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2009-08-13 July 2009 Newsletter GREEN GAIN CONSULTING Quarterly Newsletter | August 2009
In 2006 an independent team of scientists from Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United States of America found that the Niger Delta is “one of the world’s most severely petroleum-impacted ecosystems”. This came as a backdrop to the nearly 27 million people living in this area of which 75% rely on the environment for their livelihood and 70% of them survive on less than a US$ 1 a day. Many of these people are left without food or shelter and no way to fend for themselves as their natural environment which has been sustaining them for hundreds of years is being destroyed by oil production. The oil company Shell is one of the responsible parties to this state of affairs and has been involved in oil production in Nigeria since 1958. Two of the main negative environmental implications that oil production have on the Niger Delta is pollution due to gas flaring and oil spills. Natural gas is a by-product of oil drilling and can be used for energy but the “easy” way of handling the by-product is by flaring it as seen in the picture above. In Nigeria more gas gets flared than in any other country world wide, except for Russia. This gas can be used to provide energy for the entire Nigeria if it is not flared! Gas flaring releases toxic compounds into the atmosphere which in turn ends up in the soil and water systems causing cancers and birth defects. The World Bank estimates that gas flaring in Nigeria contributes more green house emissions than all other sources combined in sub-Saharan Africa. The fact that Nigeria has legislation, since 1979, instructing companies, such as Shell, to use gas instead of flaring has not made the slightest difference. Companies rather pay a fine than submit to the law of the country which they so needlessly destroy. Oil spills are just as common as gas flaring in Nigeria, an estimated 1.5 million tones of oil has been spilled into the Niger Delta over the past 50 years! This because of poorly maintained infrastructure of rich companies literally killing Africa without a further thought.
The Centre for Constitutional Rights and Earth Rights International sued Shell for human rights violations against the Ogoni people of Nigeria this year and trail date was set for 26 May 2009, on the eve of the trial a settlement of US$ 15.5 million was reached. This came after 9 Ogoni leaders who publicly stood against Shell and its environmental and human devastation were executed on 10 November 1995 by the Nigerian government under questionable circumstances. The question however still stands whether payment of a settlement amount will stop Shell or any other company from destroying an entire country and its people, whether it will teach them some form of respect for humanity and the environment. It is truly time for us to gain some sense of value not only for our earth and our civilisation but for those who can not fight for themselves. Tonight after filling up your car with the cheapest petrol you can find, having dinner with your whole family, having a bath in clean warm water and getting into a plush warm bed think of the consequences our your actions and how you can make a difference even if it is smallest possible change. Oil companies are irresponsible due to them having what all of us want and the only way to change this is to hold them accountable for their actions instead of bowing to their money. For more information please visit www.wiwavshell.org and www.shell.com for the other side of the story. New Legislation: National Forests Act 84 of 1998: Commencement of Section 18- In terms of Section 80 of the National Forests Act, the President has determined 30 April to be the day on which Section 18 of the National Forests Act became active. Section 18 deals with the right of application to the Minister for the protection of a forest, a species of tree, a tree or a group of trees. The section states that any person or organ of state can apply to the Minister for the said protection. National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008: All sections are in operation except section 28(7) (a), Part 8 of the Act (sections 35 -41) and section 46. The Act’s purpose is to: Waste Tyre Regulations, 2009: The Waste Tyre Regulations have commenced in terms of the Environmental Conservation Act 73 of 1989 The Regulations deal with - Health and Safety: Mine Health and Safety Amendment Act 74 of 2008: The Act commenced on 30 May 2009 with the exception of sections 16 and 26.
