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Contents
of December 2001
EDITORIAL
Veld collected plants
UPFRONT
News
LETTERS
TREE OF THE ISSUE
Sonette Smit chooses the
Common Coral Tree
WORDS ON WASTE
FEATURES
Minerals,
Mining and Sustainable Development in Southern Africa
Liabilities into assets
Sustainable building
design involving bricks from sludge
Urban roots: a history of Johannesburg
Urban interchange
Controlling algael bloom
A reliable ecological
basis for environmental planning
-----
EDITORIAL
Veld collected plants
In this year’s
May/June issue, Urban Green File carried an editorial about veld collected plants and
rocks being used for landscaping purposes, speaking out strongly against the practice,
except where the site was scheduled for development - and commenting on the need for
Nature Conservation departments to expedite the handing out of permits for collection in
areas where plants were going to be destroyed. The Apartheid Museum in the south of
Johannesburg (see article on page 24) comprises an area which is landscaped with veld
collected plants - an area of ‘natural’ veld as prescribed in the design concept
- and it was necessary to find out where these plants had been sourced. Landscape designer
Patrick Watson said that no rare or endangered plants had been used in the landscape
because he had specifically wanted only the ordinary flowers of the veld. He said that he
had pointed out sites scheduled for development to the landscape contractor and assumed
that the plants came from these sites.
Herbaceous
plants were ostensibly obtained from the townhouse development site of Featherbrooke
Estate, an area of grassland near the Wits Botanical Garden, while the thatching grass was
harvested from a site near the Apartheid Museum which was scheduled, and had subsequently
been cleared, for the construction of a factory. A pile of rocks pushed to one side was
collected from a building site in the vicinity. The rooigras was obtained from the
landscape contractor’s own farm and other wildflowers were taken, with the permission
of the developer, from the ridge destined for townhouse development opposite the Dome near
Northgate. Patrick commented that development along this almost pristine ridge should have
been prevented and the ridge itself declared a reserve.
He then
decried the utilisation of any ridges, with their rich biodiversity, for development and
said that all our ridges in Gauteng should have been declared sacrosanct and preserved
intact - as they would have been, had the ridges and rivers policy been adhered to. He
spoke also about the devastation of the fabulous norite koppies of the Brits area, with
their unique ecosystems, by mining activities, saying that the dynamiting and bulldozing
of these koppies was where Nature Conservation should be concentrating its efforts - and
not on a handful of landscapers utilizing (or ‘recycling’, as he called it)
plants that were, in any event, destined for destruction in urban areas. He maintained
that the damage landscapers did was negligible.
Patrick
spoke out about the difficulties he had had with Nature Conservation over the years,
emphasising his experiences at the start of the Lost City project when he had tried to go
the right route, to be scrupulously careful about keeping on the right side of the law. He
had asked the Director of Nature Conservation for permission to collect seeds for the
project’s propagating nursery and it had taken 18 months for this permission to be
granted - by which time, as he said, the project was almost finished.
“Bureaucracy
is the enemy of law and order,” was Patrick’s conclusion. “When you make
something unnecessarily difficult, people will go against you - when co-operation, in
fact, is needed. The permitting system has failed in this country. I have found in the
past that it is often technically impossible to get a permit, largely because of the red
tape, even when the harvesting is clearly being done in a sustainable manner. Maybe we are
too precious about our ordinary indigenous plants, most of which will regenerate. I
believe that Nature Conservation should draw up a macro-plan demarcating areas that are
sacrosanct - that may not be touched - areas such as ridges, the tops of hills, certain
unspoilt river courses, forests, and obviously nature reserves and other declared
conservation areas.
“To
take an ancient cycad out of the wild is clearly inexcusable but there should not be a
blanket ban on collecting from nature - after all, the muthi collectors do it without
repercussions, as do the millions of people in the previous homeland areas in their search
for firewood - there is a complete lack of environmental control there. Farming has
destroyed thousands of acres, as has mining. Conservation of ‘antique’ trees,
rocks and riverbeds is certainly necessary and some ethical code needs to be devised, but
it needs to be practical. We need to guard against environmental tyranny and decide what
can be harvested sustainably. Environmental Impact Assessments will also fail unless the
process is speeded up on sites where there is no serious impact, whereas other valuable
sites may well need years of study.
“Permits
for seed collection need to be forthcoming immediately and they need to be blanket
permits, as the collecting of seeds for propagating purposes is opportunistic and growing
indigenous plants, rather than removing them from the wild, is the route to go from every
perspective, including that of conservation. Finding, digging up plants and transporting
them, sometimes long distances, is enormously time-consuming and uneconomical, whereas
growing them on site or purchasing them from commercial nurseries is cost-effective - and
the plants are usually more stable and liable to survive than those taken from the wild.
The problem is that indigenous grassland plants are not often available from commercial
nurseries.*
I would
hardly be likely to dig Agapanthus or Dietes (wild irises) out of the wild when they are
available in vast quantities at commercial nurseries at reasonable prices. Propagation has
saved the Agapanthus, there are hardly any left in the wild - probably due to the muthi
trade. We were not allowed to collect Baobab seeds for the Lost City project because
Adansonia digitata is a protected tree - but it produces thousands of seeds that go to
waste and could be used for propagating purposes.”
There are
many sides to this story and it is not something that will be easily solved - but it needs
to be resolved. Urban Green File would like to issue readers with a challenge to take up
this debate in the form of letters to the editor in forthcoming issues of the journal.
Once again,
as we reach the end of a year, we would like to thank all our advertisers and our
increasing bank of subscribers for the faith they have shown in Urban Green File. We hope
that you continue to benefit from your participation.
* I would like to mention
that I saw 500 nursery grown plants of Hypoxis hemerocallidea (Star-flower) at Random
Harvest Nursery shortly after hearing Patrick’s complaint. These little
yellow-flowered plants of the veld, incorrectly known as the African Potato, have been
used prolifically in the Apartheid Museum landscape.
-----
UPFRONT
Winners of Bonesa’s luminaire (lampshade) design competition
The winners
of Bonesa’s innovative 2001 competition aimed at promoting the design of lampshades
for energy saving bulbs were chosen from a record number of 95 entries. The competition
was presented in two categories: a professional and a student category, and entrants had
to comply with strict competition rules which involved constructing a model, providing a
technical description of the design (including a budget), and naming their entry. The
prize of R10 000 in the professional category was sponsored by Osram, while Voltex
(Philips SA) sponsored the second prize of R4 000 (individual winner) and R1 000 for each
of the runners-up in the student category. The winner in the professional category
received a floating trophy, while the runners-up won lights to the value of R2 000 for
their respective homes, with the compliments of General Electric.
A panel of
16 adjudicators had the daunting task of selecting the best lampshades. The judging
criteria looked at whether the design was innovative, whether it was cost efficient,
whether it increased the effective consumption of energy or not, its marketing potential,
whether it was environmentally friendly, the degree to which the manufacture of the lamp
would encourage job creation and whether it was aesthetically pleasing.
The first
prize in the professional category was won by Robin Scott, a design engineer with Eskom in
Somerset West. He was a runner-up in this year’s competition as well. Scott said his
winning entry ‘Mafuta’ (fat one) was inspired by taking a rather ordinary
industrial fitting (known as ‘well-glass’) and literally turning it upside down
to produce a simple cheap design. Originally the plan was simply to frost (sand-blast) the
well-glass, invert it and fit an integral CFL lamp into the bayonet fitting. That did not
work too well, as the light given off was not uniform because of the unlit bottom half of
the integral CFL. A modular CFL was tried, resulting in far better light distribution but
it produced glare. The glare problem was solved by the addition of the shade, which is
sized to fit closely on top of the well-glass and can be set at any suitable angle to cast
shade or shed light as desired. Mafuta should retail for about R147.
The origin
of Scott’s runner-up luminaire ‘Dark Sky l’ lay in a passing interest that
he has in astronomy. The design is aimed at outdoor domestic use - for the lighting of a
garden pathway. Dark Sky l should also retail for about R147.
The winner
in the student category, Mario Papadopoulos, is a third year student in Product Design at
the Technikon Witwatersrand. According to him, his winning luminaire, Enviro Tusk Lamp,
was inspired by “African design: encompassing the cross-pollination between our
diverse cultures.” The runners-up in the student category were: Vanessa Preston,
Ursula Heuschen, Johan Walters, August de Wet, Meghan Nott and a special commendation was
given to Chris-Jan Bezuidenhout.
Website: www.bonesa.co.za
Certification of
Environmental Assessment Practitioners
Environmental
Impact Assessment practitioners are now able to apply for Certification, which is the
formal way in which the education, training and experience of individual practitioners is
recognised. This is a voluntary process, managed by the Interim Certification Board for
Environmental Assessment Practitioners. As more and more practitioners enter the
profession, the need to uphold professional standards and provide some level of assurance
about the quality of environmental assessment work has been underlined and the imperative
for certification has grown. The Board will evaluate applications based on the
documentation received from the applicant and referee’s reports. Successful
applicants will be entitled to make known their professional certification to peers and
clients.
Contact Erica Searl at the Interim Certification Board for more information and
application forms. Tel: (021) 531 3932. (The telephone number is the Cape Town code and
not the Pretoria code as indicated in the previous issue of UGF.) Email:
eacertify@intekom.co.za
Stihl providing
training for community upliftment programme
Enviro
Chainsaws, one of the leading dealers of Stihl chainsaws and brushcutters in SA, is
engaged in a programme of training previously disadvantaged people in the use of chainsaws
and brushcutters. Enviro Chainsaws is working largely with Working for Water in the
eradication of alien species such as Bluegum, Jacaranda and Syringa, in wetlands and
riverine areas.
Marius
Taljard, director of Enviro Chainsaws, says that in the process of weed eradication the
company is helping to promote entrepreneurship by teaching people, who previously had no
opportunities, skills involving the use of chainsaws and brushcutters, and conducting
basic courses on how to run a business. They are taught to tender and how to fulfil a
contract through proper management of staff, use of equipment, maintenance of equipment
and safety.
A spokesman
from Working for Water said that people like Taljard and companies like Andreas Stihl
(Pty) Ltd, that had provided much of the equipment, were making a major contribution to
the upliftment of previously marginalised communities.
Contact Andreas Stihl (Pty) Ltd tollfree on 0800 336 996 or Hennie Blok - Tel: (033) 386
9227. Email: info@stihl.co.za
Solar technology
integrated into prototype house
Research is
being done to find a solar heating system for economic housing suited to South African
conditions. The purpose is to find an economic solution for people who are exposed to
freezing cold winter nights in low income areas and informal settlements at high
altitudes, where the present heating method by coal and paraffin is expensive, a health
hazard and environmentally unsound.
Sten
Lundgren and Ingemar Sävfors, an engineer and an architect from Sweden, have studied the
problem in situ and done a preliminary design of a solar driven system based on common
building materials and air as a heat carrier. They have built a prototype in Observatory,
Johannesburg, to assess functionality - which, they say, appears to be promising.
They
envisage different designs both for new construction to different standards and for
upgrading of informal urban settlements. In the latter case, the solar heating system is
built as a mobile kit, so that if the owner moves, the investment is not wasted. The
advantage is that people in these large urban agglomerations can, in this way, enjoy
healthier and better conditions in the present, without having to wait to be upgraded to
formal housing sometime in the future. Apart from the obvious environmental advantages,
this new solar heating technique will also provide local employment opportunities.
The
prototype house, built together with Ilanga, a South African development organisation, to
test and enhance the methods used, is based on a typical 40m2 low cost house
concept with the solar energy integrated into the house. A small-scale local contractor
built the non-solar components of the house and Hydraform’s earth-cement blocks were
used. Umea Technical University of Sweden will participate in the first evaluation.
The economic
feasibility will be analysed in a second phase. The first results are encouraging, as the
solar components consist, basically, of inexpensive materials like regular corrugated
sheets, polystyrene and crushed stone. And paraffin prices have more than doubled in South
Africa over an eighteen month period!
Website: http://www.canit.se/~saevfors . For additional information contact Hydraform
Africa. Tel: (011) 913 1449. Email: hydra@iafrica.com or hdform@iafrica.com
Landscape
Irrigation Association Awards of Excellence 2001
The annual
Awards of Excellence presented by the Landscape Irrigation Association (LIA) of South
Africa were adjudicated by independent irrigation consultant, Steve Reynolds, consultant
for Rainbird, Larry Phelan and proprietor of the irrigation contracting company Water
Plant, Albert Venter. The judges commented that the standard of entries was significantly
higher, across the board, than in previous years.
Gold Awards
were won by Irrigate for a sportsturf installation at Wilgers Ho‘rskool; Sprinklers
for Africa for a residential installation at House Leal; and Top Turf Irrigation for a
commercial installation at Fourways Golf Park (see article in Nov/Dec 2000 issue of Urban
Green File) and a sportsturf installation (for wetting the synthetic surface to guard
against skin burns) at RAU’s Astro hockey field.
Silver
Awards went to Aqua Irrigation for House Oates, Irrigate Mate for House Cheshire,
Isometric Irrigation for House Harwood, John Magee for House O’Ehley, Mr Drip
Irrigation for House Drysdale and RWS Irrigation for House Russell. Merit certificates
were given to Isometric Irrigation for Brait Bank and Top Turf Irrigation for Sunninghill
Polo Estate.
Water
conservation
Urban Green
File spoke to Steve Reynolds about water conservation techniques worthy of mention in this
year’s judging and he said that the judges took particular note of water saving
measures and awarded extra points where they were in evidence. He said that at least five
installations had made use of ‘rain-check’ or ‘rain-off’ devices which
served to switch off irrigation controllers during a rainstorm and keep these switched off
until the area had dried out. He said these basic devices were very effective and proved
to have the most positive impact, generally, on water savings with automatic irrigation
systems. He commented that by far the most noteworthy water saving initiative was the
ingenious way of collecting stormwater and utilising it for irrigation purposes at
Fourways Golf Park. He mentioned that when the judging was done in mid-winter this year,
the water collected on site had, thus far, been adequate for all irrigation requirements,
meaning that the planned use of municipal water to supplement the water collection system
had not yet been necessary.
Reynolds
added that generally more attention had been paid in the design of projects to separation
of planting zones in terms of water demand, in accordance with water wise principles, than
in previous years.
