Hi again
Herewith, some snippets from various sources.
I appeal to you to send me items to distribute to our members for the Cleft Stick, the Game Ranger magazine and to be posted on the web site. These are your magazine and website, so ensure it gets the news that you would like to see in it.
Please let me have any changes to your physical address, phone no. or e-mail address to keep the database up to date.
Thanks to all of you who have made the effort. Please will any of you who know of members who do not get this “electric” Cleft~Stick, & have access to e-mail, pass their address along to me.
Don Yunnie
7 Chalet Drive, Hilton, 3245, South Africa Local Tel & Fax (033) 343 1534 Int. Tel & Fax (+2733) 343 1534 cell 082 377 7562 E-mail dyunnie@xsinet.co.za.
If you do not wish to receive this e-mail newsletter please send a blank e-mail to me at the above address with the word “unsubscribe C~S ” as the message heading.
PREMIERS Of THE THIN GREEN LINE Film
Come on chaps – please support these organizers who are trying to rally support for Game Rangers Worldwide. Please relay this information to anyone you think might be able to help or be interested in attending these events
1) WHITE RIVER. Attend a FUNDRAISING premier @ Casterbridge Cinema on Monday 30 th July!
Tues 31st July is the inaugural WORLD RANGERS DAY!
On 30th and 31st July all over the world the movie, THE THIN GREEN LINE , a 90 minute documentary, will PREMIER simultaneously in over 50 countries worldwide! Be part of the action!
CASTERBRIDGE CINEMA in WHITE RIVER is one of only 2 venues in South Africa that will be showing this premier!
BE PART OF HISTORY and book your ticket NOW by phoning Jacki on 083 301 9247 or CASTERBRIDGE CINEMA on (013) 751 3894
Park rangers are environmental heroes who truly walk the 'thin green line' every day and are the first line of defense for the world's most endangered animals.
The Thin Green Line is the human story of frontline conservation and highlights the plight of an endangered species – the game rangers who protect our wildlife! This fascinating documentary is about the important and dangerous environmental work of park rangers and was produced by Australian ranger SEAN WILLMORE.
The GAME RANGERS ASSOCIATION of Africa (GRAA) is a non-profit organization promoting the work of rangers, park and protected area managers throughout Africa. This premier of THE THIN GREEN LINE aims to raise funds to support the rangers' dependents fund.
Casterbridge Cinema seats only 96 people so tickets are limited so book now to avoid disappointment.
Tickets are R100pp which includes snacks and wine.
Time: 6.30 for 7pm.
Dr Jeremy Anderson will open the evening with a fascinating insight into conservation in South Africa at the moment and this will be followed by the historic WORLDWIDE PREMIER!
Venue: Casterbridge Cinema, White River
BOOKING ESSENTIAL AS SEATS ARE LIMITED
* Should you and/or your company want to donate money to the GAME RANGERS ASSOCIATION and/or towards this event (ie: by sponsoring snacks etc) please contact JACKi on 083 301 9247. The more that is sponsored the more we can obviously raise for the GRAA!
Remember just by purchasing your ticket and attending you are supporting this worthy cause so, get invite some friends to join you or get a group of work people together and PHONE to reserve your ticket/s!
--- 2). As previously advertised in the C~S the Durban Premier.
The event starts at 17 30 for 18 00 on July 31.The venue is at the Riverside Hotel Conference Centre (located on the banks of the Umgeni river in Durban North).The function will consist of a presentation by Dr Ian Player and the showing of the premier 'The thin green line' The cost of each ticket is R150, included in this ticket is the cost of snacks served after the presentation and the balance going to the rangers fund. A bar is available at the venue to buy drinks before and after the function. Bookings are essential and will be done by Helga Coulon 0846651948,or guests can email myself and confirm they are coming at petercoulon@elan.co.za.
Guests will be required to pay Helga at the entrance to the venue on the evening.
Regards Peter Coulon
BusinessReport, Terry Bell, July 13, 2007
The national parks are among South Africa's prime tourist attractions and some of the biggest money spinners. Principal among them is the Kruger National Park, although all, from the periurban Table Mountain National Park to the arid expanse of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, attract large numbers of visitors.
Few notice the small army of workers who protect, maintain and service these parks and their facilities. Fewer still, probably, question where these workers live or under what conditions.
