Greening South Africa
Posted on 28. Oct, 2009 by admin in Avusa Media News
South Africa is a nation of vociferous highly politicized protestors – one of the better legacies of apartheid! Everyone has an opinion about everything which bodes well for a democracy. We write letters, take to the streets, call radio stations, most importantly – we talk!
And we are starting to talk green.
But as a developing country, we also have a number of major societal problems related to primary health care, housing, education, job creation and so we may be forgiven if we were not paying too much attention to environmental practice for sustainable development.
And yet we are.
New age environmental policies, a strong NGO lobby and advocacy sector, an informed media, as well as world-class research agencies all combine their efforts to protect this amazingly beautiful country and its natural resources. In line with world trends, this year saw the tabling of the draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill 2009, an income tax incentive proposal for any business that takes part in a UN Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project. If approved, it could prove as effective as the 2003 imposition of a levy on plastic shopping bags.
With the establishment of agencies such as Indalo Yethu, DEAT’s independent trust and Southern Africa’s Sustainable Seafood Initiative, aggressive public awareness campaigns have been launched to educate South Africans about incorporating eco-friendly practices into their day to day lives.
Coupled with big business initiatives, we are gradually becoming a more environmentally aware citizenry. CFL bulbs, solar heating, tree planting, recycling waste, energy efficient appliances, hybrid cars, wind farms… are all part of our daily lexicon.
Major companies including retailers like Pick and Pay and Woolworths, packaging companies like NAMPAK and banks like Nedbank are contributing to an integrated approach to sustainable development by embracing its ethos in how they do business.
Companies are beginning to offer consumers healthy green alternatives in the form of organic foods, cleaning products and services. Even smaller businesses understand the imperative. Fashion, furniture, lifestyle and architectural designers have embraced the green movement. Utilising sustainable materials like bamboo, eco-friendly building designs that minimise the need for artificial heating and light, recycling material for décor and art are rapidly becoming a mindset blueprint.
Unfortunately most green alternatives tend to be more expensive and therein lay the challenges.
Poverty is a reality and until a greener lifestyle is also a cheaper one, a developing country like SA will have to focus its efforts on the big environmental wins.
It could begin by sorting out the contradictions between policy and practice since financing Eskom’s capacity expansion programme, 99% of which is coal-based violates our stated policy to curb emissions by 2020.
Ironically state-owned Eskom is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the continent making SA the continent’s No 1 offender!
But all journeys begin somewhere and ours has started.
