New Eskom CEO– Facing Regional Challenge
Maputo, Mozambique and Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: Brian Dames, Eskom’s new Chief Executive Officer is being challenged by African Civil Society Organisations to reverse South Africa and Eskom’s role in further destructive damming of the Zambezi River, through the proposed Mphanda Nkuwa Dam. Read more...
Read an open letter to Eskom CEO on proposed hydro projects in Mozambique from SA and Mozambican organisations
Statement by Friends of the Earth Africa at the Annual General Meeting held in Kampala, Uganda, May 2010
Members of FoE Africa from Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia and Uganda met for four days in Kampala, Uganda Africa from 18-21st May 2010 reviewing issues that confront the African continent. A particular focus was placed on the current climate change crisis, land grabbing and extraction and exploitation of Africa’s natural resources. Read their statement.
PAN AFRICAN CLIMATE JUSTICE ALLIANCE: SA's role in Climate Talks
Is South Africa undermining the G77 and Africa? Read recent correspondence from The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance to the Chair, African Group to UNFCCC.
Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.
The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth was adopted by the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, in Bolivia, in April 2010. The Bolivian government has submitted it to the United Nations for consideration. Read the Declaration
Website Launched to Rebut 'Fish Stories' on Misguided 'Mercury Facts'
At the "International Mercury Expo 2010", a mercury watchdog group is launching a new website www.mercuryfactsandfish.orgto counter misinformation on 'mercury facts' spread by industry and groups claiming to represent consumers – but in reality often representing special interests in disguise. SOURCE Mercury Policy Project. Read more...
South Africans say no to Eskom’s R29 billion World Bank loan
Communities, environmental groups, academics and NGOs today call on the World
Bank to cease and desist from a proposed loan of R29 billion ($3.75 bn) to Eskom. If
this loan – which may come up for a Board vote in March or April – goes through, poor
South Africans will have to bear the burden of Eskom’s debt and the World Bank’s cost
recovery programme, and climate change will intensify. A world campaign begins now. See Press Statement
World Bank money for Eskom will amplify South Africa’s energy, climate and
poverty crises. Read more...
Keep the Coal in the Hole
Critics of World Bank Financing for Eskom announce global "No Coal Loan" campaign. Dozens of civil society organisations will announce a global campaign against the World Bank and Eskom, endorsed by dozens of civil society organisations, with the intention of preventing a $3.75 billion loan (possibly $4 billion) that would dramatically raise South Africa’s world-leading carbon emissions and the price of electricity to ordinary people. The organisations represent millions of concerned citizens, community, environmental, labour and academic constituencies, in South Africa, the rest of the African continent and the world at large. Press Conference held simutaneously:
Durban: International Convention Centre, 45 Bram Fischer Road
Washington: Sierra Club headquarters, 408 C St NE
DATE: Monday, 22nd February 2010
TIME: 4pm South Africa time, 9am EST (Washington)
Read more ...
Ordinary leather shoes generally contain environmental toxicants
Tests on commonly purchased leather shoes carried out in a survey by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) and global partners including groundWork, Friends of the Earth South Africa reveals that ordinary leather shoes contain environmental toxicants of various kinds that invariably can spread both to the wearer and into the environment. Read more ...
Is the South African government serious about climate change? Ask the World Bank!
groundWork, Friends of the Earth, South Africa, a leading environmental group based in South Africa, with the support of Climate Justice Now! South Africa, today released a report titled ‘Banking on Climate Destruction: The World Bank and Eskom'which exposes how the World Bank masquerades as a crusader of climate change while channeling billions of dollars towards fossil fuel projects. Read more ...
Climate Chronicles
Read the Climate Chronicles - a climate justice perspective on the United Nations Conference on Climate Change being held in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Read Issue 1Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4
Global Day of Action on Climate Change
Climate Justice Now! KZN Action in south Durban
Saturday the 12th of December is the Global Day of Action on Climate Change. People globally will take public actions to get the message through to the world’s politicians gathered in Copenhagen Denmark that we want Climate Justice Now! See the CJN! KZN programme of action
The World Bank and Eskom - Banking on Climate Destruction
As part of the Climate Justice Now! SA’s actions during the Copenhagen Climate Change negotiations, groundWork, South Africa’s leading environmental justice NGO is joined by South Africa’s foremost climate change NGO, Earthlife Africa (Jhb) in the release of groundWork’s new report investigating the on and off $5-billion dollar World Bank loan to Pretoria for future fossil fuel development. The report is being released in Copenhagen, Denmark and Durban, South Africa. See Press Invite to the South African launch.