This is a largely invisible army that, in the case of the Kruger, last year provided services and facilities for 1.245 million visitors, 944 640 of whom were South Africans. Some of these visitors picnicked, some camped, others relaxed in luxury lodges and a few indulged in that New Age fad of vision quests. All relied on cleaners, cooks, waiters, rangers and guides.
However, the conditions under which most of the poorly paid guides and rangers live in our touted national parks is correctly described by many of them as "a scandal". For years anger has been growing and increasing numbers have looked to unions for help.
To the chagrin of trade unionists, however, many of the functions in the parks - from gate security to restaurants and staff stores - have been outsourced in the recent past. But a core group of workers, particularly rangers and guides, remain employees of SA National Parks (SANParks). Some complain not only about management, but also about what they see as union indifference.
The only union recognised by SANParks is the Cosatu-aligned SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union (Saccawu), which recently concluded a 6 percent pay rise deal for park workers. This w as considered by many members of the rival Health and Other Service Personnel Trade Union of SA (Hospersa) to be a "sellout".
They accuse Saccawu of enjoying a "too cosy" relationship with SANParks management. Last week matters came to a head and more than 700 workers at Kruger went on strike. They were joined by about 150 others at the Table Mountain and Kgalagadi parks.
Says Hospersa assistant general secretary Manfred Rothballer: "This strike has nothing to do with pay. That is a done deal and we have to live with it."
Instead, it is about a range of other issues, prime among them being housing. This applies in all 20 national parks.
"Families are still living in one-room accommodation [at Kruger], without kitchen facilities or running water," says Rothballer. The only concession to modernity is an electric light and one electric point.
One striking Kruger guide, who gave his name only as Joseph, also complained about the prices workers had to pay at the staff store. The example given was R6.50 for a standard loaf of white bread, which is at least R2 more than the average price in urban supermarkets.
Pay scales for the workers involved in the strike start at R2 150 a month at entry level and rise to R3 000. Workers are also given a monthly ration of a bag of mielie meal and some spices.
One guide, with 19 years experience, noted that he earned R2 425 a month, out of which R200 went to "medical". There was no clinic within several hundred kilometres of the camp where he was based, and his family was forced to pay "tourist prices" for their basic necessities because there was little opportunity to travel outside the park.
It was for these reasons that he joined the 720 strikers who marched on the SANParks office at the Paul Kruger gate on Wednesday to deliver a memorandum of grievances and demands. The union announced at the same time that the strike would be suspended today for 14 days to allow management time to respond.
Says Rothballer: "Depending on their response, we either continue working or the strike starts again."
Park authorities maintain that they have been unaffected by the strike because they have, in terms of the Labour Relations Act, employed "replacement labour".
However, Rothballer says: "Management has been able to replace administrative staff and some others, but they cannot simply replace rangers, so it is likely that the police reports about increased poaching activity are correct."
Although it may be officially denied, poaching probably did increase over the week that the rangers were on strike, but it would be impossible to assess by exactly how much.
The argument the workers make is that they protect this precious natural environment, on which a lucrative tourist trade flourishes, and yet have to "live like animals".
In the Kgalagadi, where employee accommodation comprises asbestos huts, it is perhaps understandable that workers complain that, in terms of their living conditions, they have been "left behind in apartheid".
____ Rick Smith, 2 Roadrunner Trail, Placitas, NM 87043, Tel: 505-867-0047, Cell: 595-259-7161, Fax: 505-867-4175, rsmith0921@earthlink.net
Coalmining Wetlands, Peatlands, Protected Areas and Agricultural Land
Geasphere shares concerns as expressed by WESSA Lowveld in the letter below.
A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is urgently required to assess the accumulative impacts of all these mining applications on the integrated environment. Without a holistic view stakeholders can not make informed decisions.
Rivers which may potentially be negatively affected by mining activity flows into our neighbouring countries (Swaziland and Mozambique) – and their participation in the decision making processes which affects them is essential.
Philip Owen
Geasphere
WESSA Lowveld Region Press Release: July 19, 2007
Coalmining Wetlands, Peatlands, Protected Areas and Agricultural Land.
An open letter regarding the unconstitutional and illegal actions of Eskom and the DME und the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act.