Fertigation
system
Sprinklers
for Africa who also won the SA Gardening Trophy for House Leal installed an innovative
fertigation system which, Reynolds said, was quite sophisticated. The fertigation system
made use of an injection pump controlled by an irrigation controller. He said the pump
could either inject a standard solution of nutrients into all the irrigation water or
alternatively inject only certain volumes of the nutrient mix and apply these only at
selected stations on the system. He maintained that this was a highly efficient, tight
method of controlling fertiliser application and that it far outweighed distributing
fertiliser by hand, which could mean the use of unnecessarily high quantities, impacting
negatively both on cost and on the environment.
Contact Val Wamsteker, LIA office. Tel: (011) 464 1098. Email: info@sana.co.za
IAIAsa Awards
2002
The
International Association for Impact Assessment (South African Affiliate) has adopted the
well known EPPIC (Environmental Planning Professions Interdisciplinary Committee) Awards,
as the latter organisation was disbanded in 2002, and renamed these the ‘IAIAsa
Awards’. The first IAIAsa Awards will be made in October 2002 at the annual IAIAsa
regional conference. The Awards will follow the format of the EPPIC Awards and be made in
two categories: the National Premium Award and the National Student Award. Nominations are
invited from individuals, project teams and organisations. The Award categories are
focussed on IAIA’s core objectives to further the practice of environmental
assessment and management.
The
objective of the Awards will be to recognise excellence in South Africa for those
activities developed, planned and managed for the benefit of the sustainability of human
society and the environment on which we all depend. Adjudication of nominations will be
done by an Awards Committee comprising members of the IAIAsa National Executive Committee,
members of the disbanded EPPIC Executive Committee (who are also members of IAIAsa) and
other individuals co-opted by IAIAsa. Adjudication will be focussed on demonstrated
excellence and outstanding contributions towards achieving sustainable development. The
closing date for entries is 31 May 2002.
Nomination forms and further information can be obtained from Glaudin Kruger at The IAIAsa
Secretariat. Tel: (028) 316 2905. Fax: 028 316 4658. Email: kruger@jaywalk.com
KPMG’s
Sustainability Reporting Awards
Only a third
of SA’s top companies publicly report that they have an employment equity policy, a
fraud strategy or are addressing HIV/AIDS, despite the critical urgency of these issues,
says KPMG in its 2001 survey of sustainability reporting. Other sustainability issues
covered in the survey include corporate governance, industrial relations, social and
community issues, education and training, environment, safety, health and economic
performance.
KPMG’s
survey is based on an analysis of the nature and extent of sustainability disclosure in
annual financial reports and standalone public sustainability reports. The sample of
annual financial reports that is assessed includes the JSE All Share Index (ALSI) 100
companies, the Financial Mail Top 100 Industrials, the JSE top mines and public entities -
and 17 corporate sustainability reports.
“While
SA companies still lag substantially behind their international counterparts in the
production of standalone public reports, there is a clear trend towards transparent
reporting on the so called ‘triple bottom line” of economic, social and
environmental reporting,” says Wayne Visser, KPMG’s environmental, health and
safety associate director. “The best disclosure is in the areas of corporate
governance, codes of ethics and employment equity, where more than 75% of companies are
reporting information. Weaker reporting areas are black economic empowerment, safety,
health and environmental issues, where only about 50% of annual financial reports contain
such information. Given the fact that Johannesburg will be hosting the World Summit on
Sustainable Development, it is of concern that only a quarter mention this issue.”
Looking to
the future, it is likely that various international drivers and trends will continue to
exert pressure on companies to report on sustainability. These include, amongst others,
international standards such as ISO 14001 on Environmental Management Systems,
Accountability 1000 on social and ethical accountability, the Sustainability Reporting
Guidelines and the United Nations’ Global Compact. Likewise in SA, the Promotion of
Access to Information Act and the revised King Report will provide additional incentives
for transparent disclosure on sustainability issues.
“The
true value of sustainability reporting, however, will only emerge when a clear link is
made between financial and non-financial performance and disclosure,” concludes
Visser.
Based on the
analysis of annual financial reports by the Sasol Chair for Innovative Environmental
Management & Sasol Chair in Environmental Engineering (of the University of the
Witwatersrand) against the KPMG sustainability disclosure checklist, the following were
some of the top performers.
Best Sustainability
Disclosure in an Annual Report
*
ALSI 100 Category:
Gold Award to Anglo American Platinum Corporation Ltd
*
Industrial Category:
Gold Award to Sasol
*
Mining Category: Gold
Award to Anglo American Platinum Corporation Ltd
*
Public Entities
Category: Gold Award to Eskom
*
Services Category:
Gold Award to ABSA Group Ltd
Based on the
analysis of separate sustainability reports, scored by Corporate Footprint against the
KPMG Sustainability Reporting Scorecard, the following were some of the top performers.
*
Best Corporate
Sustainability Report: South African Breweries plc (CorporateCitizenship Review Report)
*
Best Corporate
Environmental/HSE Report: (International Category) Gold Award: Billiton (HSE Report); (SA
Category) Gold Award: Eskom (Environmental Report)
*
Best Corporate Social
Reports: Palabora Mining Company Ltd (social component of Environmental and Social
Report); Liberty Group Ltd (Corporate Governance Review Report); Anglo American plc
(Corporate Social Investment in SA Report)
For further information: Wayne Visser, KPMG. Email: wayne.visser@kpmg.co.za Cell: 083 285 6338
Tree Popper wins
SABS Design Institute Award
The South
African Bureau of Standards Design Institute, through their Awards programme, emphasises
the value of effective local design in ensuring South Africa’s technological and
economic development. The initiative highlights examples of South African engineering and
industrial design and the ability of local designers to compete in global markets.
Designed in
direct response to the need for eradication of invasive alien plants, the Tree Popper is a
robust, uncomplicated tool that can be used by one person. A simple concept of leverage
has been used to ensure the complete removal of unwanted vegetation.
Manufactured
from mild steel, the Tree Popper comprises a lever/handle with a rubber grip and a foot
piece firmly held together by a circlip. These two basic parts form a pliers-like jaw that
is used to grip the plant stem.
Operation is
simple - with the jaw hooked around the plant stem, force is exerted on the handle causing
the foot piece to lever the plant and its roots completely out of the ground. No skill is
required when using the Tree Popper as it is a completely safe device. It does not impact
negatively on the environment and facilitates the permanent removal of invasive
vegetation. Use of this robust implement also lessens the need for herbicides and other
chemicals, because with complete elimination the possibility of regrowth is removed. It is
suitable for use in areas that are inaccessible to larger mechanical implements and has
been used successfully on mountain slopes and on other difficult sites.
With only
one simple, moving part, the tool does not require maintenance and is available in three
different sizes to suit individual preference.
For further information contact Frederick De Wet Negus of Tree Popper CC. Tel: (021) 858
1563. Email: negus@worldonline.co.za
New part-time MLA
course at UCT
The School
of Architecture and Planning at the University of Cape Town will be offering their Master
of Landscape Architecture Programme on a part-time basis, as an additional option, from
2002.The part-time course will be spread over three years and will have the same content
as the 2-year full-time course. Fees are approximately the same as for the full-time
course. The School also offers a 1-year part-time Master of Philosophy option. This is a
non-professional degree which would suit mid-career candidates.
For more information contact secretary Marie Nelson. Tel: (021) 650 2366.
Email: marie@eng.uct.ac.za.
Alternatively, contact programme convenor Bernard Oberholzer. Tel: (021) 650 4109. Email:
oberholz@eng.uct.ac.za
Low-tech method
for tracking pollutants
Researchers
in the UK have developed a low-tech method of using butter to track pollutants. This could
be the key to pollution tracking in developing countries where there are no sophisticated
monitoring devices. Prof Kevin Jones of Lancaster University’s Environmental Science
department and the research laboratory of environmental campaigner Greenpeace believe that
analysing butter samples from many farms in a region could be a reliable way of monitoring
the production of pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and
pesticides.
Air
pollutants fall on grazing pastures and become concentrated in the fat of the milk of cows
which is concentrated in butter. Prof Jones explained: “Almost every country in the
world has enough cows to make butter testing possible. There are huge areas of the world
where no measurements are made at all and testing butter could allow fairly accurate
measures to be made simply.”
Despite some
limitations in the technique, after the team analysed and measured levels of PCBs (often
found in lubricants and pesticides) in more than 60 butter samples from 23 countries -
including the UK, China and areas of Africa - the data closely matched that produced by
sophisticated air-monitoring centres in some of these countries.
New Council
by-law to control outdoor advertising
A new by-law
to control outdoor advertising throughout the Cape Town metropole has been approved by the
City of Cape Town. Control of outdoor advertising is now a function of local government
and, with the formation of the Unicity, it became evident that a by-law was urgently
required. The by-law which takes into account both the need for economic development and
the need to protect the environment, was approved after an extensive public participation
process. The approved legislation supports the city’s strategic objectives such as
the promotion of tourism, a safe city, an opportunity city, government close to the
people, and a well-run and caring city.
In the past,
control of outdoor advertising rested with each of the Metropolitan Local Councils and
different standards were applied, although broad consensus was reached that the central
concern was the environmental impact of advertisements. Other issues were road safety,
structural safety and public benefits.
In January
this year, an Outdoor Advertising Working Group was established to draft a by-law for the
new City of Cape Town. After advertising for public comment and participation, a public
hearing was held on 23 May. A further 80 written submissions were made and all comments
were workshopped.
Councillor
Bryan Watkyns, chairperson of the Planning and Environment portfolio committee, says that
there is a need to enforce uniform standards that take into account the impact on tourism
and the natural beauty of Cape Town, as well as the rights of advertisers and the safety
of the public. “The by-law has gone through the full process of public participation
and we are satisfied that it serves the best interests of the majority of our people. From
now on advertisers will know exactly what they can and can’t do, which will make life
easier for them as well,” says Watkyns.
For more information access the website: www.lancaster.ac.uk
7th
World Wilderness Congress a great success
Dr Vance
Martin of the US-based WILD Foundation called the 7th WWC held in Port
Elizabeth from 2-8 November a “roaring success”. He said that substantive
international issues were addressed and that a list of accomplishments had emerged from
the congress. “It is these practical accomplishments, along with a tangible
enlivening spirit of co-operation, which make Wilderness Congresses (of which there have
been six since the establishment of the project by Ian Player in 1977) stand out amongst
other international conventions.”
The World
Wilderness Congress is the longest running, international, public environmental forum and
its debate and actions have helped to focus a wide range of people and professions on key
issues affecting ‘wildlands’ and their dependent human and wildlife communities.
Over 100 nations have attended the congresses and the delegates have included local
leaders and communities, heads of state and politicians, field and game rangers, artists,
corporate leaders, scientists, educators, financiers and many others. The long list of its
practical accomplishments in the past have included promoting and establishing new
protected areas; new financial mechanisms to fund and sustain wilderness; global
inventories of wilderness areas and wild rivers; advancing the issues and concerns of
indigenous people; educational and training programmes for managers, scientists and the
public, and many more.
Highlights
of the 2001 Congress include:
•
Financial grants of a
million dollars each to the Eastern Cape Province for the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area
and to Angola for the Kissama Foundation to rehabilitate Kissama National Park.
•
The declaration of the
first wilderness area on privately owned land in Africa. Over 3 000 ha or 16% of the
private game reserve, Shamwari, outside Port Elizabeth, has been placed under the legal
servitude of the Wilderness Foundation of South Africa.
•
Public-sector
wilderness conservation efforts in Africa received a boost through an announcement by
Namibia that it was in the process of drafting national wilderness legislation. There are
also plans for a new Wilderness National Park in south-western Namibia, as well as a
transfrontier park stretching from the Northern Cape through Namibia into southern Angola.
•
The launch of two new
fund raising initiatives: 'My Acre of Africa' and the 'African Protected Areas
Initiative'. The first is an internet-based, public fundraising strategy for southern
African parks, protected areas and local communities, the details of which can be sourced
on www.myacreofafrica.com , while the second is a strategy to address the need for more
finance for all African protected areas, to be developed and launched at the 5th World
Parks Congress in Durban in June 2003.
•
Commitment by the
private sector to support conservation and training.
•
The announcement of
proposed US legislation to protect the world’s tropical forests. Congressman E Clay
Shaw announced the imminent introduction into the US Congress of a bill addressing the
need to stem the tide of unsustainable logging in tropical forests, using a number of
different financial mechanisms such as debt swaps and the buy-back of logging rights.
•
The congress also
contributed to the training of wildlife professionals. A group of 20 wildlands managers
and wardens from 13 countries graduated from a special training course on wilderness
management, which was held during the week before the congress.
All in all, over 30 targeted resolutions were adopted by the 7th WWC, concerning issues in
Asia, Africa and the Americas. These are posted on the congess website:
www.worldwilderness.org
-----
LETTERS
Inefficiency of
domestic paper recycling programme
I read with
interest the story in the Sep/Oct issue of Urban Green File about the waste reduction
programme of that temple to consumerism, Montecasino. But let me not be churlish - it
seems we beleaguered adherents to sustainable living must be grateful for every little
crumb saved from the overflowing banquet of consumption.
The target
of this letter is actually Mondi Recycling, which is mentioned in the article as the
collector of the paper and cardboard. Peter Hunter of Mondi Recycling comments that it is
time legislation was introduced to oblige home owners to separate their waste. I couldn’t
agree more, but a working system must be in place, otherwise such regulations would be
ignored and discredited (rather like the EIA regulations!).
Mondi
Recycling, in my experience as a Johannesburg home owner delighted to have the opportunity
to recycle, has failed to build confidence in domestic recycling as a viable alternative
to ‘throwing out the rubbish’. My experiences with them were similar in
KwaZulu-Natal, a couple of years ago. Yes, the calendar of collection days arrived in our
post box. Yes, we phoned them to register and gave our address details. Yes, they assured
us they would collect on the corner of the street on the designated day. No, they did not
drop off a Ronnie Bag. No, they did not arrive on the designated day (the pile of
newspapers under a rock was simply a pretext for passersby to add to the litter). No,
their promised response to our phone call did not materialise until after a second phone
call. Yes, finally they collected paper about three days after the then-promised date. No,
they never dropped off a Ronnie Bag. No, their regular bi-weekly collection day was never
adhered to.
That was in
Craighall Park. We’ve since moved to Craighall, a wealthy area where the majority of
people are aware of their surroundings and would be willing to play ball. Perhaps Mondi
Recycling does operate there, but we’ve never again had any notices in our post box.
Don’t
offer the service Mondi, if you are not going to see it through. Perhaps it’s just
part of the global economic mentality: home owners aren’t big enough to matter.
Disillusioned Cally H
Reply from Mondi Recycling
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond to Cally H’s
letter. It is very encouraging when people like Cally take such an interest in recycling.
