Overview 1.EcoDoc Africa 2. Findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 3. UNEP Global Outlook 2010 – Produced for Convention on Biological Diversity Presentation to Parliament The Climate Change discussion document, outlining South Africa’s position towards the 21 st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Geasphere would have liked to have been here today but were told not enough funding available for transport civil society

Key climate change concerns re South Africa’s Climate Change Approach: “Clean Coal technology” Carbon capture & storage Unsafe nuclear energy Carbon trading and CDM

Real solutions that can be easily implemented are not prioritised: Organic agriculture Public transport Better town planning Reducing overconsumption Who we are….

Targeted energy/carbon taxes Renewable solar energy Decentralised energy grid Landscape restoration Who we are….

Large-scale and small scale – including soil biodiversity and organic, no-till farming

Four Key Reasons Timber Plantations should not be used for climate change mitigation

Impact on Biodiversity South Africa’s biodiversity resides in its grasslands species in the Mpumalanga Region Replaced by a monoculture Indigenous plants need fire, light and water, and the plantations take away all three Plantations are planted in the mistbelt which has the highest flower diversity, plus many medicinal plants

Large scale industrial timber plantations convert huge tracts of land into a green desert where little life exists. Indigenous birds, insects and soil microbes are not adapted to this alien plant species. environmental impacts

Impact on Ecosystem Services These include the water retention services provided by grasslands Prevention of Soil Erosion Siltation in rivers The rivers in Mpumalanga are badly affected and industry does not have the capacity to undo the damage

“Humans are fundamentally, and to a significant extent irreversibly, changing the diversity of life on Earth, and most of these changes represent a loss of biodiversity. More than two thirds of the area of 2 of the world’s 14 major terrestrial biomes and more than half of the area of 4 other biomes had been converted by 1990, primarily to agriculture.”

Impact on Water Resources Eucalyptus roots 50 metre in soil Evergreen use water when it is not raining – in winter – especially bad impact on downstream rivers STEALS groundwater 25 litres of water per day but more accurate to say 100 litres, up to 1000 litres per day One hectare 1000 – 1500 trees. Impacts on river flow Trees are located in the mist belt – highest rainfall areas – catchment areas Highest flower diversity and medicinal plants

Impacts on People Diversity impoverishments which impacts on traditional healers Rural people who collect thatching grass, wild fruits, wood for fire, Eucalyptus and pine don’t make coals so not good for cooking Spiritual connections – traditional healers and indigenous knowledge systems dependent on healthy environment.

Rivers drying up and fountains disappearing – eg Mooifontein fountain disappeared Farmers affected by the loss of rivers Externalisation of costs, cost borne by farmers who have to pump from boreholes but didn’t cause the problem Employment very low in plantations because slow rotation 10 to 20 years Much of the industry being mechanised – replacing hundreds of workers Contact workers rather than having a regular workforce.

Dimension of Fire Important Fire has traditionally been an important tool used for integrated natural resource management, especially for grasslands Now land owners are being forced to burn too early in the season which results in a different temperature of fire => with the overall impact that grasslands areas are turning into savannah areas – resulting in loss of biodiversity

fr0 Tree plantations are not forests. They are a part of an industrial production process that destroys natural vegetation, consumes huge amounts of water, causes soil erosion, displaces communities, and feeds wasteful consumption! -

Celebrating the Rivers of the Lowveld

Lowveld Community Exchange System