There are 114 mining related applications for coalmining on farms in an area encompassing Dullstroom, Kwaggaskop, Belfast, Dalmanuta, Wonderfontein, Carolina, Warburton, Chrissiesmeer, Breyton, Lothair, Ermelo, Holbank, and Sheepmoor. On average the farms are 2000 hectares each. The total area with mining applications on them, excluding the surrounding areas, is approximately 22,000 hectares.
This area contains extensive interconnected and interdependent wetlands and peat lands including the unique and irreplaceable Mpumalanga Lakes Area and the 11 600 year Lakenvlei peat lands.
If all the coal from all these proposed small mines was given to Eskom, it would only provide power enough for the country for one year.
Unless Minister Buyelwa Sonjika has the foresight and political will to stop the DME from granting all these licenses, we will lose all of this and more for just one years worth of low grade coal that is not even worth exporting. Valuable agricultural land is still being farmed here successfully in a country that is losing its agricultural potential.
Thanks to tourism and its related industries, permanent healthy and long term jobs are being created in this area that far exceeds anything in quantity and quality of work that the coal mines can offer. One large hotel and leisure estate can offer as many as 500 permanent jobs requiring a broad mix of skills, and the demand for this kind of development is in this area is growing apace. Coal mining here will destroy this.
The coal mines that want to mine here are mostly small operations with a short lifespan of 4 to 6 years that can at best offer the surrounding communities only 50 or so new short term jobs apiece, mostly as low paid sweepers working a miserable and unhealthy job. The existing mines have so far not even bothered to do social and labour plans because they can offer so little.
Coal mining here is not only completely unsustainable, it is irresponsible, and without any merit at all. Not one government department besides the DME sees any good coming from, or supports, coal mining in this area. It will be destructive of agriculture, tourism and jobs, and a richly unique environment, and it will contribute nothing but a legacy of acid mine drainage, impoverished land areas and social unrest.
The contemplated comprehensive and wholesale destruction of this area by the DME, is largely driven by Eskom.
This ill considered and illegal destruction of thousands of hectares of wetlands and good agricultural land will be for no better reason than the coal underneath is near to Eskom power stations and they can get it cheaply. Much of this coal is not even economically viable to mine unless Eskom buys it.
There can be absolutely no justification by the DME for the granting of new coal mining licenses that will result in even more acid mine drainage when we are already at a crisis point in this regard with more than 800 un rehabilitated mines already on its database, and an estimated cleanup bill of R100 billion, and water quality in our rivers and dams is deteriorating, and when 70% of the coal mined in this country is currently being exported through Richards Bay, and we have an estimated 300 years worth of coal left still to be mined. There is no shortage of coal, there may just be a shortage of very cheap coal.
We are supporting an insupportable burden of electricity subsidies to the mining and industrial sector.
If the coal market is” tight” for Eskom, it is because it is reluctant to pay the export price for coal or to charge industry more. The ultimate price for this short sighted penny pinching, so that mining companies and industries can have their cut price electricity, is the environment, in particular our water resources.. Mining companies and industries are evidently encouraged to stay where they can exploit a cheap operating environment. This faultless argument allows them to expatriate large profits with minimal restraints. Cheap electricity production in this country is being exported along with our cheap water and cheap South African labour, notwithstanding the government’s feeble efforts at beneficiation and 25% royalties. What beneficiation or “royalties” can you get from coal?
Many of the companies that have mining applications on these farms already have signed contracts from Eskom without even having embarked on the process of obtaining a mining license or even in some cases a prospecting license!
What we appear to be facing here are done deals between Eskom and the mines with the DME obediently rubber stamping these through as fast as they can while trying to maintain a façade of legality.
What makes all of this possible despite objections from virtually every government department that has a mandate in the many and various laws to protect us from this kind of environmental desecration and harm, is the MPRDA (The Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act). This appallingly unconstitutional piece of legislation neatly succeeds in putting the actions and decisions of the DME almost completely out of the reach of just about all other legislation in the land.
Under the MPRDA, environmental legislation has been hijacked, internalized, and tailored specifically to the requirements of the DME to serve the sole interests of the mining industry. Under the MPRDA it is very easy for a mine to have its Environmental Management Plan approved. All it basically needs to show is that its impact can be mitigated in some way. Environmental consultants are contracted to the mines specifically to manage this “mitigation”. Under the MPRDA each mine need only consider its own impact, so it is easy to say in its EMP that its impact will be minimal and will be mitigated. It is not required to mitigate or consider anything beyond its own footprint.