I appreciate her comments.
Regarding
our Kerbside Paper Pick-Up programme, calenders indicating collection dates for the
forthcoming year are distributed in January of each year. Cally should look out for her
2002 calendar in January 2002. We do operate our Kerbside programme in Craighall, every
second Monday.
We sold all
our Kerbside vehicles to our drivers a couple of months ago - so they are now Owner
Drivers. In this capacity it is imperative that they collect as much paper as possible, so
previous missed collections should certainly be a thing of the past. Should your calendar
be mislaid, simply phone Toll Free 0800022112 or visit us on www.paperpickup.co.za where you’ll find your Kerbside collection
dates. You’ll also find the addresses of your nearest PaperBanks situated at schools,
churches or at charitable organisations. If there is a Buy-Back Centre in your area, it
will be shown.
Home owners
are extremely important to us, as this is where the majority of newspapers and magazines
end up.
In addition
to our Kerbside Paper Pick-up programme, we have Small Business, PaperBanks and Office
programmes. We have given approximately 300 PaperBarrows to loyal hawkers to assist them
in their collection of paper and cardboard. We pay Small Business about R 13 million per
year for their paper.
Peter Hunter, Mondi
Recycling
Ed: It is very heartening to see the full PaperBarrows, pushed by the loyal hawkers that
Peter mentions, traversing back and forth on an on-going basis between the office blocks
on Illovo Boulevard and the Buy-Back Centre in Sandton. Clearly, Mondi is doing something
right!
-----
TREE OF THE ISSUE
Sonette Smit chooses the Common Coral
Tree
Erythrina
Lysistemon
Sonette Smit
is a landscape architect with the City of Cape Town (Design Services: Planning and
Economic Development) and she has chosen the Common Coral Tree as Tree of the Issue. It is
a deciduous tree which grows up to 12m in height, with a spreading crown. Its flowers
attract a multiplicity of insects and birds. Its natural habitat is the northern and
eastern parts of the country, but it has proved to be an appropriate tree for Cape Town
and the windswept Cape Flats.
“The
Cape Flats is a dusty, dreary place and, generally, the only colour to be seen are the
wind blown plastic bags which are called the ‘flowers of the Cape Flats’. The
soils are sandy and there is a high water table. In summer, the dry south-easter blows and
in winter, the stormy north-wester. We have tried the Coral Tree in this difficult growing
environment and it does well. We have used it as a focal point, because of its sculptural
significance and striking red flowers which appear in late winter, at the entrance to
Philippi Station and at intersections along Ingulubi Drive between the station and Brown’s
Farm. The tree has also been used at Brown’s Farm, which is a market plaza in
Philippi, where landscape architects OvP Associates have acted as consultants,” says
Sonette.
She has
noticed that the tree is also doing well along Liesbeeck River Drive where it has been
used as a street tree and comments that it is an appropriate street tree because it has a
definite single-stem, a good canopy which provides shade in summer, bright red flowers
which appear before the leaves and an interesting architecture when it is bare in winter.
Additionally, the twisted pods are attractive with their exposed red seeds, the
apple-green leaves are a nice shape and the grey, textured bark is another appealing
feature.
Sonette says
the trees at Philippi, which were planted in June last year are doing well in the harsh,
windy conditions and sandy soil and have shown about a half metre of growth over the past
year, even though they have had to expend a lot of energy adjusting to the inclement
conditions. She says that the Council was obliged to consider the use of other tree
species on the Flats when the New Zealand Christmas Tree (Metrosideros excelsa), which had
been widely used in harsh conditions, was declared a Category 3 invasive species. (A
request that the latter tree be exempt from its invasive status in urban areas on the Cape
Flats has been sent to the National Department of Agriculture by the Council.) Sonette
attended a talk on indigenous trees and the merits of the Coral Tree were detailed at that
meeting - and this, along with personal observation of the tree, started her thinking
about its use on the Cape Flats. She says Cape Town’s Department of Parks and Bathing
was in agreement with her about the tree’s value.
The tree is
very easy to cultivate, can be grown from truncheons and thrives in sandy soils. It is
very drought resistant, yet the young trees are clearly coping well with the high water
table on the Cape Flats. The trees in Philippi are drip irrigated and since they are only
a year old have not, as yet, required any further maintenance. Sonette says that as they
mature some of the older brittle branches will have to be cut away and the pods and fallen
leaves will need to be swept off the roads.
-----
WORDS ON WASTE
The Tidy Jozi Campaign
On 15
September 2001, waste management company Pikitup launched a massive environmental campaign
called Tidy Jozi. The launch took place in conjuction with an educational drive and
clean-up operation in the Greater Soweto Area and communities were urged to get involved
in recycling projects. The aim of Tidy Jozi is to get all the people of Johannesburg to
take ownership of their environment. The launch was held at Ubuntu Kraal in Soweto and
guest speakers included the Mayor of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo, and Gauteng’s MEC
for Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs, Mary Metcalfe.
With the
launch of the Tidy Jozi Campaign, the city in conjunction with Pikitup has taken on Valli
Moosa’s challenge to become the cleanest city and win R1 million. The campaign is
also part of the build-up to the World Summit to be held in Gauteng next year and is
directed at a broad audience with the objective of finding long term solutions to the city’s
waste problems.
“Its
message is about making people aware of the pollution problem and the extent of the
problem,” explains Pikitup’s corporate development director Francois van
Aswegen. “We need the support of all of the 3, 8 million people residing in the City
of Johannesburg to win this war against waste.”
The clean-up
which extended from 10-16 September removed more than 11 000 tonnes of rubbish from Soweto
- about three times the weekly collection load. This is the third in a series of clean-up
sweeps undertaken by Pikitup. The first blitz, which tackled Johannesburg’s inner
city in March and collected 2 000 tonnes of rubbish, saw 2 000 Pikitup employees working
around the clock for three days to ‘deep-clean’ the area. The second operation
was a two-day sweep of Alexandra in which over 1 200 tonnes of rubbish were collected.
Massive operational resources were deployed in Soweto for the duration of the clean-up,
including the use of Pikitup’s 10 depots, 1 400 employees and 220 vehicles.
Johannesburg City Parks gave Pikitup the use of 11 trucks, tractors and light delivery
vehicles, plus 90 staff members and help was also provided by the Johannesburg Roads
Agency and the Metro Police Department. The SAP patrolled the area over the period of the
clean-up.
To ensure
the sustainability of the waste management services in Soweto, Pikitup has begun
distributing more than 150 000, 240l mobile bins in the area. The bins, an entirely new
feature in Soweto, have endless advantages over the old bag system. The system is
user-friendly because the large size and design of the bins allows them to cope with bulky
articles - and volumes equivalent to five times the 85l metro bags. The bins are conical
in shape which prevents dogs from scavenging in the bins and the lids seal in both odours
and hazardous waste.
Van Aswegen
commented that although he was pleased with the way in which the community, in general,
were reacting to the Tidy Jozi Campaign, he had noticed that illegal dumping had continued
to happen in certain areas only a few days after the clean-up. This he said was clear
evidence that the educational part of the campaign was vital to help change the mindset.
Contact Roelf de Beer at Pikitup. Tel: (011) 470 3650. Email: rdebeer@wgt.org.za
Ecologically
sound waste management for Breede River Winelands Municipality
One of SA’s
most ecologically sound waste management systems is being planned for the Boland. The
Breede River Winelands Municipality in conjunction with MBB Consulting Engineers, Entech
and SRK Consulting Engineers is spearheading this holistic model for waste management. One
of the strategy’s core aspects will be a centrally located landfill site with a
multi-decade life span, which will serve Robertson, McGregor, Ashton, Montague and
Bonnievale. Extensive environmental studies have been undertaken with public participation
being invited throughout.
Minimisation
of the waste stream also forms an essential component of the plan, and investigation has
been done into the establishment of a labour intensive materials recovery facility for
metal, glass, paper, cardboard and plastic at the new landfill site. Thys de Wet of MBB
said that economies of scale would hopefully generate financially viable quantities of
recyclable materials making it possible to invest in bailing equipment for tins, paper and
plastic, which would optimise transport to the various depots for these materials in the
Cape. MBB has been analysing incoming waste to the various existing landfill sites in the
municipality in order to determine the compostion of waste to assist with the design of
the materials recovery facility.
Robertson’s
existing composting operation which transforms garden waste into a high quality organic
compost product will probably be expanded as part of the new waste management strategy.
Collection points for garden waste will probably be established in each town and the waste
delivered to a central composting facility. Although the existing facility at Robertson,
run by Microgro, has only been in existence for 13 months, sales of compost have risen
significantly as local gardeners and farmers have become aware of the quality of this
product.
Scrapping
old cars - the ecological way
Across
Europe some 10 to 12 million old cars are disposed of each year and each year car owners
face the question of what to do with a car that has reached the end of its useful life.
Disposal of old vehicles in an ecologically sound manner will be a key theme at IFAT 2002
in Munich - the world’s biggest trade fair for the environment, waste disposal and
recycling.
Strict
regulations on vehicle scrapping have been in place in Germany since 1998. The owner who
takes a car off the road has to produce a certificate indicating what has happened to the
car. Anyone selling a car has to furnish the vehicles’ registration office with the
name and address of the purchaser and prove that the vehicle’s papers were passed on,
because the last owner listed on the vehicle’s papers remains the contact person when
it comes to proper disposal of the car.
This is
important because there are many harmful components and substances contained in cars, such
as lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chrome. Engine, gear and hydraulic oils have to
be removed and collected separately, as do fuels, coolant and brake fluids, refrigerants
from air-conditioning systems and windscreen washing fluid. Shock absorbers that have not
been removed from service in the correct manner are also harmful and there is even
asbestos in some car parts. Many of these
components are toxic and represent a danger to surface and groundwater reserves.
Materials
from many car parts can be recovered and these can then be reused, which means that after
extraction they can serve the same purpose as that for which they were originally made -
or they can be used in sensible recycling operations. Components that are used in this way
include catalysers, tyres, plastic parts, windscreens, components containing copper,
aluminium and magnesium and aluminium rims.
For the
companies involved in vehicle scrapping this variety is a real challenge. It is also a
challenge for a Europe-wide policy and laws. Car owners must be aware of who they can turn
to and must be informed of what requirements have to be met. There is a great need for
more information and discussion and automobile manufacturers, in particular, are under
great pressure, because it is they that in future will carry the main burden of recycling
old cars. This subject will be under debate at IFAT 2002.
Under
European law, manufacturers or importers of cars registered after January 2001 will be
obliged to take back those cars when the time comes for recycling and disposal after 2002.
And this will be at no cost to the last owner. From 2006, the European Union is aiming for
this ruling to be made applicable to all old cars. Along with the dates for return of
cars, the recovery quotas have also been fixed: 85% of a vehicle by 2006 and 95% by 2015.
Also heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chrome will not be allowed to be
used in the manufacture of vehicles.
In August
2001, Germany issued a draft bill for a new law on scrapping old cars which implements the
guidelines of the European parliament. The bill has been circulated to all affected
associations, expert groups and regional and local authorities for approval. The key
changes in law will thus correspond with European guidelines: the last owner can return
the car to the manufacturer free of charge, importers and manufacturers are obliged to
accept returned cars, recovery quotas are to be introduced and harmful heavy metals
eliminated from the manufacturing process.
As positive
as this is, it does raise a number of new questions and problems and these will be
discussed at IFAT 2002. Who will, in the end, bear the costs for scrapping and recovery?
If it is not to be the last owner then should it be the buyer of a new car? According to
the German Ministry of the Environment, manufacturers will be entitled to several years of
tax concessions for the setting up of disposal points and recovery systems. But it remains
to be seen whether this will prevent the costs being passed on to the end customer.
The larger
car manufacturers will in all probability set up their own dismantling and recovery
centres, which represents a new challenge for small and medium-sized recycling operations.
Will they be able to bring their experience and knowledge to the market and become
partners with the car industry? Or will they specialise in niche areas? This is certainly
going to be one of the issues hotly debated by companies and trade associations at IFAT
2002.
Email: info@ifat.de Website: www.ifat.de Contact Thys de Wet at MBB Consulting Engineers.
Tel: (021) 887 1026.
Eco-art project
recycles debris from Jukskei River clean-up
The SOUL
Foundation, the environmental NGO involved in the clean-up of the Jukskei River in
Gauteng, has founded an innovative satellite project in conjunction with ‘Friends of
the River’: the Eco-art Division, headed by Pierre Koen. Its purpose is to create
employment, provide life skills and instil pride into people through the development of
artistic and cultural expression within disadvantaged communities.
Eco-art is
utilising recycled debris that has been removed from the river and the properties of
neighbouring industries to produce a wide range of arts and crafts - ranging from jewllery
and hand and shoulder bags to lamps and pieces of furniture.
The idea is
to train increasing numbers of the unemployed in the production of arts and crafts and
then allow them the opportunity of becoming mini-entrepreneurs under the umbrella of the
SOUL Foundation - with their own stalls, selling their own goods.
Koen reports
that negotiations are underway for Eco-art’s participation in an exhibition in
Germany. A group of waste management students visiting from the Netherlands has also shown
considerable interest in this project which turns solid waste into usable articles, while
Brazilian Marie Ange has shown interest in applying the principles of the project in her
native country.
The halfway
mark of SOUL’s scheduled one-year clean-up of the Jukskei River was reached in
October and the extent of ground covered is 20% above the target set. A total of 21,6 km
has been covered, with an additional 6km covered in terms of maintenance and certain areas
recapped after the heavy rains. No fewer than 135 000 bags of refuse have been removed
from the river. The cost per kilometer of the clean-up, which exceeded R 130 000/km at the
start of the project has been reduced to R 80 000/km. The original target of the 27km
between Alexander and Dainfern will be met and passed in terms of both time and budget.
Contact Soul Foundation. Email: soulf@freemail.absa.co.za
Innovative
pellet trap stops polymer from entering stormwater drains
The company
Plaslope has taken its membership of the Plastics Environmental Initiative seriously. At
its new factory in Edenvale, the company has gone a step further to ensure its
environmental commitment. When trucks deliver raw material, granules of polymer inevitably
fall onto the ground and these pellets would normally, with the first rainfall, wash into
the stormwater drains and eventually land up in rivers.
Plaslope
managing director Jan Visser says: “Being a frequent visitor to the shores of
Hartbeespoort Dam, I have seen the effects of pollution from local rivers. We were not
happy with the idea of this happening because of our factory and decided to design a
‘pellet trap’ at the point where our gutter runs into the municipal drain. The
trap is designed to collect pellets, and any other rubbish for that matter, while allowing
clean water to pass through.”