Shell Lights-out Campaign
It is time for Shell turn off the flares in Nigeria to save the climate
and the Niger Delta.
Milieudefensie started a campaign to put more pressure on Shell. The campaign website is online now. Sign the petition at www.shelllightsout.org.
On Thursday, 3 December 2009, the unique legal action taken by four Nigerian victims of Shell oil leaks, in conjunction with Milieudefensie, will begin at the court in The Hague. Read more.......
Global study finds lead in 80% of house paint!
Children at risk of poisoning; safer substitutes available
A global study [1] of new household enamel paints sold in many retail outlets (including in South Africa) found that many paints contained high levels of lead. The study found lead concentrations exceeding the global benchmark of 90ppm in 65% of the South African enamel paint sampled. Additionally 62 percent had lead concentrations more than the interim SA standard of 600 ppm (0.1 percent). The study also found safer paints with identical colors that did not contain lead. Brands tested included Plascon, Dulux, Prominent and Dekade paint.
Toxic Waste Company Finally in Court – Is there Political Interference?
On Thursday, the 10th of November, Thermopower finally faces a court of law because of its activities in Olifantsfotein, where it incinerates local and imported toxic waste as per permission granted from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in July 2004. The case is finally in court after more than two years since the local community first laid a compliant with the Green Scorpions about the impact the company’s operations are having on the local residents in Clayville, Olifantsfotein and Thembisa. Read more ...
Die-in at Sasol
09 December 2009, residents of Zamdela, Sasolburg and the Vaal Triangle, staged a Die-In at Sasol’s main gate in Sasolburg to bring the world’s attention to the impact Sasol’s dirty industry has on climate change. Read the memorandum delivered to Sasol Management, the South African Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs and President Zuma.
South African Governnment shows poor Commitment to African Continent
Copenhagen: At a side meeting for African civil society organisations, the Chairperson of the G77 and China, from Sudan, stated that Africa is getting a raw deal and is being forced to sign their death sentence. He highlighted the division within the Africa group and mentioned that South Africa has been key to the division that has been created.
We want Climate Justice Now!
The Climate Justice Now! KZN week of Climate Change Action to highlight the need for immediate and honest greenhouse gas reduction emission plans from Copenhagen will start on Monday, 7th December 2009. CJN! KZN is campaigning to highlight the need for a just and equitable solution to be delivered at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change which is being held in Copenhagen, Denmark from the 7th to 16th December 2009. CJN! KZN demands immediate Emissions Reductions; Climate Debt Payment; and no carbon trading. See the Week of Action programme ...
Press Release: Global Anti Incineration Alliance : Alert! Dirty Industries Attempt to Hijack Global Climate Talks!
Copenhagen: As the world's governments convene here in Copenhagen to solve the unfolding climate crisis, polluting industries are putting up a fight. The incinerator industry, one of the world's dirtiest, is trying to repackage itself as a “climate solution” in order to grab climate subsidies meant to support the development of clean technologies. Read more ...
Reclaiming Waste from Landfills
groundWork, Friends of the Earth South Africa has been working over the last year with people reclaiming waste from landfill sites and society in general throughout South Africa. While working with people on the Grahamstown waste landfill site and the Makana Municipality officials, groundWork was requested to undertake a study to investigate how waste pickers could be part of the municipal waste management system in Makana. This report is the outcome of this research. The research builds upon two previous research pieces, Reclaiming Livelihoods [link to report] and Wasting the Nation [link to report]. groundWork has shared this report with the Makana Municipality and the people reclaiming waste from the landfill site. Already the outcomes of the research have been requested from other similar sized municipalities. For more information please contact Musa Chamane at 033 342 5662 / 082 589 7928 or at musa@groundwork.org.za.Read the report
Medical Waste Dumped Illegally
On Sunday, South Africa’s largest weekly, the Sunday Times, presented South Africa with a horrific account of how health care waste (also referred to as medical waste) has been dumped illegally in Welkom, a small mining town in South Africa. Please visit http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article212394.ece to read the story. groundWork sent a letter to the Sunday Times calling for government to deal with this ongoing problem in a transparent and democratic manner. Read the letter
 Shell: We Will Always Remember!