The impact of the applicant mine is never considered in relation to its contribution to the cumulative impacts many mines in the same area can have. This is not a requirement of an EMP for a mine. Concerns regarding the strategic damage that many mines can have on catchments, rivers or dams are also not a requirement of an individual mines EMP, and a mine gets a license based on its EMP.
It is left to the officers of the DWAF, DALA, DEAT, the MTPA and other such government departments who have a strategic understanding of the bigger picture to raise objections in this regard. However their objections mean little to the DME, and they are able to enforce nothing under the MPRDA.
When approval is sought for an EMP on which approval, a mining license is granted, and objections are submitted regarding any aspect of the proposed mining from any other government department, these objections are referred to the DME’s own internal environmental forum under the MPRDA, the RMDEC. (Regional Mining Development Environmental Committee). The objections brought to this forum by “outside” departments are effectively devalued to the level of a “comment” when aspects of, or mining, is opposed by them, and no consensus can be reached. These objections are then submitted to the Minister of the DME for her “consideration”.
This is complete concentration of power in the hands of the Minister of the DME who under its own environmental legislation need not obey any other.
Even the DWAF who may have retained a little residual power in being able to refuse to grant a water use license can be overruled by something called the Cooperative Governance Agreement. When Patrice Motsepes flagship Goedgevonden Coal Mine at Ogies was refused a Water Use License for wanting to mine in and dispose of dirty water on nearly 900 hectares of pristine wetlands, this regional decision was overturned by DWAF head office in Pretoria. No explanation was provided to anyone. It appears that the DME and the Minister herself, is not beholden to explain its actions or decisions to anyone.
The Minister herself has not yet, as far as we know, responded to a High Court ruling ordering her to set out her reasons for the granting of a mining license to Black Gold Mining Estates. This mine was successfully interdicted by private citizens at great expense, from mining next to the Tevredepan, the largest reeded pan in the Southern Hemisphere.
Opaque, concealed and absent mining records and decisions appear to characterize this industry. Not even the DWAF seems able to protect our water resources and catchments against the onslaught of these many small and worthless but nevertheless category ( A ) mines.
When the mining companies arrogantly state that they are operating within the law, what they mean is that they are operating under what they can get away with under the MPRDA.
Despite its protestations to the contrary, Onverdacht Colliery is illegally operating with a surface use general water abstraction agreement only, it does not yet have a Water Use License from the DWAF and may not even be given one, which it is required to have as it is a category ( A ) mine which is subject to special water use requirements.
The refusal by DWAF to issue a Water Use License may also have been overturned by head office but as far as we know, no Water Use License has been given to them by the DWAF.
The only recourse against these arrogant and illegal actions of the mines and the DME and in this case Eskom too, is through private citizens appealing for relief through the courts. And as each and every case may be, we are forced to fight each and every application granted by the DME. The mines know this and are sitting smugly under the umbrella of the MPRDA and fondly in the lap of the Minister of the DME, and do not find themselves subject to the legislation of NEMA or any other environmental legislation. Even the requirements of Water Act need not apply to them!
The way this department has set itself up under the MPRDA, is illegal under the Constitution because it effectively denies other government departments their duty to exercise their mandates in the protection of our natural resources, and prevents them specifically in exercising these mandates.
Under the provisions of the MPRDA the DME is wide open to corruption and abuse of power which is a situation that warrants immediate scrutiny and corrective action by the Constitutional Court.
We cannot have a situation where one government minister, in one department, has the power to wreak such wholesale destruction, wittingly or unwittingly, on an area as large as this and no other government departments, ministers, or any other laws are able to prevent it without recourse to the courts for each and every mining application.
It is deeply shocking and very upsetting when private citizens are driven to fence off conservation worthy areas in a forced and costly war against the mines because the officials that are supposed to protect these areas can do nothing.
Most of these mines are still in the prospecting phase and the Minister could with complete justification, and based on good socio economic and strategically important environmental grounds, still stop these miners from getting their mining licenses if she so wishes.
Change of land use legislation does not apply to miners who can simply walk onto a piece of land and claim its use. No assessment is ever undertaken to determine if such mining is sustainable or in the national best interest or if it is damaging to the national interest, and the DME seems to have little interest in the nations resources that does not concern mining.