The Plastics
Federation encourages its licensees to ‘go the extra mile’ in the name of the
Plastics Environmental Initiative.
Contact the Plastics Federation of SA for further information. Tel: (011) 314 4021. Fax:
(011) 314 3764.
-----
FEATURES
Minerals, Mining
and Sustainable Development in Southern Africa
Initiative
to identify the role of the mining sector in sustainable development
This article
is based on the paper presented by Alex Weaver of the Division of Water, Environment and
Forestry, CSIR, at the recent annual conference of the South African Affiliate of the
International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIAsa). The paper was co-authored by
Daniel Limpitlaw and Marie Hoadley of the School of Mining Engineering at the University
of the Witwatersrand.
The
economies of most southern African countries either depend on the mining and minerals
sector or are strengthened by the sector’s downstream activities. In turn, the sector
has recognised the critical role it plays in the region and the opportunity this presents
to act as a catalyst to southern Africa’s transition to sustainable development. The
Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) project, which is currently in
progress, is an international initiative to identify how the mining and minerals sector
can best contribute to the global transition to sustainable development. Southern Africa
is one of six key regions in the world identified for this project. These are some initial
indications of how the mining and minerals sector might appropriately respond to the
Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) goals for sustainable development.
SADC’s
goals for sustainable development are that the region must accelerate economic growth with
greater equity and self-reliance; improve the health, income and living conditions of the
poor majority; and ensure equitable and sustainable use of the environment and natural
resources for the benefit of present and future generations. A fourth dimension can be
added to the three identified by SADC and that is developing the basic institutions of
governance. This requires, amongst other aspects, that stakeholders engage transparently
to promote participation and form partnerships, and that they are accountable for their
actions and decisions.
The term
‘sustainable development’ is applied differently according to circumstances,
therefore focussing on the generic concepts of sustainable development is critical to
ensure regional relevance and sectoral applicability. Different stakeholders have
different capacities in which they can contribute to sustainable development, and ongoing
dialogue and participative research therefore forms a cornerstone of the MMSD process.
Workshops,
facilitated by a Wits-CSIR joint venture, have been held in Johannesburg, where the
original scoping was done, the feedback recorded and recommendations made; in Luanda with
the SADC ministers; and in Harare, Maputo, Daar es Salaam, Windhoek, Lusaka and Gaborone
– and more are planned. Stakeholders attending the workshops are from industry, the
chambers of mines, NGOs, government, labour unions and research institutions. Five key
areas have been identified for focussed research and research teams from across the
region, including the universities of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Copperbelt, Daar es Salaam and
Wits; organisations such as the CSIR, the Minerals and Energy Policy Centre (based in
Johannesburg), the Interim Technology Development Group (Harare), the South African
Network for Training and Research on the Environment; and private consultants, have
produced reports on small scale mining, HIV/AIDS, economics, the biophysical environment
and various other social aspects.
Three
interactive systems for sustainable development
MMSD has
suggested a provisional view on how the sector could best contribute to the three goals
identified by SADC. In promoting economic equity and stability, the sector can stimulate
diverse activities allied to but not reliant
on mining and minerals processing, such as outsourcing catering activities to locals and
encouraging timber production, initially to supply the mine but after closure for other
uses. The sector can actively encourage downstream opportunities to derive added economic
value such as the beneficiation of mining products – jewellery alongside
gold/diamonds, car manufacturing alongside iron/steel, etc; plan and design infrastructure
(roads and housing) for wider, long-term benefit; and actively support regional
collaboration and integration to strengthen SADC’s economic competitiveness, reduce
economic dependency on the international community and enhance resource security within
the region, through legislation, marketing and trade-free beneficiation zones.
For enhanced
social benefit, stakeholders are mutually accountable for increased opportunities for
skills and competency development (general education and technical training) to enable
active participation, not only in the mining and minerals sector, but in other spheres of
the economy – boilermaking and welding skills could be used on the mine or in
associated industries in the area. Richards Bay Minerals, for example, started training
local people for their own needs initially and this has evolved into a fully-fledged
technikon in Richards Bay. Stakeholders are accountable for reduced risks to human health
and well-being and access to meaningful social and health services; gender equity,
employment equity and security, as well as opportunities for career enhancement and
sustainable livelihoods – livelihoods which are aligned with sustainable development
principles, that operate within the carrying capacity of the environment. Stakeholders are
also responsible for ensuring that opportunities to conserve and develop cultural heritage
are realised.
Stakeholders
should play and important role in maintaining or improving the natural resource base by:
limiting or preventing impacts of activities on land, water, air and biological
communities; promoting environmental education and fostering an understanding of the value
of the region’s natural heritage; preventing the exhaustion of non-renewable
resources – through sponsoring research and development in waste minimisation,
product recycling and the search for alternative raw materials; and undertaking the repair
or replacement of natural ecosystems at a rate that is at least equal to the rate of
destruction and degradation – through planning, research and financing of
rehabilitation and restoration.
Some preliminary
recommendations
The research teams from across the region were asked to gather background
information on the status quo; describe, using case studies, how the sector was dealing
with obstacles to sustainable development; and make recommendations on how the sector
could contribute to the transition to sustainable development in the region. These are
examples of preliminary recommendations arising from the five research areas in the MMSD
Southern Africa process.
Small scale mining
(SSM)
•
Support transformation
of SSM to formal sector
•
Increase access to
fuel, water and financing for SSM
•
Encourage attachments
to large mines to improve skills
•
Create linkages with
technology partners
•
Increase access to
information
There are
existing examples of the creation of SSM co-operatives which have resulted in the removal
of some of the access barriers to skills, knowledge, resources and finance and these are
Shamva Mining Centre in Zimbabwe, the Chenkumbi Limeworks in Malawi and amethyst mining at
Mapitizya in Zambia.
HIV/AIDS
•
Set up a regional
charter on prevention strategies.
•
Build capacity for
care and counselling.
•
End single sex hostel
practice.
•
Establish testing and
monitoring programmes.
Mining and society
•
Create more
opportunities for women.
•
Monitor social
indicators along with environmental and economic indicators.
•
Provide life-skill
training for alternative livelihoods.
•
Adopt Social Impact
Assessment processes during evaluation of project feasibility.
•
Develop guidelines for
involuntary resettlement of communities.
Economics
•
Establish free trade
areas to encourage beneficiation of mineral products.
•
Create fiscal
incentives for joint ventures with SSM.
•
Optimise indigenous
rents from mineral rights (increase the share of profits from mining received by local
communities).
•
Train and develop
local manpower.
•
Link minerals policies
to concepts of sustainable development.
Biophysical
•
Reduce the use of
mercury in gold recovery.
•
Control acid mine
drainage (especially in the area of the upper Olifants and the Zambian copper mines).
•
Reduce seepage from
waste rock dumps at lead and zinc mines.
•
Improve information
exchange between research organisations and mines.
•
Ensure stakeholder
participation in relevant decisions.
•
Implement effective
Environmental Management Systems.
In
conclusion, mining and minerals processing provides an opportunity for developing the
human capital of the region and ensuring economic stability. Developments in this sector
come with an ecological price tag and the wealth generated must be used, not only to
bolster economic and social systems, but also to minimise environmental damage.
The MMSD
Southern Africa project has reached the stage where a series of recommendations identified
by researchers are to be reviewed and ratified by stakeholders. The next step will be for
stakeholders to identify ways in which the recommendations can be implemented, so as to
allow the sector to contribute to the transition to sustainable transition in southern
Africa.
MMSD is an
ongoing process and any additional comments would be valued. Please forward these to Marie
Hoadley at hoadley@egoli.min.wits.ac.za
-----
Liabilities into assets
Synergies
and opportunities in mine closure
Based on a
paper by Marcus Reichardt, Manager: Corporate Environmental Affairs, AngloGold Ltd,
presented at the recent Chamber of Mines Conference on Environmentally Responsible Mining
in Southern Africa.
For over a
century, mining has formed the core around which the South African economy has developed.
Mining, however, is a unique business in that on a site-by-site basis it has a finite life
span. In South Africa’s particular situation with its long-lived mines on the
Witwatersrand formation, mine closure was until recently a rare event. The industry is now
reaching the stage where many of the mines that built the Witwatersrand region into the
economic powerhouse of Africa are ceasing to be viable. With increasing numbers of mines
nearing the end of their lives, the impact of mine closure reaches deeply into the
sizeable and diverse communities that have grown up around these operations and have a
heavy economic dependence on mining.
Costs of mine closure
The principle actions and liabilities for the mining company associated with
mine closure at present are the retrenchment of employees and the cost of associated
severance packages, as well as in some cases mitigatory funds for the retraining of
retrenched employees; and the rehabilitation of the areas disturbed by mining and
associated activities, in line with statutory obligations. Leaving aside retrenchment
costs, the largest expense associated with mine closure arises from the legal
environmental rehabilitation requirements.
Since 1991,
mining companies in South Africa have been legally obliged to set aside funds during the
life of the mining operation, which should, by the end of its economic life, be adequate
to cover all closure costs. These funds are set aside in a legally separate trust fund
that will reimburse the mining company or any entity that performs parts of the final
closure work.
While many
modern operations are able to curtail the growth of closure liabilities by means of
effective Environmental Management Systems, the long life of South African operations has
to some extent worked against them. In a field of frequently moving rehabilitation
goalposts, cumulative impacts incurred over decades of operation and patchy enforcement of
legal obligations, providing the resources for closure of a 50 to 100 year old mine during
what effectively amounts to the latter quarter of its life, imposes considerable pressures
on current cash flows. In the case of South African operators of mature mines, total
closure liabilities can amount to as much as between 10-20% of the total profits of the
remaining life of the mine.
At mine
closure, mining companies are required, in theory, to restore the area affected by mining
and mining related activities to the status quo prior to the start of mining. This entails
the removal, demolition and rehabilitation not merely of the mining infrastructure but
also of the support infrastructure, such as mining towns, hostels, the associated roads,
metallurgical plants, sewage works and recreational facilities on the mine. In a
developing country desperately short of infrastructure such as houses, social service
facilities and roads, this seems inappropriate when such facilities are potentially
valuable assets for the communities in which they are located.
Where
communities have no economic rationale other than mining, this infrastructure would be of
limited use - unless some new economic rationale could be found for the area. This is the
reason for investigations into the conversion of mining infrastructure into assets with
which to build new businesses. For accounting purposes, such infrastructure is already
totally depreciated and actually presents a liability from a cash flow or accounting point
of view. Therefore passing it on as a zero or low cost asset for the formation of a new
business could facilitate business development without financially prejudicing the mining
company.
Addressing a strategic
need
To understand the significance of mine closure in the context of developing
countries such as those in southern Africa, it is important to take into account that the
number of people supported by an employed mine worker is significantly higher than in the
developed world. In southern Africa each mine worker, on average, supports 9-11
dependents, whereas in developed countries, this figure varies between 3-6.
Amplifying
this is the sheer scale and still comparatively labour intensive nature of most South
African mining operations - particularly the deep gold mining operations. Closure of a
single shaft operation generally results in net job losses of between 1 500-3000
individuals and against a background of more than 30% unemployment, closure has economic
and social impacts on a scale sufficient to warrant national government attention.
It is
certain that mining companies closing or downscaling their operations in developing
countries will be increasingly pressurised into not merely finding alternative employment
opportunities but also establishing retraining or development funds with which to
ameliorate the impact of job losses on the local communities. In such efforts, many mining
companies have entered into partnerships with the communities and mine workers unions but
so far the success of these initiatives has been erratic.
The
conventional approach for dealing with large-scale retrenchments resulting from mine
closure has involved the establishment of dedicated funds with which to retrain employees
for other jobs or to support potential entrepreneurs among the retrenchees. There are,
however, real limitations to retraining in developing countries where national
unemployment rates exceed 30%. Entrepreneurial support is also constrained by the fact
that the percentage of potential entrepreneurs in any population is small and among
mineworkers, who are accustomed to work in a regimented, systematic way according to
production schedules, this figure is likely to be even lower. Furthermore, the impact of
retrenchment on personal self-confidence, among recently laid-off miners, is certain to
shrink this percentage still further. Former mineworkers do, however, make highly suitable
candidates for employees, as they have ample experience with the needs of systematic
production processes and schedules.
It seems
probable that, in part, the uneven success of such efforts stems from the fact that mine
closure/rehabilitation and the creation of new employment opportunities are generally
treated as two separate issues when, in fact, there is often considerable synergy between
the two. Redundant mining assets have already been written down by the mine and thus can
be passed on to new ventures at reduced costs, which gives these businesses a material
advantage over their competitors. Wherever possible retrenched miners would also be given
preferential access to these jobs.
Not only
would the utilisation of old infrastructure for the creation of new businesses create new
jobs in itself, it would also reduce rehabilitation liabilities and costs for the mining
company and thus raise its profitability and ultimately in some cases prolong the
operational life of the mine.
Post-mining business
ventures
The following projects, except for the Top Star Drive-in, are related to
companies formerly within the Anglo American and De Beers Group and are characterised by
several common features: the use of redundant mining and associated infrastructure as zero
cost assets for new business ventures; the development of business structures and
operations in a way that capitalises on the characteristics of the redundant
infrastructures, thereby conveying a competitive advantage for the new business; the
active participation of the mining company or its agents in the establishment and
commercial stabilisation of the new business along purely commercial lines; and the
acceptance by the mining company that such businesses yield tangible if not immediately
quantifiable benefits.
Operational wastes as a
resource for new businesses
Compost production from organic mine wastes
Mining
companies have to manage large volumes of organic wastes in the form of garden refuse,
canteen wastes and treated sewage and highly specialised, costly, disposal requirements
can be avoided by routing organic wastes into a composting process which can be used for
revegetation projects. A project of this nature was introduced at two operating sites at
Vaal Reefs and on the East Rand and these averaged 300m3 of compost production per month,
at a production cost competitive with outside purchasing and a break even cash flow
situation. Although the bulk of the product was used for rehabilitation, a fair percentage
of the compost was utilised by outside buyers.
If the
project had continued over the life of the mining operation, there was reason to expect
that non-tailings landfill requirements would have halved. The projects were suspended
because the conventional method of utilising scavenged topsoil for rehabilitation was
favoured during a cost-cutting exercise.
Innovative
thinking went into these composting projects. Because there is no mine village related to
ERGO’s operations, sewage sludge was obtained from ERWAT for the composting operation
and this was mixed with paper waste fibre (left over after recycling) obtained from Mondi.
