standards. Nema environment audit and monitoring officer Dick Lufafa said a consultancy is being procured to study the air quality and modify the current draft air quality standards.
− The Monitor
* An agreement on the equitable sharing of genetic resources on the world’s biodiversity has been opened for signatures by governments. The Nagoya Protocol, signed by 193 governments, seeks to regulate access to the world’s plants, animal and micro-organisms, which are useful to life on Earth.
− Earthtimes
* India’s Environment Ministry has approved plans by South Korea’s Posco to build a $12bn steel mill. The Environment Ministry attached a series of additional conditions for Posco, including protecting the fragile coastline and its wildlife, but analysts said they were not major obstacles.
− Business Day
* The UN has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the vital role trees and wood products play in sustaining the livelihoods of millions of people around the world. The launch of the International Year of Forests at a ceremony in New York was accompanied by the release of a report calling for the need to change the ‘generally poor perception’ of wood products.
− Earthtimes
Report
* Carbon registries in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Britain resumed normal operations on Friday, the EU executive said. However, most carbon exchanges are still reviewing security issues. The European Commission halted spot trade on 19 January after 3.1m permits, called EU Allowances, vanished from national electronic carbon registries in Greece, Austria and the Czech Republic after attacks by cyber criminals.
− PlanetArk
Posted on February 9th, 2011 by Louis
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