WESSA Lowveld appeals to the officials of each and every government department in this province, in particular the DWAF, to vigorously object to each and every one of these completely worthless and frivolous applications as they arise, with every bit of ammunition that that can justifiably be brought against them, and publish these objections directly to the office of Dr. Garth Batchelor, for the province, and the national office of The Minister of Environmental Affairs, Mr.Martinus van Skalkwyk.
WESSA Lowveld also appeals to any one who has any legal standing and expertise to work to restore environmental constraints on mining to our national environmental legislation under all government departments. The “use it or lose it” clauses in the MPRDA designed to put everybody under pressure, not least the environment, should be scrapped altogether and something like a nationally acceptable Sustainable Mining Development Planning Framework developed, that does not have the affect of the current unplanned and chaotic Wild West free for all.
Marina Caird, WESSA Lowveld, Environmental affairs. P O Box 2516, White River, 1240 Tel: 013-7500554, Fax: 088 0137500554, Cell: 072-076 8880, E-mail: info@scoptics.net
Biofuels
Dear BIOPLANNERS,
Biofuels continue to occupy the attention of many different sectors and the recent CBD SBSTTA held a hot debate on the issue. [I will flag the ENB summary of the SBSTTA and WGRI in a separate posting]
It is highly likely that a surge in biofuel production around the world is likely to exacerbate existing negative impacts on biodiversity arising from agricultural and other human demands of natural systems. In 1986, more than 20 years ago, Peter Vitousek, with colleagues Paul and Anne Ehlich and Pamela Matson, published a much-quoted paper entitled: "Human appropriation of the products of photosynthesis" (BioScience, 36(6):368-373). The paper claimed that "nearly 40% of potential terrestrial primary production is used directly, co-opted or foregone because of human activities". [see http://dieoff.org/page83.htm for a reprint of the paper].
Now a similar study "Quantifying and mapping the human appropriation of net primary production in earth's terrestrial ecosystems" has been conducted by Helmut Haberl and colleagues and published as open access in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [for a download, go to: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0704243104v1.pdf]
Although the "big number" has dropped from 40% to 25%, I am sure this is the result of different methods of scaling up and the real impact of humanity on natural systems is still increasing, even before the rush to biofuels takes off.
For an excellent overview of the problems with achieving sustainable bioenergy, see the 60 page rport: Sustainable Bioenergy: A Framework for Decision Makers available for download at: http://esa.un.org/un-energy/pdf/susdev.Biofuels.FAO.pdf or via ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a1094e/a1094e00.pdf
Best wishes
David Duthie, UNEP-GEF Biosafety Unit, Geneva
Email: david.duthie@unep.ch
--- Haberl, H. et al (2007) Quantifying and mapping the human appropriation of net primary production in earth's terrestrial ecosystems. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0704243104
Abstract Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP), the aggregate impact of land use on biomass available each year in ecosystems, is a prominent measure of the human domination of the biosphere.
We present a comprehensive assessment of global HANPP based on vegetation modeling, agricultural and forestry statistics, and geographical information systems data on land use, land cover, and soil degradation that localizes human impact on ecosystems. We found an aggregate global HANPP
value of 15.6 Pg C/yr or 23.8% of potential net primary productivity, of which 53% was contributed by harvest, 40% by land-use-induced productivity changes, and 7% by human-induced fires. This is a remarkable impact on the biosphere caused by just one species. We present maps quantifying human-induced changes in trophic energy flows in ecosystems that illustrate spatial patterns in the human domination of ecosystems, thus emphasizing land use as a pervasive factor of global importance. Land use transforms earth's terrestrial surface, resulting in changes in biogeochemical cycles and in the ability of ecosystems to deliver services critical to human well-being. The results suggest that large-scale schemes to substitute biomass for fossil fuels should be viewed cautiously because massive additional pressures on ecosystems might result from increased biomass harvest.
--- Biofuels could spell ecosystem disaster, 07 July 2007, * New Scientist, * Andy Coghlan
ALMOST one-quarter of nature's resources are being gobbled up by a single species, and it's not difficult to guess which one. Based on figures for the year 2000, the most recent available, humans appropriate 24 per cent of the Earth's production capacity that would otherwise have gone to nature.
The result is a gradual depletion of species and habitats as we take more of their resources for ourselves. Things could get even worse if we grow more plants like palm oil and rapeseed for biofuels to ease our reliance on fossil fuels.