The Vaal Reefs’ project utilised sawdust, left over from the making of wooden roof
supports and known as ‘woodpacks’, in the composting process, and a small
business reclaiming woodpacks was born out of this. Ten cubic metres of surplus wood chips
and sawdust was being produced on a daily basis (a potential fire hazard) and this was
mixed with stomach contents, a waste product brought in by the local abattoir. Within 48
hours this mixture, added to other organic wastes and continually mixed with a front-end
loader, had begun degrading and the compost was generally ready within three weeks. The
front-end loader was equipment belonging to the mine. Nothing was purchased.
Bricks from tailings
Certain tailings and waste rock, depending on their location, serve as a
suitable substitute for river sand in cementatious building aggregate. On the West Rand
the uranium content in tailings is very low. In the mid-nineties, the company Elands Brick
started utilising tailings in a brick making operation on a redundant tennis court at
Elandsrand Gold Mine, where they employed 42 people. They used standard concrete brick
making machines and substituted tailings for river sand. The tailings were transported
straight to the brick making operation, with some savings to the mine.
The bricks
passed SABS tests for radon build-up, as the gaseous substance is inclined to accumulate
in unventilated areas. Even in a structure with a bolted door and no window, the build-up
over a month was well under safety limits. The bricks also passed strength tests and were
supplied to low cost housing projects and mines at competitive prices, over the five year
period that the company remained in operation. The company eventually failed due to
personal conflict between the entrepreneurial partners.
Mine closure:
conversion of mining related infrastructure
Tailings dam into Drive-in Theatre
The Top Star
Drive-in is built on one of Rand Mines old tailings facilities in the middle of an
industrial area in downtown Johannesburg. It has become a landmark in Johannesburg (see
Urban Green File July/August 1998 issue, page 21). The City Council found the leachate to
be within acceptable levels. The surface was sealed with tarmac and the slopes were
terraced in return for commercial income.
Redundant hostel into
boarding school
Vaal Reefs looked at ideas for a redundant mine hostel and found that the
expense of converting it into residential apartments was too high, but that the design was
ideal for a boarding school with classrooms and secure accommodation. The capital
expenditure would have been just over 3 million and the project would have created 72
temporary construction jobs. The school would have addressed a critical social need in the
area by providing affordable quality education, at rates competitive with public schools
and by providing teaching and boarding facilities for 900 children. It would also have
given 59 people employment - largely the wives of mine workers.
The mine
would have avoided hostel demolition costs in excess of 4 million, with the transfer of
the asset at zero cost proving to be a key factor in the commercial viability of the
project. The project was not pursued because there were union objections to the
entrepreneur not being a previously disadvantaged individual and because of a policy
preference for the conversion to residential units. (Although the latter is not being
pursued, the school project has been shelved.) If the project had been replicated at four
other earmarked sites, closure savings could have exceeded R 18 million.
Mine closure:
conversion of specialised mining infrastructure
Tunnel closure: Diamond Mushroom Farms
A project which has been given much publicity is the mushroom farm in the
underground drainage tunnels around the Big Hole at Kimberley, originally privately owned
and managed by Diamond Mushroom Farms (Pty) Ltd. De Beers opted to continue with the
project after the original owners decided to shut down the operation. The tunnels which
are an ongoing maintenance liability for De Beers provide a stable climate for mushroom
growing and this gives the business a competitive advantage. The original capital
expenditure was R 500 000 and the turnover while the project was owned by Diamond Mushroom
Farms was R 800 000/pa. The business which employed 12 people became a leading supplier of
speciality mushrooms within the southern African distribution network.
The
employment figure since the project was acquired by De Beers remains at twelve, but the
process now includes packaging on behalf of clients and therefore increased control over
marketable product output and sales revenue.
Final void closure:
Diamond Coast mariculture projects
De Beers faces a huge rehabilitation liability with respect to the open cast
mining activity that has been conducted along the Namaqualand coast over the past sixty
years. Mariculture ventures, involving seaweed production and a proposed shellfish farm,
are utilising the pre-1992 open cast excavations and existing pumping infrastructure, with
a resulting reduction in conventional capital expenditure for these projects. The seaweed
is labour intensive and there are related business opportunities because the product can
be used as a thickener, stabiliser or in the pharmaceutical industry. The capital
expenditure required for the proposed on-shore abalone farm is about R 33 million and this
project will employ about 30 people but will directly benefit about 100-150 members of
historically disadvantaged communities, such as the kelp concession holders in the area
who will supply feed for the abalone project. If the project, which is on hold at present
because of recent budget constraints, is successfully expanded, an old mined out area will
have been converted into a so called ‘blue’ or new use area. The abalone species
under consideration for the project is an endemic species and there should be no problems
involved in the granting of permits.
By providing
part of the economic base on which the mining town infrastructure could be sustained after
mining ceases, these ventures will also allow De Beers to obtain a return on its
investment into Kleinsee and avoid the demolition of this remote but picturesque small
town, allowing it to explore its long term tourist potential. The possibility of creating
an Aquaculture Park is being investigated and a special task group has been formed to
investigate potential sites along the Namaqualand coast. The existing mariculture site is
under consideration. A tourism project, with emphasis on ecotourim, has been established
and packaged tours are being actively marketed. This initiative must benefit Namaqualand
because for the first time tourists are being permitted to enter the restricted zone and
are conducted around the area by guides, sourced from local communities and communities
further afield, and trained by the mine. This training will create a network of contacts
to promote tourism in the region.
Metallurgical plant
closure: AngloGoldFish
Metallurgical plants are designed for the circulation of liquids and the CCD
(counter-centrifugal differentiator) ponds are ideal for managing water conditions for
fish farming. There is a high demand for ornamental goldfish inside and outside the
country and an old metallurgical plant on the West Rand is being used to grow on young
fish. The capital expenditure on the project was R 2,5 million, the enterprise has a
turnover of R 3,6 million/pa and it provides employment for 18 people. The mine has
avoided closure costs in excess of R 7 million. If the project is replicated at four
earmarked sites, closure savings could exceed R 45 million.
The business
did well for 18 months, although there were set backs because of theft of product and
skills constraints, but it has been scaled back until a dispute with the original
technology partner has been resolved.
Lessons and benefits
for mining companies
To be sustainable all projects must be approached as business ventures. The
project objective must be purely commercial and other benefits considered desirable but of
secondary importance. Feasibility studies must recognise and quantify the costs of avoided
legislated closure requirements, as reflected in annual financial statements for project
management and cash flow projections. The project requires involvement on the part of the
mining company or its agents during establishment and operational phases. The company
needs to consider employment opportunities for the community and retrenched miners that
are compatible with the skills needs of the project.
Mining
companies need to encourage personnel to take innovative and long term approaches and
encourage thinking along sustainable and creative lines, as this can yield concrete
financial and social returns. There should be recognition that economics and ecology are
not inherently at odds.
Through
projects such as these, mining companies can avoid demolition and closure costs, at least
for part of a site, and transfer long term maintenance requirements to another viable and
sustainable entity. Creation of equity stakes in financially viable businesses allows
companies to dispose of such businesses profitably at a later stage.
-----
Sustainable building
design involving bricks from sludge
The 2002
World Summit on Sustainable Development will include an exhibition of best practices in
sustainable development. It was the intention to stage the exhibition in a specially
designed temporary green building. Proposals were called for through an architectural
competition, but the Board of Directors of the Johannesburg World Summit Company decided
not to continue with the project at a special meeting on 11 December. The design
principles and technology suggested by the competition winners are however noteworthy. The
design proposal presented Rand Water with an opportunity to use their experimental earth
blocks made from recycled sludge. Although the building has been ‘shelved’, the
recycling initiative will go ahead.
Temporary green
exhibition centre
Early this year, the South African government appointed the Johannesburg World
Summit Company (JOWSCO) to handle the operations and logistics related to hosting the
summit. One of JOWSCO’s tasks is to facilitate a ‘best practice’ exhibition
- a display of successful examples of sustainable development worldwide - on behalf of the
United Nations.
It was
evident from the start that such an exhibition should not be staged in a building that
consumed huge amounts of energy without any regard for the conservation of resources. For
this reason, JOWSCO announced an architectural competition that called for proposals from
consortiums for the design and construction of a temporary exhibition centre. A panel of
independent specialists evaluated the ten entries and recommended the proposal submitted
by the consortium comprising ARG Design, Target Project Managers and other environmental
specialists.
The brief
from JOWSCO stated that the structure should be temporary and demountable after the summit
for re-erection elsewhere where a need for such a building arose. It was propored that the
structure be located on the existing parking lot in front of the Sandton Library - within
walking distance of the Sandton Convention Centre where the main activities will take
place.
Due to the
severe time constraints, the consortium was initially appointed for the first design stage
with the understanding that final approval for the project was still pending. The project
was shelved on 11 December by the Board of Directors of the World Summit Company.
Design
“Our design approach is to ‘think global and act local’ in terms
of technology, materials and precedents,” commented Gita Goven of ARG Design. Goven
and Alastair Rendall, the design architects for the project, formed a consortium of
consultants known as WoJoSSET (World Johannesburg Sustainable Summit Expo Team). “Our
concept is a permanent, durable, modular building that can be disassembled, moved and
reused in different modules as a single or separate buildings on various sites,”
explained Rendall.
“The
structure comprises a square grid with the roof supported on the edges of spaces. The
whole system is modular and repetitive for the sake of simplicity and speed. The roof
allows an influx of natural light, as it slopes to a central spine with a translucent
valley gutter. The building is 12m high from floor to ceiling (at its highest) and
accommodates between 3 000 and 4 000 people at a time. As a cost saving measure, we are
looking at various creative solutions like using shipping containers for toilet
structures, plugged into the building,” commented Rendall.
“The
site is terraced into three levels, creating three large indoor spaces that step down to
the existing library fountain. The volume and space increase down the length of the
building ending with a dramatic view to the east. The façade is clad in lightweight
infill panels using different recycled/sustainable materials - anything from recycled cans
to boards manufactured from recycled paper. The mass of the north wall protects the
building from traffic noise and heat gain - all the services are in this wall and the top
of the wall acts as a gallery providing a view over the exhibition space. The south
façade comprises glass and canvas which gives it a glowing appearance at night. We intend
to encourage people to participate by contributing infill wall panels that can be made of
different materials and to embellish the building with works of art in many different
forms,” said Goven.
Passive cooling
“The temporary nature of the building unfortunately downgrades its thermal
durability. We have thermally designed for the period September to December meaning that
the building has no heating features and will not, in its proposed form, perform in
winter,” stated Rendall. “Evaporative cooling is provided through a sprinkler
system in the supporting columns. The cool air is forced into the building via fabric
ducts inside these columns by means of a fan driven by photo voltaic cells. This process
forces warm air out through ventilators in the roof. We can achieve about 5-7°C cooling
using this passive cooling method,” said Rendall. Additional cooling may be provided
by a floor level rock store made from gabions.
Documenting and
monitoring
“We intend to fully document the entire design and construction process,”
said project manager, Terrence Smith. “This will include video footage that can be
displayed as part of the best practice exhibition. The building itself will become an
example of sustainable construction and by using a building monitoring system, real-time
data on, for example, how much electricity the building is consuming, at any given moment,
can be displayed. The data will indicate how much energy is drawn from the Eskom grid and
how much generated through renewable sources such as photo voltaics or the Darling wind
farm”.
Urban design
and landscaping
“The
project entails more than the conservation of energy or provision of exhibition space and
will hopefully also improve the quality of public space in Sandton. The project will
become a major urban space maker and ‘complete’ Sandton Square. It will create
an urban edge to West Street and an internal green park to counter-balance Sandton Square,”
commented Goven. “The landscape design will provide external exhibition space and
when the building is dismantled, the project will leave the legacy of a positive,
landscaped urban space in the heart of Sandton as opposed to the original unattractive
parking lot.”
Wastewater
“All liquid waste generated on site will be managed by a Biolytix system
(see article on Spier Village in Urban Green File Jan/Feb 2001). Management of water is
critical, so both rainwater and filtered wastewater will be stored at the lowest point of
the site in a constructed wetland and pumped back for irrigation and reuse in toilets by
solar driven pumps. However, due to limited space excess water will be discharged into the
stormwater or sewer system,” explained Goven.
Pre-fabrication
“To ensure that the building is completed on time, we will follow a design
and build programme that comprises off-site pre-fabrication of components that can be transported to site and assembled there. This
process will create the opportunity for job creation as various sub-contractors could be
appointed to pre-fabricate parts of the structure.”
World
Johannesburg Sustainable Summit Expo Team (WoJoSSET):
Project team
Project managers: Target
Urban designers: ARG Design
Architects: ARG Design and Stauch Vorster
Structural and environmental engineers: ARUP Africa
Civil engineers: Manong & Associates
Electrical engineers: Arthur Morris
Interior designers: Design House
Quantity surveyors: Mahlati Ntene Liebetrau
Landscape architects: Tarna Klitzner and Erika van den Berg
Renewable energy consultants: Agama
Waste treatment consultants: Biolytix
-----
From
sludge to earth blocks
Rand Water
and Hydraform are at the experimental stage of manufacturing earth blocks from recycled
sludge - a by-product from the water purification process. Another by-product - fly ash
produced by Ash Resources - is also used in this block making process. It was proposed
that these blocks be used in the construction of the World Summit Expo Centre.
In keeping
with the approach of using local materials that contribute to job creation, ARG Design
recommended the use of compressed earth blocks for the construction of the World Summit
Expo Centre. These blocks are relatively easy to manufacture and since they are not
cemented together, but dry-stacked, easy to dismantle (see articles in Urban Green File
March/April 2001, p43 and Architechnology June-September 2001, p18). While designing the
building, the architects became aware of a project that Rand Water and Hydraform had
initiated to recycle sludge, originating from the water purification processes, into earth
blocks. At present, Rand Water’s sludge is pumped to the Sludge Disposal Works at
Panfontein near Vereeniging and dumped into huge dry beds.
‘Sludge block’
developed by Wits
John Morris, Honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of the
Witwatersrand, was involved in developing the process of manufacturing earth blocks from
sludge. “The Department of Building and Quantity Surveying at Wits, now known as
Construction Economics and Management, became interested in earth as a building material
when Chris Roberg undertook an MSc research project in 1991,” explained Morris.
“He examined the properties of different soils from around Johannesburg and developed
the optimal recipe in relation to moisture and cement content for each of the soil types.”
