| PRESS
RELEASE
19 February 2004
“Listening to the people” – A community environmental health gathering
groundWork and South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) are
co-hosting a two-day Environmental Health Workshop on Saturday and Sunday
21-22 February 2004. The workshop serves, as the platform for people to
voice the environmental health struggles facing communities around South
Africa.
The workshop occurs on the eve of the 8th Environmental Health World Congress
being held at the ICC in Durban from 23-27 February 2004. It is ironic that
the people most impacted upon by environmental health issues are not given
sufficient access to the World Congress. This would have been an opportune
moment for South African communities to showcase to government and to the
world our challenges and concerns on environmental health.
The programme (attached below) includes testimonies from communities exposed
to industrial pollution, incineration and landfill sites from south Durban,
Sasolburg, Secunda, Biopatong, Potchefstroom, Table View, and Richards Bay.
A session has also been dedicated to academic testimonies and presentations,
which views the scientific evidence that supports people’s experiences.
These presentations will be by academics from Cook County Hospital (USA),
CSIR, UCT Lung Institute, Durban Institute of Technology (DIT), Michigan
University - Ann Arbor (USA), and University of Natal.
A protest has been organised on Monday 23 February 2004 outside the ICC
to inform international and local participants that enough is enough and
that no more shall community health become a secondary consideration over
profits. Companies like Shell, Engen, Sasol, Foskor, Dow Chemicals and others
must be held accountable for the deaths and illnesses they visit on communities
in South African and worldwide.
For more information contact:
groundWork
Bobby Peek: 082 464 1383, 033 342 5662 bobby@groundwork.org.za
Llewellyn Leonard: 082 353 5029
South Durban Community Environmental Alliance
Desmond D’Sa: 083 982 6939, 031 468 9069
Farida Khan: 084 700 9585
sdcea@sn.apc.org
“Listening to the people” – A Community Environmental Health
Gathering
Saturday and Sunday, 21-22 February 2003
Final Programme
Saturday
08:30 – 09:00 hrs
Registration
09:00 – 09:10 hrs
Welcome
Desmond D’Sa, Chair of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance
(SDCEA)
09:10 – 09:20 hrs
Workshop context and relevance
Bobby Peek, Director of groundWork
Session one
09:20 – 10:20 hrs
Community Testimonies Pollution from Petro-Chemical Facilities
Moderator: Ardiel Soeker, groundWork
Engen and Shell/BP (Sapref): South Durban
Steven van Wyk, SDCEA
Sasol Chemical Industries: Sasolburg
Caroline Ntaopane, Sasolburg Air Quality Monitoring Committee
Sasol Chemical Industries: Secunda
Octavia Nkosi, Highveld East Community Environmental Monitoring Association
(Hecema)
Caltex Refinery: Table View
Andy Birkinshaw, Table View Residents’ Association
10:20 – 10:40 hrs
Tea
Session two:
10:40 – 11:25 hrs
Community Testimonies Industrial Pollution, Incineration, Landfill Sites
Moderator: Desmond D’Sa SDCEA
Foskor: Richards Bay
Edmond Skosana, Vuka Environment Dot Com
Iscor: Boipatong
Matshidiso Dlamini, Boipatong Environmental Working Group
Kynock and Sasol Agri: Potchefstroom
Mathekiso Phakedi, National Youth Consultative Forum
Session Three:11:25 – 12:10
Medical Waste and Incineration and Landfill Sites
Moderator: Llewellyn Leonard
Edendale Hospital – Medical Waste Management
Dinky Halimana, Edendale Hospital
Clare Estate Bisasar Landfill Site
Sajida Khan
12:10 – 12:30 hrs
Community Voices from the Floor
Karen Read, SDCEA
12:30 – 13:30 hrs
Lunch
Session four:
13:30 – 14:50 hrs
Paper presentations
Moderator: Bobby Peek
A Study Of Allergic Diseases And The Urban Environment In The Northern Communities
Of Cape Town
Prof Neil White, Prof. Neil White, Lung Institute, University of Cape Town
Petrochemical Production and Community Health
Prof Peter Orris, University of Illinois, USA.
Vulnerability of South African Communities to Air Pollution
Mamopeli Matooane, CSIR, South Africa
Discussion
14:50 – 15:10 hrs
Tea
15:10 – 16:00 hrs
Challenges in Environmental Management
Environmental Conflict Resolution Essential for Successful Environmental
Impact Assessments in south Durban
Michael van der Merwe, Durban Institute for Technology (DIT)
Local Government Managing Challenging Industry
Steen Fogde, Danmarks Naturfredninsforening
16:00 – 16:45 hrs
The South Durban Basin Study: A Response to Environmental Health challenges
Prof Stuart Batterman, Ann Arbor, Michigan University
Dr Rajen Naidoo, Occupational Health Centre, KZN University
Ms Joy Kistnasamy, DIT
Michael van der Merwe, DIT
16:45 – 17:15 hrs
Discussions
Day Two, Sunday, 22 February 2004
Sunday
09:00 – 10:30 hrs
Community health assessment strategies
Peter Orris
10:30 – 11:00 hrs
Tea
11:00 – 12:20 hrs
Developing of resolutions to Deliver to 8th World Congress on Environmental
Health
Bobby Peek
12:20 – 12:30 hrs
Closure
Llewellyn Leonard, groundWork
12:30
Lunch
Prof. Stuart Batterman is the Associate Chair, Department of Environmental
Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
MI, USA.
Steen Fogde is a Danish government official and is a member of the Danish
Nature Foundation, Denmark.
Joy Kistnasamy is a lecturer in Environmental Health at the Durban Institute
of technology, South Africa.
Mamopeli Matooane works in Environmentek at the CSIR, South Africa.
Michael van der Merwe is a lecturer in Environmental Health at the Durban
Institute of Technology (DIT), South Africa.
Dr Rajen Naidoo is an Occupational Health specialist and Senior Lecturer
at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of Natal, South
Africa.
Prof Peter Orris is Professor of Environmental and Occupational Sciences,
University of Illinois, USA.
Prof. Neil White is from the Respiratory Clinic at Groote Schuur Hospital,
which is linked to the UCT lung Institute, University of Cape Town, South
Africa.
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