That is the message from a team led by Helmut Haberl of Klagenfurt University in Vienna, Austria. Haberl and colleagues analysed UN Food and Agriculture Organization data on agricultural land use in 161 countries covering 97.4 per cent of farmland.
By comparing carbon consumption through human activity with the amount of carbon consumed overall, Haberl's team found that humans use some 15.6 trillion kilograms of carbon annually. Half was soaked up by growing crops. Another 7 per cent went up in smoke as fires lit by humans, and the rest was used up in a variety of other ways related to industrialisation, such as transport (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0704243104).
Haberl says that the Earth can just about cope if we meet future needs by producing food more efficiently. This could be done by intensifying agriculture on roughly the same amount of land as we use now. But we're asking for trouble, he says, if we expand production of biofuels, as the only fertile land available is tropical rainforests.
"If we want full-scale replacement of fossil fuels by biofuels, this would have dramatic implications for ecosystems," says Haberl. He warns that some projections foresee four or fivefold increases in biofuel production. "This would at least double the overall amount of biomass harvested, which is about 30 per cent above ground at present, but would increase to 40 or 50 per cent to meet these biofuel targets," he says.
This would mean clearing what remains of the world's rainforests in countries such as Brazil and Argentina. As well as wiping out thousands of species, this would have devastating effects on the climate, he says. Unlike farmland, forests help to seed rainfall because they have high evaporation rates.
"The less evaporation there is, the less rainfall there is and the whole system dries up," he says.
Trying Times Ahead
Dear BIOPLANNERS,
It is not often that you can read a scientific paper (see my posting from 2 days ago on "Quantifying and mapping the human appropriation of net primary production in earth's terrestrial ecosystems") and, just a few days later, read a media article that moves the argument on to its logical conclusion.
The article below is striking for its forthright approach to the fundamental trade-off between numbers and quality of life, and conservation of biodiversity, that it has for so long been incorrect to talk about.
Best wishes
David Duthie
--
David Duthie
UNEP-GEF Biosafety Unit, International Environment House (Room D601)
Geneva, Email: david.duthie @ unep.ch
--- Trying Times Ahead: The Prospect of 60 Million Californians
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/opinion/18wed4.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
By VERLYN KLINKENBORG, Published: July 18, 2007
Recently, the California Department of Finance projected that there will be some 60 million people living in the state by 2050. At present there are 36 million. The numbers in themselves are frightening enough, but what I find terrifying is the bland assumption that a two-thirds increase in population is inevitable and that the main problem will be creating the infrastructure necessary to house, feed, educate, transport and govern all those people. To me, the main problem is how to keep them from showing up in the first place.
Somehow the numbers in themselves don’t really suggest the sobering weight of this projection. To say that for every three Californians now there will be five in 2050 doesn’t capture the scale of change. If you said that for every three houses now there will be five in 2050, or for every three cars, ditto, you might be getting a little closer to the visceral feel of the thing. But when it comes to houses and cars, California is a land of loaves and fishes, always multiplying in the most unexpected ways. To live in the state is to live with unrelenting change, whether you like it or not, and it has been that way for decades.
But this population increase will mean more than filling up San Bernardino, Riverside and Kern Counties and paving the entire midsection of the state and creating impromptu day-schools and conference centers in stopped traffic. We tend to talk about humans as if they were interchangeable — as if the Californian of 1957 were somehow equivalent to the Californian of 2007. But today’s Californian consumes far more, if you consider consumption in its broadest sense. Draw pictures of those two Californians to the scale of their consumption, and the present-day resident would dwarf his ancestor. There’s a chance that a mid-21st-century Californian will look back in horror at the enormous consumption footprint of someone living in the state right now. That sense of horror would be good news — a sign that the coming generations had taken to heart that the way we live now, even in its current dimensions, is unsustainable. The trouble, of course, is that a population projection like this one more or less takes it for granted that not much will have changed by 2050. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be 60 million people in the state.
The point of thinking about the future is to help us think about the present. This population forecast is a vivid reminder of the assumptions that make meaningful change so hard. We can’t help believing in growth. We can’t help believing that the way to create change is simply to buy different stuff, so growth doesn’t stop. And we refuse to think seriously about the number of human beings on this planet, a kind of growth that somehow seems “natural” to us. It makes no difference how little each of those 60 million Californians will consume in 2050. The number cannot be negative. It’s nearly impossible to imagine how they could meet their water needs alone.