Subsequently,
in association with Hydraform, the Department developed criteria for the acceptability of
different soils and the optimal levels of moisture content and cement stabilisation for
the production of dry-stacked blocks. The initial work was undertaken by Geoffrey Blight
and submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for his BSc. Other students continued
on a variety of research projects relating to the properties and uses of earth blocks
based on ‘ordinary’ soils until an approach by Rand Water led the Department
into a different field.
“In the
process of purifying the water drawn from the Vaal River, Rand Water precipitates the
finely divided, almost colloidally suspended ‘sludge’. This sludge is stored on
potentially valuable farmland that is being used for the equivalent of slimes dams. This
is becoming a problem as the sludge is being disposed of at a rate of between 600 and 1000
tonnes/day,” said Morris. In terms of Rand Water’s commitment to environmental
responsibility, the company started investigating ways of recycling the sludge into usable
products.
Attempts had
been made to produce fired clay-bricks from the sludge, but “Despite the best efforts
of the CSIR and Cullinan Refractories,” said Morris, “the peculiar nature of the
sludge made the production of such bricks uneconomic. The challenge to us was to attempt
the production of usable, economically justifiable, building elements based on this
sludge. Our investigations showed that the material was very finely divided clay (some 60%
smaller than 1mm) consisting mainly of montmorillonite with about 20 % calcium carbonate
derived from the precipitation process. The material was very sensitive to moisture and
swelled or shrank unacceptably with changes in moisture content. Technically expressed, it
had a plasticity index of around 46%, while the most we can tolerate in the production of
earth bricks is around 16%.”
The sludge,
in the form of dried mud cakes, had to be crushed and sieved (through a 2mm mesh sieve)
before being used. “After much research and many experimental approaches Carl Rix (as
reported in his MSc thesis) found that mixing the dry sludge powder with 4% slaked lime
[Ca (OH)2] and leaving the mixture overnight, caused the lime to react with the clay and
reduced the plasticity index to a manageable level. We believe that this change is the
result of an exchange of calcium ions for sodium ions in the clay. By mixing this modified
sludge with 20% Pozzfill - the unclassified coarser fraction of fly ash supplied by Ash
Resources, to change the particle size distribution, and by adding 6% cement as a
binder/stabiliser, we obtained earth bricks that met all the requirements for this type of
building block in terms of dimensional stability, unconfined compressive strength,
resistance to soaking in water and erosion by water jets. The prospect of seeing two waste
products - sludge and fly ash - being used in construction is justification for the work
we have done over a period of almost ten years, concluded Morris.”
The process
step-by-step
Gerald Garner visited the Vereeniging Purification and Pumping Station and the
Panfontein Sludge Disposal Site with Ann Vicente and Graham Duncan of Rand Water. He
describes the process that produces the sludge that will be recycled into Hydraform earth
blocks.
PHASE 1: WATER
PURIFICATION
1. Coagulation and flocculation. Water is pumped from the Vaal Dam to either
the Vereeniging or Zuikerbosch Purification and Pumping Stations. The water flows through
a series of concentric circles that are narrower closer to the centre and wider towards
the outside. Activated silica and lime are added to the water to neutralise the ‘charge’
of the particles so that they can form clumps and settle out.
2. Sedimentation pond. The water flows through a sloped pond with the sludge settling at
the bottom. Moveable bridges fitted with suction pumps and density meters remove the
sludge. These meters measure the thickness of the sludge being extracted and if it is too
thin, the bridge moves forward to extract thicker sludge. The sludge is dumped in a
channel at the side of the pond from where it flows into a sump and is pumped to
Zuikerbosch. The clear water is removed via a weir from the top level of the pond.
3. Stabilisation. At this stage the pH of the water is high (pH 11) because of the lime
added to the water during coagulation and flocculation. CO2 gas is pumped through the
water to lower the pH to between pH 8 - 8,4.
4. Filtration. The water is pumped through a gravity fed sand filter to remove residues.
5. Disinfection and chloramination. Chlorine is added to the water in indoor ponds and
then pumped to Swartkoppies, where ammonia gas is added. The ammonia ensures that the
water stays fresh and clear in the period of up to five days that the water spends in the
municipal pipe networks before reaching the consumer.
PHASE 2: SLUDGE DISPOSAL
1. Sludge transfer. Sludge from Vereeniging is pumped to Zuikerbosch and mixed
with the sludge at this site before being pumped via underground pumps to the Panfontein
Sludge Disposal Site.
2. Sludge thickening. Raw sludge is stored in a balancing pond where mechanical agitation
keeps the solids in suspension. Dewatering of the raw sludge is achieved by means of high
rate sludge gravity thickeners and the addition of anionic polyelectrolyte flocculent. The
solid particles settle to the base and a mechanical moving rake scrapes the thickened
sludge to the centre where an underflow pump extracts the sludge.
3. Water recycling. The clean water (as much as 90 - 96% of the raw sludge volume) flows
over the top of the pond and is recycled to Zuikerbosch for reprocessing with the raw
water.
4. Sludge dumped for air-drying. The sludge is sprayed by means of agricultural irrigation
equipment onto air-dry paddocks.
PHASE 3: EARTH BRICKS
1. Block manufacturing. At present Hydraform collects the dried sludge from
Panfontein and transports it by truck to its plant in Centurion. The company might, in
future, set up a plant at the Panfontein site. Depending on the project, it may in some
cases be more economical to transport the sludge to the building site and then manufacture
bricks on site.
-----
Urban roots: a history of Johannesburg
The
story told by the Apartheid Museum
The
Apartheid Museum, south of Johannesburg, portrays a history of the city with a focus on
the apartheid years from 1948 to 1994. The building itself, with its landscaped grounds,
is a positive contribution to the city; as is the exhibition which offers the people of
Johannesburg and its visitors a powerful representation of the journey we have travelled.
This report
is compiled by Leigh Darroll from interviews with Chris Kroese of GAPP Architects &
Urban Designers, Bannie Britz of the Britz Roodt Project Association, and Christopher
Till, director of the new museum.
The original concept
Freedom Park was originally conceived as the community project that formed part
of the winning consortium’s bid for the casino licence at Gold Reef City. At that
stage, the three-hectare site to the north-west of the casino and diagonally across
Northern Parkway from it, was designated for the park. The original concept was prepared
on behalf of the Akani Egoli consortium by Claude Grundman, an Israeli consultant
specialising in exhibition design. Grundman has been involved in similar projects
internationally, such as the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. The concept then comprised
five pavilions, each about 600m2 in area, placed separately on the site. The
intention was to offer visitors an experience of different aspects of the struggle, which
would be reflected in the various pavilions.
Architects in
association
When the casino bid was won and the project was to proceed, the consortium sought the
professional services of architect Sidney Abramowitch, who was appointed as the project
co-ordinator. Abramowitch referred the consortium to Bannie Britz of the
Bloemfontein-based Britz Roodt Project Association; Britz took up the position of design
leader and in turn recommended the co-appointment of GAPP Architects. In addition, the
client had assigned Linda Mvusi Architecture and Design and Mashabane Rose Architects to
the project. GAPP established a project office at its Johannesburg premises to accommodate
representatives from each of the practices involved and to facilitate the design process
for the duration of the project. In Kroese’s opinion the project has been
significantly enriched by this collaboration amongst the different practices and Britz
endorses this view saying that the team worked well together – “One could say
that this building was designed in a day. The ideas just came tumbling out.”
That
happened when the architects came together for the first time at the end of 1999 to review
Grundman’s original concept and to debate the design objectives and requirements of
the project. At that meeting, the design concept was altered to propose a single building
complex in which the previously separate pavilions would be strung together, with
interlinking mood spaces, to accommodate a chronological history of apartheid as it had
been witnessed in Johannesburg.
While there
have been modifications to the design and refinements - particularly in response to the
specifics of the exhibition as it has evolved under the direction of Christopher Till, who
was appointed in September 2000 - the concept that arose from this first meeting amongst
the architects has remained largely intact.
Design considerations
From a metropolitan perspective the site is well placed, located between the
Johannesburg CBD and Soweto and its satellite south-western townships, in a
semi-industrial zone that also accommodates office and retail facilities.
Its
juxtaposition to the indulgent frivolity of the adjacent casino and theme park, while
considered by some as a potential negative, in effect reinforces the notion of separate
realities that was at the core of the apartheid system; it accentuates the seriousness of
the museum and a quality of stillness that is created in the newly built complex.
For Britz
the environment of the designated site seemed completely inappropriate to the project.
“Freedom Park was intended to be about liberation from bondage and here it would be
surrounded by the noise and clutter of industry, mining, the casino, big wheels. How do
you find yourself in such a context?” Hence the first step, which is defined as
fundamental to the development of the concept, was to restore the Highveld landscape and
landscape architect Patrick Watson was appointed at an early stage in the process.
According to
Kroese, the guiding design principles were agreed amongst the architects at their first
meeting. The building was to be essentially of Africa and at the same time of a quality
and character that would reverberate not only locally but also internationally. Overt
tokenism referencing the African context was to be avoided.
The
motivation for creating one contiguous building complex, rather than an array of
pavilions, was that it would be more cost-efficient in terms of construction and services,
and it allowed for better use of the site. The landscape was seen as integral to the
concept and it was agreed that the building would be to a large extent ‘buried’
- it was envisaged as being built into a ‘kloof’ carved out of the land.
Built form
The built complex is designed to communicate at many different levels. Even
from the approaching roadway the high, gabion walls that mark the southern boundary of the
site and the tall concrete pylons adjacent to the museum entrance are intriguing. In its
starkness the building demands a response, although it is intentionally not prescriptive
of what this may be. Taking account of its context, which is seen to be unpredictable, or
in bad taste, rough, or unsympathetic - depending on which way you look - the building is
deliberately turned in on itself, away from its surroundings. And while it is decidedly
different from its neighbours, it is not intimidated by them but stands its ground,
architecturally and in scale.
The complex
in fact comprises three linear buildings which frame the internalised park. The main
museum building is sited against the southern boundary and the land is ramped up against
it so that, from what was a natural fall of six metres across the site from south to
north, the south-west corner is built up to establish a height of 12m above the ground
level of the building. Northward, the land is sculpted to fall away from the buildings, to
a small dam that has been created along the northern boundary. An entrance wing that
parallels the parking area to the east, houses a ticket office, a restaurant, public
toilets and a museum shop. An administration wing, incorporating offices, a library and
archives, is located against the western boundary. A new roadway is currently being
constructed along this edge to provide an alternative access route to the site.
The
Apartheid Museum is recognisably serious about its intent and presents itself - and its
story - in a matter-of-fact way. The starkness of the modernist aesthetic, the restrained
palette of materials and colours, the severity of stone and rusted steel, concrete, raw
plaster and red brick, reflect the gravity of what this building is about. “Yet,”
says Kroese, “despite this harshness we have sought too, a sense of celebration, to
acknowledge the triumph of the human spirit over extreme adversity. This is expressed,
hopefully, in a kind of serenity, that can be accommodated beyond the conflict and
violence of this history.”
History remembered and
retold
The built complex reflects the story it tells symbolically, and this symbolism
is intricately interwoven with the narrative of the exhibition.
Classification and
separation
At the entrance, where tickets are purchased, these are issued as swipe cards
that, at random, classify the visitors as ‘white’ or ‘non-white’. This
is the first shock of the journey, race classification as prescribed by the Population
Registration Act of 1913. The approach to the museum itself, along an open concrete
screeded walkway, is closed to the east by the red brick boundary wall, and edged to the
west by the entrance wing and in turn by a waterway that is demarcated on its further edge
by a row of timber uprights. The barrier is transparent but impassable - a notion that is
reiterated throughout the building.
Two heavy,
galvanised steel, industrial turnstiles guard the entrance to the museum, admitting
non-whites on one side and whites on the other. One enters into a linear, maze-like space,
constrained by caged exhibits which illustrate, to one side, the pass books of the blacks,
to the other, the ID books of the whites, and in the middle - between the separate
entrance routes - an array of identification documents classifying Malay, Coloured, Zulu,
Xhosa, Chinese and other ‘types’ of people. Again, one can see what’s
happening on the other side but the barriers are impenetrable. From these separate,
caged-in entrance routes, one is confronted by a life size photo’ image of the Race
Classification Board: four white men seated at a table; a reminder of the arbitrary tests
that determined one’s status, one’s rights, one’s place in society.
Whites and
non-whites leave this entrance hall separately to reach an outdoor ramp where the routes
are once again united. The ramp, about 120m long, leads up to the high south-western
corner of the site and forms the southern edge of the museum building, with the gabion
walls of the southern boundary rising sharply beside it.
Where does the story
begin?
According to Christopher Till, this is the first question. Along the ramp one
encounters, briefly, the history of the people who lived here long before the colonial
conquest of southern Africa or the Great Trek, a history that recalls this place, Gauteng,
as the Cradle of Mankind, populated later by the San and later still by people who, as a
consequence of being uprooted from their tribal lands by war, or drawn by the discovery of
gold on the reef, sought the wealth and wonders of the city of Johannesburg. The ramp is
narrowed at its height, so that there is an enforced perspective. Reaching the top and
moving through the narrowed portals, one turns to the liberating view northward of the
city skyline - the city of gold - in the vast, open, Highveld landscape, across a
foreground of highways, headgear and now-disappearing mine dumps.
Johannesburg circa 1900
From the roof platform one descends, either by lift or via a spiral stairway,
to the lower, ground level, below the level of the surrounding site. One re-enters the
building to a reception hall. Here visitors receive a map to guide them through the museum
and adjacent to reception is a 200-seat auditorium where an orientation documentary is
shown every 15 minutes. The arrivals hall presents a photographic portrayal, at huge
scale, of Johannesburg around the turn of the last century. From this space one can visit
the international hall, where travelling or temporary exhibitions will be staged, each
linked with the theme of the struggle against oppression and drawn from various countries
around the world; or one can follow the story of apartheid.
From
reception, the full length of the museum is revealed along a straight, open passageway
that stretches back toward the point of entry at its eastern end. It is worth noting, with
regard to service efficiencies, that all the services - stormwater runoff, air
conditioning ducting, electrical supply, fire protection and water supply - are channelled
along this spine, at a height two metres above the floor level and screened from the
interior by a concrete wall.
From union to
segregation
The narrative of the exhibition unfolds through a sequence of interlinking
spaces which break away from the spinal corridor, developing from around 1910 which saw
the union of the Boers and British, but the beginnings of disunion in the exclusion of the
‘natives’.
The
exhibition spaces are largely devoid of finishes: bare concrete, raw plastered, or red
brick walls, screeded floors, mostly exposed concrete soffits, conduiting carried in
industrial steel cable trays. With the selected mounting materials, as well as modulated
lighting, sound and - in some instances - room temperature, this ‘raw’ interior
contributes to a direct and unpretentious presentation. The spaces become increasingly
fragmented as the story of division and tension, resistance and oppression is recounted.