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An Interesting Case This case deals with an urgent application made to order the Department of Home Affairs to stop operating a refugee office on premises in Montreal drive in Cape Town. The basis of the application was that the refugee office contravenes zoning regulations and constitutes a common law nuisance. This case encapsulates various fields of law including environmental, health and safety and administrative concerns. The Applicants to the case are Intercape Farreira Mainliner and various other occupants of Montreal drive and the Respondent is the Minister of Home Affairs. Facts of the Case: The area where the case arises is Montreal drive in Cape Town, the Applicants have various business concerns and the Respondent has a refugee office in the road. All properties in Montreal drive are zoned for general industrial purposes. Foreign nationals require a permit to remain in South Africa as asylum seekers and to be entitled to rights in the Refugees Act 130 of 1998. These applications for permits must be made at a refugee office. The Department of Home Affairs has a duty according to the Refugees Act to establish as many refugee offices as necessary to comply with the Act. There has been an increase in applications for these permits in recent years and the Department of Home Affairs recognised a need for additional refugee offices. Additional office space for a refugee office was let by the Department in Montreal drive. Applicants submit that since the refugee office opened in Montreal drive their employees and business have suffered. Foreign national gather at the offices and on public areas around the offices on all working days in numbers as large as 500 people, the Respondents admit to this. There are no toilet facilities and waste such as human excrement and litter fill the street, some people spend the night sleeping on the pavement and the noise during the day was substantial. These conditions lead to bona fide concerns about the health of the area as well as environmental concerns with regards to waste. Montreal drive was being over run by criminal activity which often lead to violence in which case the police had to be called and the traffic in the street together with traffic offences increased substantially. Applicant clients and employees were struggling to use the road to get them to the Applicants premises, and some employees have resigned because of safety concerns. It came to light later in the pleading stage that employees of the refugee office were also concerned by criminal activities in the area but the Department of Home Affairs failed to act to resolve the issue. Lastly the Applicants were of the opinion that city zoning regulations did not allow for a refugee office at the premises where it was in Montreal drive. The Respondents were of the opinion that as a State entity the Department of Home Affair did not have to submit to zoning restrictions and they did employ a number of persons to clean the area and they erected six mobile toilets. According to the Applicants none of these actions made a difference in the situation. The Respondents have tried to contact the Metro police to remedy the traffic problem but did not receive any response from them. The Applicants applied to the court for an interdict to put an end to the described circumstances.
Judgment: Nuisance is a form a delict arising from the wrongful violation of the duty on a person to allow his neighbours enjoyment and use of their property without unreasonable interference. The State Liability Act 20 of 1957 states that the state has the same liability in this instance as a private individual and it may not cause nuisance. The judge found that the refugee office does cause a nuisance by way of the noise created and the poor state of sanitation and litter. The court further found that the refugee office and so the Department of Home Affairs were acting in contravention of the city’s zoning regulations. Although the Respondents tried to rectify the situation and although they are legally obliged to provide a service it can not justify unlawful behaviour on the Respondents part. The judge issued a suspended interdict, which would only function in 3 months time (September 2009), which orders the Respondents to stop operating the refugee office in Montreal drive. The High Court in Bloemfontein ruled on 11 June 2009 that breeding lions in captivity for the sole purpose of hunting does not aid in their protection. Semi-tame lions may now only be hunted after being released for 24 months. While this is great news for the protection of our wildlife the issue at stake is what to do with all of the lions that have already been bred for canned hunting. Farmers are struggling to find buyers for the lions meaning that they might have to be euthanized in the not so far future. Waste to the Rescue! South African government has now admitted to our looming water crisis as SA is already using 98% of our available water resources as to date. Dutch company, Landustrie has an answer to our problems! Landustrie specialises in waste water management and suggests that SA increases the use of dry flushing toilets. This will decrease water use radically as dry flush toilets use only 1 litre of water per flush and are cost effective when compared to normal flushing toilets. Solid waste can thereafter be dried and used for fertiliser and fire materials while fluid waste can be recycled into clean water again. Safety Disaster Recently it has become obvious that something is going very wrong in the mining industry, deaths have become common place causing much concern in health and safety departments. Up to date, this year 277 people have lost their lives in mining incidents that is in the past 7 months! New Minister of Mining, Susan Shabongu, has however made it known that she will be concentrating on enforcing safety measures in mines. This is inline with President Zuma’s plans for the industry bringing much joy to workers putting their lives at risk. South Africa is also planning on introducing new legislation dealing with illegal mining which will see illegal miners being guilty of much more than just trespassing as is the law now.