And then there is the impact of all those people on the other species with which they might have shared the Golden State. In 2007, we remain blindly impervious to the life-claims of almost all other forms of life — to the moral stipulation that their right to life is equivalent to ours. How it will be then I do not know, but if there are indeed 60 million people living in California in 2050, there will be nothing meaningful to be said on the matter, except as a subject of nostalgia.
We like to take it for granted that we’re moving ahead in environmental consciousness. We like to hope that the curve of our environmental awareness will catch up to the curve of our economic growth and things will somehow come into balance. But faith in our progressive enlightenment seems a little misplaced to me, especially when I remember a speech that James Madison gave to his local agricultural society nearly 190 years ago.
Madison said, simply, that we have no reason to suppose that all of Earth’s resources, which support so much living diversity, can rightfully be commandeered to support mankind alone. It seems incredible to me, in 2007, that a former president could articulate such an environmentally sound principle of conscience. But it’s a principle that should move to the very center of our thinking. It should cause us to re-examine not just how we shop and what we drive and who we elect but also how our species reproduces. It should cause us to re-imagine that once and future California, which lies only 43 years away, and make sure that it isn’t barren of all but us humans.
POSITION(s) AVAILABLE (3)
1) South African Crane Working Group Short-term Field Research
NPO 015502 / PBO 930 001 777
The Endangered Wildlife Trust, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, has grown over the past thirty-four years into one of the major non-governmental conservation organisations operating throughout southern Africa.
The Endangered Wildlife Trust seeks to appoint a shortterm field researcher with its South African Crane Working
Group (SACWG). The implementation of this project has been made possible by a grant from the Darwin Initiative which will support the collection and analysis of detailed information on crane ecology and conservation status that will ultimately be used for population viability analyses and generation of sensitivity maps. The field researcher will need to collect and meticulously record data on crane localities, nesting success and other aspects of crane biology. A willingness to travel and work alone is important.
The position requires a graduate with at least a BSc in the biological or environmental fields or a conservation
diploma. Preference will be given to candidates with field experience, and ideally those who can demonstrate an
adequate level of knowledge of the natural history of South Africa’s crane distribution areas. The position requires the ability to work in remote areas with little or no supervision and the ability to interact well with private landowners.
Strong communication skills are required and bilingualism is an advantage.
Applicants must demonstrate a passion for conservationand the environment and an understanding of and/or willingness to work in a non-governmental organisation.
The position will be based in southern KwaZulu-Natal.
Experience with spreadsheet software (Microsoft Excel) and entering of field data is advantageous.
Applicants need a valid South African driver’s license.
This is a contract appointment for a fixed period of six months starting September 2007
The Endangered Wildlife Trust is an equal opportunity employer.
Applicants are to submit a comprehensive CV, as well as a covering letter that includes their motivation as to how they see their role in this post.
All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Candidates who have not been contacted within 14 days of the closing date, must please assume that their applications were not successful. The EWT reserves the right not to make an appointment.
Closing date: Friday 27th July 2007
To apply please e-mail your CV to christinem@ewt.org.za Or post to “Human Resource Manager”,
Private Bag, X11, Parkview, 2122. Or fax to +27 (11) 486 1506
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2). Organisation:The Cape Leopard Trust (view web: www.capeleopard.org.za) Date: 16 July 2007
The Cape Leopard Trust was established with the primary objective of facilitating and promoting research in support of conserving predator diversity in the Western Cape. The conservation strategies include Inter alia; several bio-geographical research projects, advisory services relating to farmer-predator interactions and fostering new eco-tourism initiatives. It also supports an environmental education component and includes a programme of community involvement with future emphasis being on job creation among disadvantaged communities within the Cederberg area. We are currently extending the project elsewhere in the Western Cape and possibly still further.
Employment Opportunity:
Assistant Project Manager
Salary:
R102 000/annum (extras include: housing in the Cederberg Mountains + medical aid + Bonus + Capestorm clothing)
Duration:
Starting date:
As soon as possible
Job Description:
Assistance with:
Preferences:
Research experience; tertiary education; familiarity with animals & the environment; innovative; patient; knowledge of GPS & GIS; interested in further studies; motorcycle drivers license; good public speaking skills;
Applications:
Please e-mail CV's and letter of motivation to:
Quinton Martins, capeleopard@hixnet.co.za
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3). Industries Partnerships Working Group Airport Wildlife Management Coordinator
NPO 015502 / PBO 930 001 777
The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) has grown over the past thirty-four years into one of the major non-governmental conservation organisations operating throughout southern Africa.