Separate areas in the city; the entrenchment of segregation by law; the growth of the
resistance movement; the escalation of violence; the townships in flames; the reprieve of
negotiations, and the negotiations behind the negotiations, against a background of
turmoil in the cities and townships.
Transitional
nodes, linking the chronology of events, are referred to as mood spaces. In one, a host of
brand new and immaculately clean hanging ropes are suspended to just above head height.
The
exhibition makes use of photographs, newspaper reports, video footage, televised
commentary and interviews, as well as explanatory text panels and actual artefacts. Till
set up a team of consultants to source and select appropriate materials from various news
and photographic agencies as well as from archives and individuals. The texts were
compiled by a panel of 11 historians, chaired by Professor Philip Bonner from the
University of the Witwatersrand.
Reconstructions
have been avoided for the most part, as Till considers them seldom effective. One
exception is in the reconstruction of a row of solitary confinement cells, built to actual
specifications. Each cell is 1m wide by 3m deep and 3m high, without windows and with a
solid steel door.
To reconciliation
The narrative ultimately rejoins the spinal corridor, at the time of the 1994
elections, and proceeds to the present day with space given to current events.
One leaves
the story in the present, exiting to a hall of remembrance, which celebrates the new
constitution and where visitors are invited to place stones of remembrance if they choose
to do so. An outside auditorium provides a debriefing area for visiting tours and can be
used for other functions.
There is a
sense on leaving the museum building that the story continues; it is not neatly resolved
and concluded. The landscaped grounds and the garden provide a contemplative space,
stilled by the presence of the building, and one can walk or take a seat in the park,
return to the international exhibition hall, or leave, passing the restaurant and the
museum shop on the way out.
Professional Team:
Client: Akani Egoli (Pty) Ltd
Project architect & co-ordinator: Sidney Abramowitch Architect
Project manager: Amdev (Ampros Developments Ltd)
Architects: GAPP Architects & Urban Designers
Mashabane Rose Architects
Britz Roodt Project Association
Linda Mvusi Architecture & Design
Landscape architect: Patrick Watson Landscape Architect
Quantity surveyors: Schneid Libera (Pty) Ltd
Thabo Senyolo & Partners cc
Structural engineers: Pure Consulting
Electrical engineers: Monty Miller Associates cc
Claassen Auret Inc
Mechanical engineers: Richard Pearce & Partners
Traffic engineers: PD Naidoo & Associates
Curator: Christopher Till
Audio-visual consultants: Electrosonic
Fire consultants: Specialised Fire Technologies
Main contractor: Murray & Roberts
The veld and the sky
Landscape architect Patrick Watson was responsible for the bold landscaping
concept. The final design was the result of a team effort. Carol Knoll spoke to Watson
about the project and these are largely his words.
We came to
the conclusion that we wanted something African and significant - the veld and the sky are
African and significant, of the Highveld and poetic. Nelson Mandela has a great love for
the veld and he says in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom: “When I am there I
feel that nothing can shut me in, that my thoughts can roam as far and wide as the
horizons.” As both blacks and whites on the Highveld we grew up in the veld - and
this is the museum of reconciliation.
An almost
subconscious influence for me was the English lake poets and their reverence for the
landscape. Some of the walls of the museum have the feel of the dry-packed stone walls of
the countryside where the poets lived and wrote. Wordsworth loved wild flowers. I have
chosen essentially yellow veld flowers. I have an instinctive love of yellow and this is
Wordsworthian in a way. The building is ‘high tech’ but you are able to meditate
in the garden
*
to think about what
all this meant. The lakes allow you to meditate with a mirror.
From the
roof of the building you can see only veld and sky. I thought we should stylise the veld.
The part which slopes towards the lawned amphitheatre is divided into stylised sections
*
the long straight rows
of tall thatching grass (Hyparrhenia hirta) are interspersed with bands of kikuyu. The
bands or stripes carry your eye away from the building to the distant skyline. Wordsworth’s
landscape, the rural landscape, is structured - not totally wild. The amphitheatre of
bright green kikuyu in the centre of the promenade is a contrast to the veld grass and a
practical, public space where people can sit in comfort and picnic.
There are
areas of ‘real veld’ with lots of little herbaceous plants providing lots of
interest and occasional copses of trees, typical of the Witwatersrand. Visitors can come
here to see the spring flowers in bloom, instead of going out to the Suikerbosrand
reserve. The gnarled wild olives (Olea europaea subs africana) give the feeling of the
untamed veld and they are a symbol of peace, while next to the building in the ‘kloof’,
white stinkwoods (Celtis africana) predominate - these are quiet trees with a riverine
association and they soften the rather brutal building.
It is a
really difficult site for a ‘spiritual’ building, for a monument - in the middle
of suburbia, adjacent to a casino and an amusement park. We needed to screen out the
external landscape. This project proved to me how essential it is for the landscape
architect to work as part of the design team from the very beginning. The landscaping
concept is an integral part of the building which is largely, and appropriately, ‘underground’
and I had input into the design of the building.
We have used
a line of river bushwillows (Combretum erythrophyllum) to screen out the external
landscape and in front of stark walls - these African trees with their narrow pointed
leaves and upright bearing remind me of the exotic bluegums, typical of the Highveld -
they harmonise with the gums. We left the existing oaks as a symbol of colonialism.
The whole
area has a mining orientation and this strong, contemporary, high tech building and garden
is relevant to Johannesburg. The real genius loci of Johannesburg is in its commercial and
mining buildings and its mine dumps - which are covered in veld grass.
I would call
the Apartheid Museum pure architecture. It is simple and hard edged and it works. We were
fortunate to be able to get away from the themed architecture of the first scheme that was
mooted for ‘Freedom Park’. This is not themed and escapist. This is rational. It
was a very positive set of circumstances that led to this result.
INSPIRATION
From time to time Urban Green File encounters projects that stand out from
the contemporary churn and flags them as inspirational (or - as the case may be -
insulting).
The
Apartheid Museum is inspiring. Some of the reasons for this will be evident in the article
and the accompanying photographs, but they will be best understood by experiencing the
building in its own space.
As a public
building, the museum takes cognisance of its responsibility to the city and the citizens
of Johannesburg, and to the nation as a whole. In Urban Green File’s opinion it will
be recognised internationally as a landmark - for the building it is, as much as for the
story it tells.
As a
building of the Highveld, it restores a sense of the veld and sky that embrace
Johannesburg, and it sinks itself into this environment, at the same time establishing a
presence that cannot be ignored and distinguishing itself from its neighbours which
pretend to other histories and made-up contexts.
As a
building of remembrance, it is rich with symbolism yet it stays true to its function and
remains articulate in its telling of the apartheid story. While the exhibition itself is
discomfiting, the building seems strong enough to contain it - and offers space to the
possibility of peace beyond this history of intense conflict, inviting the public to share
it.
This is a
history that it is important for us to remember and for future generations to know. It is
similarly valuable to visitors to our country - as Bannie Britz says – “to offer
them an understanding of who we are and what South Africa is about.”
-----
Urban interchange
A
new taxi rank and trading facility
The new
Randburg Mall Taxi Rank adjacent to the Randburg CBD provides an essential amenity in this
urban node, replacing the former Hilltop taxi rank that had been operating informally and
illegally from a previously vacant site on Hendrik Verwoerd Drive.
Leigh
Darroll spoke to architect Rod Lloyd who was responsible for the design of the new
transport interchange.
Previously
In 1999 a court interdict required the Randburg Council to remove the illegal
Hilltop taxi rank which had been established initially as an improvised response to market
demand and had grown over a period of 12 years. The called-for closure arose not only from
the illegality of the taxi rank operating from that site, but also from the concerns
voiced by other stakeholders in the Randburg CBD about the negative impact that the rank
had on surrounding properties, businesses and shops.
Community consultation
The decision to build a new transport interchange and agreement on the
facilities to be provided was reached through consultation with the concerned
stakeholders. These included: the Randburg Taxi Association - an umbrella body
representing 14 smaller taxi owners’ associations, each responsible for different
routes that radiate out from this interchange; the Randburg Chamber of Commerce and the
Randburg Handelsinstitut; local residents; the South African Police Service; and the
Metropolitan Roads Department.
The planned
transport interchange was accepted as part of Egoli 2000, which encompassed 80 new
infrastructure projects in the Greater Johannesburg metropolitan area, and funding was
raised from provincial government.
Of four
available sites, the three-hectare site - formerly a municipal parking ground - on the
southern corner of the junction between Hendrik Verwoerd Drive and Jan Smuts Avenue, was
selected for the project. The municipal buildings that this parking area had served are
now largely empty, with municipal functions and staff having been absorbed into the
Johannesburg City offices in Braamfontein. The site provided the required proximity to the
Randburg CBD for commuters and direct vehicular access from and to Jan Smuts Avenue - and
thus the major metropolitan road network.
Traffic study
A traffic study conducted by the consulting engineer indicated that the
proposed new rank would have a minimal impact on existing vehicle movement in the area.
The only adjustments required to the road network entailed the introduction of a new set
of traffic lights at the entrance to the rank on Jan Smuts Avenue, and the construction of
a barrier along the central island of that section of the roadway that parallels the
interchange in order to prevent haphazard pedestrian crossings of Jan Smuts Avenue.
Civil works
began on the site in January this year and the Randburg Mall Taxi Rank began operating in
September.
Site planning
Lloyd comments that the design of the taxi rank and the trading facility was
approached with an awareness of the stresses of urban travel. He also refers to his
experience of design at the Mai Mai Market in central Johannesburg, a long-distance taxi
destination that provides transitional and cultural facilities for people arriving in the
city from mostly rural homes in KwaZulu-Natal.
A sense of
containment has been created, not only for the different functions within the site but
also from the surrounding activity, so that while the interface with the commercial
district is retained, there is no disruption or displacement of formal commercial
continuity.
“By
containing the space,” says Lloyd, “it becomes more manageable, functions and
responsibilities are more clearly defined, and it becomes less threatening to its formal
neighbours.”
A market square
All the stakeholders were in favour of trading activity being separated from
the taxi rank, to promote safety and efficient movement of vehicles, as well as to afford
the traders autonomy over the market precinct and the representative taxi association
jurisdiction over the ranking zone.
The northern
quarter of the site, on the higher ground closest to the Randburg Mall and providing for
pedestrian access from the Mall, accommodates the trading area. Most commuters thus
traverse the marketplace in walking to or from the taxi rank to the south. A sheltered
pedestrian bridge is planned for construction, to link the marketplace and taxi rank to
the Mall, over the six traffic lanes of Hendrik Verwoerd Drive. Safety barriers are to be
constructed along the peripheral pavement edges.
According to
council surveys, about 80% of the commuters using the rank are interchange commuters. They
travel from the city and from other suburbs to Randburg, which operates as a centralised
redistribution node, where they pick up connections to onward destinations.
“Many
of the commuters, often including women with young children, have to wait long periods for
connections. The market offers them a place to buy groceries or other goods, to make phone
calls, to have a meal, or freshen up after the journey thus far,” says Lloyd.
Commuters also have easy access to the Randburg CBD if they have business to attend to
there.
Managing traffic
The taxi rank and a double-lane bus stop are accommodated on the southern area
of the site and are accessed off Jan Smuts Avenue, with vehicular entrance and exit routes
clearly demarcated. The bus stop, which is located closest to the street, is designed as a
Metro Transport facility to serve four different routes that interlink with Randburg. The
taxi rank, raised above street level, has a capacity to accommodate 250 taxis at any
single time. It encompasses a large asphalt-surfaced holding area, a cleaning area for
vehicles to the southern edge of this, and the covered loading bays nearer the
marketplace.
Sufficient
loading lanes were required to meet the demands for 21 different routes that serve mainly
suburban destinations, with relatively short turn-around times, as well as long distance
and inter-provincial destinations. The different routes, which are managed by different
owner associations, called for separate lanes with undercover capacities varying from four
standing taxis in single lanes, to eight standing taxis with by-pass lanes. The loading
lanes are distinguished according to destinations which are clearly signposted.
There is
also a pedestrian entrance from Jan Smuts Avenue, located on the northern side of the
vehicular exit, and an administration office is adjacent to this. A smaller parking area
is provided for cab taxis between this office and the marketplace, although it appears
that it is not being used as intended but rather for private parking for management and
others working at the rank.
In the
interests of safety, vehicular and pedestrian routes are kept separate as far as possible.
By containing the different components of the interchange within clearly defined spaces,
the links and access routes also become clearly defined. Pedestrian pathways are moulded
by built elements. In the ranking zone, taxi marshals control access to the ‘platforms’
via a zebra crossing that is kept free of vehicles and passes between the taxis in the
general holding area and those in the loading bays. This prevents people from streaming
across the rank at random.
Simple robust buildings
The scale of the buildings, shifting from the human scale in the marketplace to
a more industrial working scale in the sheds of the rank, also serves to distinguish the
spaces and underlines the concern with containment and control conceived in the site plan.
Budget
imposed a rationalisation of all design and materials. The buildings are simple
structures, providing shelter and shade but otherwise open to the environment.
The taxi
rank comprises a sequence of three sheds: open-sided buildings with wide shallow roofs and
raised axial skylights, described by Lloyd as “standard, economically engineered
steel structures, without high-tech gesture”. Yet these three simple pavilions recall
the spatial quality and vitality of a traditional city railway station.
The
marketplace provides 80 sheltered trading sites. The buildings are placed along the
boundaries of this space and within it, to guide the movement of pedestrians through the
area and to provide, for all the traders, a direct interface with their customers.
The zig-zag
facebrick wall which forms the modulated street frontage on Jan Smuts Avenue, with
adequate spatial depth for planting along the sidewalk, creates internally a sequence of
defined trading bays that are simply sheltered with cranked, profiled steel sheeting.
Restaurants
and food stalls are accommodated in a verandahed building that forms the southern edge of
the marketplace: a row of outdoor, undercover eating areas, each backed by its own kitchen
facilities that are designed to meet the municipal health regulations.
The
buildings within the market precinct reiterate the concept of the simple open shed at
smaller scale. The materials and colours of facebrick, steel roof structures, pre-coated
corrugated steel roof sheeting and concrete paving are consistent with those used in the
rank. A discordant, culturally contrived response is avoided by the simplicity of form and
language. “In this small, human, urban aesthetic, the scale of activity can retain
its dignity and vitality,” says Lloyd.