Minister Buyelwa Sonjica has confirmed that South Africa will reinstate specialised courts to deal with environmental crimes. This will see environmental criminals being prosecuted easier, cheaper and much quicker than at present and hopefully cause for more respect of our mother earth. A New Take on “Polluter must Pay” Principle Reuters reported that Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has demanded that the rich world compensate Africa for global pollution and global warming. Africa has been used and abused by richer countries for hundreds of years, our resources are depleted and exported at ridiculously inflated prices leaving us bare in more than one respect. A study by Geneva-based Global humanitarian in May found that poor countries bear more than nine tenths of the human and economic burden of climate change although they contribute less than 1% of total global carbon emissions. This is a new take on the polluter must pay principle and when thinking about it makes perfect sense. In my opinion the problem lies in the fact that Africa is a poor continent and hungry people have been known to make bad decisions but it has now become time for all of us as Africans to stand up and defend our mother Africa. Climate change is already affecting the whole world but a dry Africa is running the risk of becoming an inhabitable continent and Africans simply just do not have the resources to live with climate change and adapt to it. We want to strive higher and grow and exceed independently but the world at large is destroying the earth, starving our people of food and water. The world at large should really get their act together and learn some respect for the Earth and we, as the true children of Africa should stand a bit taller and prouder in protecting our best interests. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi should be an inspiration to all of us to do our best in holding the polluter responsible for his crimes. South Africa’s Going Universal The National Space agency Act has made provisions for the formal establishment of a National Space Agency (Sansa) in South Africa. The functions of this agency will be to promote peaceful use of outer space, foster research in astronomy, earth observation and new development in space physics. Hopefully this means that somewhere in the very far future our great grandchildren will watch lift off on South African soil, viva for our 3rd world country as they call it! Government Pushing for Carbon Tax Engineering Weekly has reported that the President of Toyota South Africa Motors has appealed to the Government to delay the introduction of carbon dioxide emission tax. Government wants to implement the tax as early as April 2010 but still has no idea of how to implement the tax. Toyota submits that as South African consumers have no fuel available as yet to run cleaner burning engines it is unfair to “punish” them with the tax for not doing so. It comes down to the same situation as reprimanding someone who does not recycle but no recycling facilities are made available to him. Carbon dioxide emission tax is definitely the way to go but it is very distressing how organisations do not work together to see the system establish itself successfully.
Time magazine has recently compiled a list of the world’s most polluted cities and although South Africa has problems of our own at least we have clean air. So be thankful for what we have and never, ever go and visit: Most of these cities have made the list because of environmental disasters brought on by their ancestors. The lessons we learn from this list are that the consequences of polluting the environment lasts for hundreds of years! This is the reason why we need to improve our effort substantially in all areas of environmental protection, not only for ourselves but for all future generations to come. For more information on the list and sources of pollution in these cities visit www.time.com. Just Cruising With the recent petrol price increases even die hard petrol heads are having second thoughts about their petrol guzzling hobbies. With the following suggestions from Greenworks we can make a difference in our wallets and the state of our earth: Green Lights for Jo’burg Johannesburg is planning on replacing 400 of its intersections traffic lights with alternative energy lights. This is great news for stressed out motorists as electricity interruptions won’t automatically add to traffic jams making life in Jozi a bit less stressful. The cost of upgrading each intersection comes at a cost of about R350 000 but this cost will be cancelled within the first 5 years that the lights operate. Let’s hope more cities come to this realisation and make South Africa as good as it can be, at least in the electricity consumption department.
Life Saving by Solar Power A project that installs solar power at hospitals and clinics in Burma has won the Energy Globe Environmental Award for 2009. Hospitals and clinics along the Burma/Thailand border now have solar power meaning better medical life saving treatment in this desolate part of the world. Electricity in these medical facilities mean that doctors can access important information on computers, use microscopes and store medicine which are temperature sensitive in refrigerators. More than anything else it means emergencies can be handled even after dark in an area where landmines are still rife. These facilities provide crucial aid to almost 200 000 refugees, they save thousands of lives each year and now can do even better. Green Gain Training Green Gain is doing annual Environmental Legal Update Training sessions in September. Topics covered will be: Presenter: Adv. Nicolai Massyn 16 September 2009 – Midrand, Gauteng Time: 08h30 – 12h30 Closing date for registration: 4th September 2009
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