The EWT seeks to appoint a coordinator for the airport wildlife management component of its Industry Partnerships Working Group. The EWT’s Airport Wildlife Management programme is centred around a strategic partnership between the Airports and the EWT. The programmes’ goal is to increase aviation safety standards at airports by minimising bird strikes and other interactions between wildlife and airport facilities through implementing integrated environmental management techniques. The coordinator will largely be responsible for
executing the objectives of the existing ACSA partnership dealing with bird and wildlife hazard management issues on all ACSA airports.
The preferred candidate will have a minimum of a BSc Honours degree in the biological sciences or related
environmental field. Further requirements are experience in project management, a high level of client liaison skills and a fundamental interest and understanding of bird ecology. The coordinator will liaise closely with airport staff and participate actively at relevant airport forums. The coordination and facilitation of the Border Collie Bird Scaring Programme will also be handled by the airports co-ordinator. Proficiency in the use of e-mail and good report writing skills are required as well as knowledge of databases and Geographic Information Management Systems and a good information technology background. Willingness to travel regularly and a valid driver’s license is a requirement. An understanding of and willingness to adapt to the conservation NGO environment is essential.
The successful candidate will report to the EWT’s Industry Partnerships Working Group Manager – Airports.
This is a 2 year contract appointment.
The Endangered Wildlife Trust is an equal opportunity employer.
Short-listed applicants will be required to attend interviews in Johannesburg, and the selected candidate will be based at the EWT headquarters in Johannesburg.
Applicants are to submit a comprehensive CV, as well as a motivation as to how they would see their role in this post.
All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Candidates who have not been contacted within 14 days of the closing date, must please assume that their applications were not successful. The EWT reserves the right not to make an appointment.
Closing date: Wednesday 25th July 2007
To apply please e-mail your application to
albertf@ewt.org.za, Or post to “Human Resource and Administration Manager”, EWT, Private Bag X11, Parkview, South Africa, 2122. Or fax to +27 (11) 486 1506
POSITION(s) Wanted
Herewith a request I have received from a lady that wants to work in the bush, in a
admin position.
She has sent a CV which records positions she has held which include Nedcor, American Express, Youth Discovery Programme SA, Defence Force HQ SA and an attorney’s office and says
“ I am comfortable in an admin environment have experience working at OR Tambo Airport were as a shift manager I worked closely in client and customer care. I also attended management meetings. I work closely with co -workers by sorting out problems at the office, and have experience of payments of clients and buying of goods and was sometime part of ACSA meetings”.
Marisa Labuschagne, email: Marisa.Labuschagne@amex.co.za
Tailpiece-
Always Speak the Truth. . .
A Blonde young woman on a flight back to the USA from Europe asked a priest who sat next to her, "Father, may I ask of you a favour?"
"Of course. What may I do for you"
"Well, I bought a very expensive, state-of-the-art woman's electronic hair dryer for my mother's birthday. It is in its original package unopened. But it is valued well over the Customs limits, and I'm afraid I may have to pay quite a bit of tax on it. If I don't, it might be confiscated. Is there any way you could carry it through Customs for me under your robe"
"I would love to help you, my child, but I must warn you. I cannot and will not lie."
"Father, with your honest-looking face, no one will question you."
When they got to Customs, she let the priest go ahead of her. The Customs inspector asked,
"Father, do you have anything to declare"
"From the top of my head down to my waist, I have nothing to declare."
The Customs officer thought the answer interesting but strange, so he asked further, "And what do you have to declare from your waist down to the floor"
"I have a marvelous instrument designed to be used on a woman, but which to date is unused."
Roaring with laughter, the Customs man said, "Go ahead, Father, have a good day!"
Matter of Fact
This is an electronic newsletter of the Game Rangers' Association of Africa. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Association, nor of the Editor. This is intended to be an exchange of news snips, ideas and communication between members. Newsletter content may be copied and re-distributed without authorisation. Correspondence should be addressed to the Editor at dyunnie@xsinet.co.za