Today marks the 14th Anniversary of the state murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa, an acclaimed writer and leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). He was hanged along with eight other Ogoni leaders, after a trial before a military tribunal that was condemned around the world as a sham. Ken Saro-Wiwa's last words were: "Lord take my soul but the struggle continues." groundWork , Friends of the Earth South Africa continues to recognise the pain and suffering of the people of the Niger Delta together with many people globally who today face the continual human rights abuses due to Shell’s fossil fuel extraction and production processes. groundWork dropped a ‘Shell Remember Ken Saro-Wiwa’ banner from the Shell Refinery in south Durban to commemorate the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the suffering of people globally.
National Waste Management Strategy
The development of the National Waste Management Strategy is mandated
by the National Environmental Management: Waste Act of 2008, and must
be developed by 2011. It will lay the ground rules for how governance
occurs relation to those entities that produce waste and those that
dispose of waste.
It is groundWork’s contention that if this document is agreed upon as
is, government will effectively abdicate its responsibility to govern
waste in South Africa, and handover the governance of waste via
self-regulation, voluntarism and exemptions to polluting industry.
We call on government and the process to reconsider the approach that this document recommends.
See the Summary of key strategic issues to inform the NWMSand
groundWork’s response'
World Governments Move Towards Global Treaty on Mercury
On 23 October 2009, world governments took the first
significant steps towards a legally binding Treaty to control mercury pollution at a United
Nations Environmental Program meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. Read the press release from the European Environmental Bureau and the Zero Mercury Working Group
South African Waste Pickers to Visit Egypt
South African citizens are joining the ever growing global movement of waste pickers. Seven waste pickers will be joining groundWork in a visit to Egypt to attend a conference titled: ‘Towards and Culture of Sustainable Communities, Economies and Environment’ from the 27th of November to the 29th of November in Cairo.
Recycling Revolution: South Africa’s First Waste Pickers Recycling Gathering
Waste pickers from more than 50 waste landfill sites from all 9 provinces met in Johannesburg on the 2nd to the 3rd of July 2009. Read:
More Urgent Action is Required Against Polluters
The Department of Water and Environmental Affairs recently launched their 2005 State of the Air Report and also held a Lekgotla for two days from 12-13 October 2009. As civil society, the progress made in the management of air quality in South Africa is considered positive, and is a direct result of community people challenging polluting industry and government inaction. However, there are some concerns ... read more
High levels of environmental toxins in plastic shoes
In a ground breaking study, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation with its global partners, including groundWork , Friends of the Earth, South Africa undertook a study into plastic shoes, produced and sold all over the world.Read some of the findings of the report.
Public
Screening of 'The Story of Stuff' followed by panel discussion
The first public screening of ‘The Story of Stuff’ in South Africa followed by a panel discussion on 'Wasting the Nation: Making Trash of People and Environments' will be held at the Auditorium Museum Africa on Wednesday 05 August 2009. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute film that takes viewers on a provocative and eye-opening tour of the real costs of our consumer driven culture—from resource extraction to iPod incineration.
Recycling Revolution: South Africa’s First Waste Pickers Recycling Gathering
Waste pickers from more than 50 waste landfill sites from all 9 provinces met in Johannesburg on the 2nd to the 3rd of July 2009. Read:
- groundWork press release;
- Melanie Samson's article on the meeting;
- Final Declaration arising from meeting (English and Spanish).
Making the Health Care Sector healthier
groundWork in partnership with Health Care Without Harm and the Democratic Nursing Organisation in South Africa hosted a workshop entitled: ‘Nurses Building Healthier Environments’ in Durban on Monday 29 June 2009.
