Campaigners have slammed the government's gazetting of minimum emissions standards for noxious gas sulphur dioxide (SO2) at a higher level than initially agreed upon. They argue that it is irresponsible with the burgeoning pandemic which affects those breathing polluted ... Read More
The timber industry is under pressure from civil society groups and government water regulators to halt ‘unauthorised’ land conversion from pine to gum trees in the sprawling Mpumalanga timber plantations because of growing concern over regional water scarcity. According to ... Read More
The Supreme Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by a Bo-Kaap community group against a decision approving the construction of a controversial 18-storey building in the historic area. According to a Cape Argus report, the Bo-Kaap Ratepayers and Civic ... Read More
Coal mining company Exxaro Resources has acknowledged coal’s negative impact on climate in a 20-page publication just released, notes a Mining Weekly report. It maintains that a just transition to a low-carbon future should inform global climate action. ‘If we ... Read More
Amendments to the minimum standards to be observed by combustion installations in respect of sulphur dioxide (SOâ‚‚) emissions were gazetted last Friday and are immediately effective, notes Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch. According to yesterday’s media statement on the new regulations, they ... Read More
Nature is sending us a message with the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing climate crisis, according to the UN’s Environment Chief, Inger Andersen. Writing in an analysis in The Guardian, environmental journalist Damian Carrington quotes Andersen as saying that humanity ... Read More
The economic rescue packages to deal with the impact of the coronavirus must also be green, environmental campaigners said last week, concerned about locking the world into a high-carbon future. According to a report in The Guardian, Mary Robinson, a ... Read More
National parks in Rwanda and Congo are temporarily shutting their doors to tourists and researchers to protect Africa’s endangered chimpanzees and mountain gorillas from contracting the coronavirus. According to a report in The Independent, Virunga ​– Africa’s oldest national park ... Read More
The Tanzanian Government is considering reviewing the annual fee charged for hunting block licences as the hunting community reels from the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a Daily News report, the country has so far reported 12 Covid-19 cases and has ... Read More
Just as the whole world discovers that pangolin meat could have triggered the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, it has emerged that Zimbabwe's legislation offers no real protection for the species, writes Carmel Rickard for Legalbrief. This has become ... Read More
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled last week that the permits issued for the Dakota Access Pipeline violated the National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa). A Jurist report notes that the complaint was brought ... Read More
A Nova Scotia judge has ruled the operators of a project to store natural gas in underground caverns must delay their project until further talks with a Mi'kmaq community are complete. According to a CTVNews report, the Sipekne'katik ... Read More
The world’s wind power capacity grew by almost a fifth in 2019 after a year of record growth for offshore windfarms and a boom in onshore projects in the US and China. According to a report in The Guardian, the ... Read More
* Indonesia's most active volcano Mount Merapi erupted last week, shooting a column of ash some 5 000m into the air in its second major eruption this month. Authorities have not raised Merapi's alert level, however. There were no ... Read More
Utrecht greens city roofs Every roof in the city district of Utrecht is to be ‘greened’ with plants and mosses or have solar panels installed under plans driven by the success of a similar scheme for the municipality’s bus stops ... Read More
