Environmental Focus
New framework permits users to choose power sources
A new framework unveiled last week marks a major shift in the electricity generation field, allowing energy users to choose their power sources and not be 'held captive' by Eskom. Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa last week said the 'consequential' framework ...
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South Africa
Nersa may not regulate gas outside its pipeline
A declaratory order handed down by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has confirmed that Renergen’s gas and helium production in the Free State is out of the energy regulator’s reach. Renergen, an emerging liquefied natural gas (LNG) and helium producer ...
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Judicial review questions TotalEnergies' drilling right
A judicial review heard in the Western Cape High Court last week has questioned the environmental authorisation process for TotalEnergies’ offshore oil and gas exploration rights between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas. A Mail & Guardian Online report notes that ...
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Concerns linger over redrafted IRP
Serious questions continue to be raised about both the content of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for electricity currently being discussed at Nedlac as a precursor to its approval by Cabinet, and the drafting and consultation processes that have been ...
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Mass vulture poisoning discovered at Kruger
Last days for captive lion industry?
New cannabis laws in the offing
PIC rescues Daybreak after culling crisis
Farm women march against use of cyanamide
KZN launches traditional medicine initiative
Questions over 'premature' Urban Blue plan
Buffalo City encroachment onto protected land flagged
Property CEO charged over Usindiso fire
Researcher studies wildlife roadkill incidents
Study probes attitudes towards using seawater to flush toilets
Minister at Copenhagen Climate Ministerial
SA participates in Orasecom conference
Analyses
Early adapters to carbon tax regime will profit
As SA prepares to enter phase two of its carbon tax regime in 2026, the commercial and industrial (C&I) property sector is facing a major regulatory inflection point. ‘With tax-free allowances set to shrink and effective carbon prices rising steeply ...
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Auditable brand-linked waste a wake-up call
Recycling plastic is not the silver bullet we have been told it is. ‘In the split second it takes to drop an empty chip packet or a plastic bottle into a bin, we rarely stop to ask the question that ...
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Africa
Kenya jails Belgian teenagers for ant smuggling
Two Belgian teenagers who were found with 5 000 ants in Kenya have been fined $7 700 or the option to serve 12 months in prison for violating wildlife conservation laws, reports The Independent. Belgian nationals Lornoy David and Seppe ...
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Mining activities threaten Zimbabwe's tourism industry
Conservation is under serious threat from mining activities in protected areas countrywide, putting wild animals at risk of extinction, a Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) official has said. A New Zimbabwe report notes that, giving oral evidence to ...
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Prince Harry-linked charity review exposes abuses
A major conservation charity linked to Prince Harry has admitted that human rights abuses were committed by its rangers in Congo-Brazzaville, following an independent review into allegations made by members of the Baka community against African Parks rangers, reports BBC ...
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Study calibrates African attitudes towards climate action
Pipeline burst causes oil spill in Rivers State
Kenyan compensation platform for human-wildlife conflict
Zambia and Zimbabwe plan for mega-hydropower project
Experts call on G20 to back Africa's green growth
World
Call for binding protocol for healthy environment
UN human rights experts last week called on the Council of Europe to begin the negotiation on initiating a binding protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights recognising the right to a healthy environment. A Jurist report notes that ...
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World's wealthy mostly responsible for climate crisis
A new study released this week has quantified what many have long suspected: the world’s wealthiest people are responsible for the majority of global warming since 1990 that causes increases in climate extremes, such as heatwaves and droughts. According to ...
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Children to bear the brunt of crisis, study warns
Failure to limit global warming to 1.5°C would condemn 83% of today’s five-year-olds to dangerous levels of extreme heat in their lifetimes, new research published has found. A report in The Independent notes that the study, which has been ...
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Trump administration stops weather disasters tracking
Attorneys-General challenge Trump's Wind Directive
Abandoned facilities world's biggest source of methane
Forestry company violated indigenous rights – HRW
Covid-19 'disrupted' pangolin scale trafficking industry
Amnesty flags weak Pakistani response systems
India accelerates hydropower projects in Kashmir
Enviro Briefs
Inquest after man dies in suspected hippo attack
* The police in the Zambezi region on Sunday opened an inquest case after a man died from a suspected hippo attack in the Lusu area. Regional police spokesperson inspector Kisco Sitali said it was alleged the man left his village ...
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Rwanda and Singapore sign carbon credit agreement
* Rwanda and Singapore have embarked on designing high-quality carbon credit projects that deliver real climate and development benefits. This after the two governments signed a carbon credit agreement on 6 May in Singapore, in a bid to start the implementation ...
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Three suspects nabbed for abalone possession
* The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries & the Environment, Dr Dion George, has commanded a joint law enforcement operation, which led to the arrest of three suspects involved in illegal abalone possession in the Eastern Cape. Three male suspects were arrested ...
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Police arrest two suspected poachers
Men arrested in Japan for smuggling hermit crabs
Side Bars
New reserve to protect Blue Swallows
New reserve for swallowsThe future looks brighter today for two critically endangered flying creatures in SA, thanks to the establishment of a new grassland reserve in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains. A small but vital patch of high-altitude grassland ...
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Case Law Briefs
Raaleborg Environmental v Cape Winelands Municipality (Administrative)
Western Cape High Court:
Raaleborg Environmental Pty Ltd v Cape Winelands District Municipality and Another
Judgment: 5 May 2025
Keywords: Administrative law ‒ Municipal procurement ‒ Tender award ‒ Authority to award tender above R10m ‒ Bid validity period expired ‒ Supply Chain Management ...
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