Memorandum to Minister van Schalkwyk
At the recent climate change meetings held at Gallagher Estate
a memorandum was handed to Joanne Yarwitch to pass on to the Minister
of Environmental Affairs.
Why Climate Change is a Human Rights issue
Read the article by Desmond Tutu, published in the Sunday Weekly Argus on
6 March 2009.
Press Release - People’s Summit and Protest March at National Climate Change Summit
On the 5th of March 2009, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg [1] and groundWork, Friends of the Earth, South Africa [2] will be hosting a People’s Summit on Climate Change at the Midrand Convention Centre. The People’s Summit parallels the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism National Climate Change Summit.
Survey of generation rates, treatment capacities
and costs of Health Care Waste
The DEAT's Survey of
Generation Rates, Treatment Capacities and
Minimal Costs of Health Care Waste in the 9
provinces of RSA can be downloaded here.
Stunning Victory in Nairobi
On Thursday 19th February world environment ministers finally agreed the
process to establish a global, legally binding international treaty to tackle
mercury pollution in Nairobi at the United Nations
Environment Program 25th Session of Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum.
Click to read more.
Press Release - Obama Administration changes position on Mercury
The Obama administration has
reversed the former U.S. position on limiting mercury pollution worldwide. Before
astonished environment ministers attending the United Nations Environment
Programme Governing Council opening session in Nairobi today, the U.S. delegation
endorsed negotiations for a new global treaty to control mercury pollution, to begin
this year.
Click to read more.
Press Release - UNEP's Achim Steiner on Mercury
No one alive today is free from some level of mercury contamination and the World Health
Organization argues there is in the end no safe limit. Thus prevarication and inaction over the
global mercury challenge is no longer an option —we owe it to pregnant women and unborn
children everywhere and to artisanal miners and their families. We owe it to anyone who has an
interest in a healthier, less polluted world.
Click to read more.
Press Release - Mercury in Fish
As the world’s governments convene next week to
discuss developing a legally binding treaty on
mercury, citizens’ groups from around the world
have released a new report calling attention to
the significant global human health hazards caused
by mercury in fish and fish-eating marine mammals.
Click to read Press Release.
Press Release - Wasting the Nation
On Tuesday 10th February groundWork releases its
7th Annual review of the State of Environmental
Justice in South Africa. This review focuses
on waste in South Africa at a time when President
Kgalema Motlanthe is about to sign the National
Environmental Management: Waste Bill into force.
Click to read Press Invitation.
Action Alert: Tell Uranium One To Respect Human Rights in South Africa!
The Dominion Reefs uranium mine in South Africa, owned and operated by the
Canadian company Uranium One, has continuously been exposed for systematic
violations of workers' rights and basic environmental regulations.
Click to find out more and take action.
On 15 January 2009, Bobby Peek
will open an exciting photographic exhibition
- Breathing Spaces: Environmental Portraits of Durban's Industrial South
- at the Castle in Cape Town. Find out more...
Read Bobby's address
The little video that could change the world
The Story of Stuff
has been watched by over four million viewers, and tells,
in simple and effective terms, the story of waste from
from generation to disposal, suggesting viable alternatives
to the world's waste problems.
The World
Medical Association unanimously passed a
resolution calling for the phase-out of mercury
use in the health care sector. Delegates said
hospitals and medical facilities should switch to
non-mercury alternatives.
- 28 October 2008
Spain: Huge protest against plasma incinerator and mega landfill
- 20 October 2008
Mercury in health care devices to be banned in Philippines
- 17 June 2008
Dead
workers, stinking pollution and forced evictions:
New report highlights ArcelorMittal’s global
trail of destruction - 13 May 2008
View the Report
Ban
the Burn! Government Ignoring Advice - 02
March 2008
groundWork
asks for public protection against the DEAT
- 27 Feb 2008
Letter
to the Editor - Community and NGOs tired of Environmental
Department: Fossil fuels cost nation R4bn a year
in healthcare! - February 2008
Solidarity
for Environmental Justice in South Africa
- Report by Victor Munnik - Nov 2007
See Pambazuka
News |