The toilets
and restrooms for men and women are set apart from the market square and partially
screened from it by a low wall. Two simple facebrick buildings, with shaded verandahs,
face each other across a small, planted courtyard and offer some respite from the business
of trade or transport. The facilities are designed to serve 2 000 people daily. Finishes
and fittings are robust and match the standards of the national road ‘pit stops’.
Shade trees
The sparseness of shade trees in the built complex - a consequence of budget
constraints - is a concern for Lloyd. Some existing trees have been retained in the market
area and a few additional trees have been newly planted. Retaining walls bordering the
taxi rank and planters along the Jan Smuts boundary wall have also been newly planted.
While the trees will grow in time, Lloyd suggests that larger trees or more, and not only
in the marketplace but also in the ranking zone, would have contributed to softening what
is quite a harsh, hard-working environment and enhancing its sympathetic urban qualities.
Nonetheless,
for all the stakeholders, this new transport interchange is a significant improvement on
the previously improvised facilities. It is currently being managed by the Randburg Taxi
Association, with the Gauteng Micro Business Association (GMB) responsible for the traders
in the market. The new Randburg Mall Taxi Rank establishes a starting point for renewal of
the Randburg Mall precinct and the upgrading of other public and private properties in the
vicinity.
Professional team:
Architect and urban designer: Rod Lloyd, Lloyd Associates Urban Designers &
Architects
Structural and traffic engineers: Pronorth and Sigudla Consultants
Quantity surveyors: Bathuleng Wallace Raubenheimer
Main contractor: Brian Westcott (Civils) Giuricich Brothers (Pty) Ltd (Structures)
-----
Controlling algal bloom
The
barley straw project
With the guidance of Rand Water, Pecanwood Estate has taken a leading role in combating
the water quality problems related to Hartbeespoort Dam. The dam is well known for its
high water eutrophication status and resultant algal problems which are a cause of concern
to recreational users, downstream irrigators and riparian property owners alike. Pecanwood
abstracts water from the dam to fill the water hazards on its golf course and these ponds
have been experiencing algal problems which impact on the aesthetic value of the golf
course as well as the quality of living of the shareholders of the complex. Barley straw
has been applied to certain ponds to control algal bloom and the results of a monitoring
programme have shown that the barley application has had a positive effect on water
quality in these ponds.
Carol Knoll
interviewed Allan Sadler, contracts general manager of Golf Data for the maintenance at
Pecanwood Estate; Francois van Wyk, Head: Catchment Management, Rand Water; and Hein du
Preez, Head: Hydrobiology, Rand Water – on site at Pecanwood.
Eutrophication
or nutrient enrichment is the result of excess concentrations of plant nutrients
introduced to a water body in the organic waste stream, which includes sewage and
fertiliser-rich runoff from agricultural lands. Eutrophication results in algal bloom and
dense aquatic weed and plant growth which disrupt the balance of aquatic ecosystems.
Hartbeespoort Dam’s eutrophication problems arise largely from two sources: treated
sewage from Johannesburg’s Northern Sewerage Works and untreated sewage and other
pollutants from the Jukskei River which runs through Alexandra. These sources contribute
quantities of phosphates and nitrates which accumulate in the dam, creating a
hyper-eutrophic state, and are utilised as a food source by algae.
Van Wyk
commented that the ideal would be to empty the dam, scrape it and refill it but that this
alternative, aside from the cost, was a practical impossibility because it would take two
years and the resorts along the dam were heavily dependent on the water as a recreational
resource.
If cleaning
the dam is not feasible, then the reduction of nutrient sources is another possibility and
Van Wyk said that the Hartbeespoort Dam Water Action Group had often debated issues along
these lines, such as making it compulsory for those living in the Hartbeespoort Dam
catchment to use phosphate-free soap powder, which could be imported from the USA, as
South African soap powders had a high phosphate content.
Rand Water
introduced Pecanwood Estate to the idea of using barley straw to control algal bloom, as
they had implemented a pilot project, which has been in place for six years, in the Vaal
River Barrage reservoir, with some success. The idea was to introduce this control measure
in the form of pilot projects, as dosing the whole of Hartbeepoort Dam was not considered
feasible. Pecanwood approached Rand Water for guidance and implemented the first pilot
barley straw project on the dam. The ponds on the golf course at Pecanwood are filled from
the dam and because they are smaller and shallower and therefore warmer, algal growth is
increased and detracts from the appearance of the water features. One of a variety of
algal species present in the ponds, blue-green algae (cyanophyta), produces toxins which
kill fish, causes skin and eye irritation in humans and can kill small pets if they drink
the water.
The Estate
saw to the physical implementation of the project by building cages to hold the barley
straw and maintaining these, while Rand Water has been responsible for monitoring the
scientific data. Three cages were installed in three ponds on the golf course: Kingfisher,
Cormorant and Cosmos Lakes; and one was installed in Hartbeespoort Dam near the intake
pipe leading to the golf course ponds; while Fish Eagle Lake on the course was used as a
control. Estate manager Sadler said that the cages were built along the lines of those
used at the Vaal Barrage but the dimensions were slightly smaller (2m x 1m x 1m) and each
cage accommodated one bale of straw, on Rand Water’s recommendation. To allow for the
creation of aerobic conditions and proper contact between the straw and the water, the
cages were constructed of steel mesh covered with shade net. The bales take six weeks to
degrade and need to be replaced every 6-8 weeks. The barley straw is sourced from the
Western Cape.
Van Wyk said
that there was, as yet, no scientific certainty about how barley straw works. He said it
did not kill algae, it inhibited their growth. The ‘Journal of Applied Phycology’
reported barley straw’s ability to control algae in 1990, while control of
cyanobacteria by barley straw was reported in the ‘Journal of Aquatic Plant
Management’ in 1993. Barley straw is utlised extensively in Europe and the USA.
Growth of algae and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) can be controlled by 95% with the
application of barley straw. It takes six weeks for the barley straw to become active when
it is placed just under the surface of the water body and with sufficient water flow
through the straw, which is releasing lignins as it decomposes. These lignins oxidise into
humic acids and in the presence of sunlight and oxygen form hydrogen peroxide. The
peroxide inhibits algal growth with no detrimental effect on aquatic vascular plants or
other aquatic forms of life - invertebrates, fish or waterfowl.
One of the
few arguments against the use of barley straw is that an overdosed situation can lead to
the excessive utilisation of oxygen needed in the decomposition process, and the resulting
suffocation of fish. On visits to the cages at the Vaal River Barrage, Rand Water
personnel made an interesting observation, however. The cages seemed to attract a myriad
of invertebrates which acted as lures to the fish in the reservoir. This increased life
around the cages (a mini-ecosystem) attracted the attention of fishermen who were duly
rewarded.
Barley straw
should, ideally, be introduced to a water body at the beginning of spring. Pecanwood
started its project in October last year, dosing the water at 10gm/m2. The
barley cages were placed near aerators in the ponds, wherever possible, to allow for
better circulation and the spread of decomposed material. Sadler said that had they known
about the potential problem and the remedy at construction phase they could have created a
flow from pond to pond to ensure good circulation.
The results
obtained by Rand Water’s monitoring programme over the period October 2000 to April
2001 indicate that blue-green algae were present in all the ponds and at the point of
intake from Hartbeespoort, but that the ponds which were being dosed with decomposing
barley straw showed a much lower percentage of algal cells. In December, over 1 million
cells per millilitre were recorded in Hartbeespoort Dam, which means that the water was
being pumped into the ponds at the rate of 1 million cells/ml, while over the same time
period, less than 200 000 cells/ml were recorded in the golf course ponds. The results
indicate that the barley application has had a positive effect on the water quality, as
the algae should be growing faster in the shallow, warmer water of the ponds.
Some of Rand
Water’s recommendations to Pecanwood on the strength of these results are that they
should continue to control nuisance algal growth during the summer and autumn months by
adding barley straw to the water at the onset of spring (August) and that the barley straw
should be ‘topped up’ at four to six week intervals. Some form of circulation
added to the ponds, such as pumping the water, would add to efficiency. It is suggested
that additional cages be placed in each pond to spread the straw more evenly and that the
barley bales be loosened to allow for optimal efficiency. Water samples from the intake
area or any area where people are in contact with the water should be analysed for algal
toxin concentration during the summer and autumn months.
The proposed sterile
grass carp project
Rand Water, at Pecanwood’s request, is planning a second phase of algal
control for the ponds and environmental scientist Du Preez is heading up this project
which involves the control of problematic benthic algal growth, and other submerged
aquatic plant growth, by utlising neutered Chinese grass carp. Benthic algae are those
species that are attached to the substrate, which with enough nutrients and light will
eventually take over a lake. Du Preez, who has lengthy experience with grass carp,
explained that a number of control methods were available including mechanical control in
the form of a dredger or harvester which had been utilised at lakes such as Germiston and
Wemmer Pan - but, he said, that cutting the algae down made it grow faster; while chemical
spraying was expensive and had to be done repeatedly.
Grass carp
utilise benthic algae as a food source, and they eat the young shoots of reeds and other
submerged plants. This form of biological control is used in the USA for the control of
weeds in irrigation canals. It is also used extensively in several provinces in South
Africa. In the past, carp were introduced to Florida and Germiston Lakes and Potchefstroom
Dam. Rand Water, which has in the past shown a preference for engineered solutions, will
be introducing this environmentally friendly control to filler dams at its water
purification works, in the near future.
According to
Du Preez, Chinese grass carp were brought into the country by nature conservation in about
1983. They were trialled at the fisheries station at Marble Hall - these initial carp were
not infertile - and they were eventually introduced into places such as Germiston Lake
where they were found to be very effective. In later years, sterile carp were imported
from the USA and trialled at RAU where they were retested for sterility, and further
introductions were made into urban impoundments in Gauteng. Du Preez explained that RAU,
at present, tags each batch of sterile carp that is introduced to a water body with small
magnetic tags. This helps to control the illegal production and introduction of carp into
water bodies for the purposes of clearing weed and algae.
Pecanwood is
in the process of considering Rand Water’s proposal to introduce this biocontrol into
the golf course ponds. These fish will be tagged for identification purposes and aimed at
the control of benthic algae. Calculations will be made as to the number of fish required
per square metre, according to the percentage area of the pond that is affected with
algae. Du Preez said that it was preferable to understock initially and to introduce more
fish at a later stage if necessary. He said that an overstocked situation could lead to
the fish taking out all the aquatic plants. The speed of regrowth of the benthic algae
will have to be carefully calculated in accordance with the amount of food required by the
carp. An alternative might be to feed the carp on grass cuttings from the golf course to
supplement their food supply. Du Preez said that benthic algae would materialise as a
problem in the long term only but that he advocated the immediate introduction of a few
carp as an inexpensive pro-active measure.
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A reliable ecological basis
for environmental planning
by
George Bredenkamp, Professor of Vegetation Science and Director of the African Vegetation
and Plant Diversity Research Centre, Department of Botany, University of Pretoria; and
Leslie Brown, Deputy Chief Lecturer, Department of Applied Natural Sciences, Technikon SA.
Under
natural conditions most of the earth’s terrestrial surface is covered with living
matter. This living biomass is not uniform, it is composed of a huge variety of different
organisms, which have evolved over a long period during the geological history of the
earth. The green component of this living matter consists of interacting individuals which
form a complex and highly diversified reality called vegetation. Vegetation is composed of
the local flora, that is the plant species of the area, organised into populations and
communities, which are the result of very long processes of evolution. Vegetation
composition is mainly dependent on climate and substrate. Every ecological region has its
own unique geological history, and a particular set of climatic and substrate conditions,
resulting in its own unique flora and therefore its own unique vegetation, with its own
peculiar characteristics. In this sense vegetation belongs to the heritage of nations.
When viewing
a landscape dominated by natural vegetation from an elevated point, the main differences
in pattern visible in the landscape are those of the plant communities. Major distinctions
are made on the basis of vegetation structure, for example woodland as opposed to
grassland. More subtle subdivisions of the landscape are not so easily observed and these
variations are reflections of differences in plant species composition. A group of
associated plant species together with its particular habitat forms a plant community and
this interrelationship between plants and physical environment represents an ecosystem at
the community level of organisation. Plant communities can be distinct, easily separable
vegetation units associated with particular sets of environmental conditions including
historical land-use; or vegetation can be in gradients (one plant community grades into
another without sharp boundaries), as a result of continuity in certain environmental
factors.
Vegetation,
as the most obvious physical representation of an ecosystem, forms a complex mosaic of
continuity and discontinuity. It represents a large portion of the biodiversity of the
area and is a self-organising system driven and determined by the physical and biological
environmental factors of the site. Vegetation has a central position in nature
conservation as the habitat for plants and animals. Vegetation-cum-habitat units therefore
represent plant communities, which are very useful spatial units for environmental
planning.
The plant community as
ecosystem: basic concepts
It is fundamental that vegetation is always an integral part of an ecosystem
and can only be studied by fully exploring its role within that system. An ecosystem can
be seen as a functional natural system where there is an interaction between an abiotic
component (the physical environment) and a biotic component (the organisms found living in
the physical environment), in addition to energy flow and with biogeochemical cycles. In
terrestrial ecosystems, vegetation supports the entire ecosystem by fixing light energy in
manufacturing the organic food needed for energy flow through the system. When ecologists
talk about different ecosystem types, they usually equate these to different vegetation
types, or plant communities. As a primary producer (any organsim that possesses
chlorophyll and is therefore the basis of the food chain), vegetation is a major component
in the environment and as such it is of immense practical importance that it be conserved.
Not only do plants play a major role in humankind’s existence, as primary producers,
but they also form a protective layer covering the soil and thereby protecting it against
the onslaught of wind and water.
If one
environmental factor (light, temperature, water, drainage, soil or nutrients) is taken,
and the abundance of a species is plotted across its range of variation, the result may
approximate a normal curve. Almost all species have different responses to such an
environmental factor, resulting in a vegetation gradient along an environmental gradient.
A complication is that a species will usually respond to more than one, or a set of
environmental factors. Thus each species will have an environmental response curve for
every environmental factor, and each curve will differ in form. The reason that certain
species grow together in a particular environment is usually because they have similar
requirements for existence in terms of environmental factors such as light, temperature,
water, etc. They also share the ability to tolerate factors such as grazing by animals and
human impacts such as trampling or burning. Species growing together therefore have more
or less similar response curves to a set of environmental factors, and they are indicator
species for particular habitats (they indicate a particular set of environmental
variables), and also character species for a particular plant community.
Of
importance is that any spatial or temporal changes in the physical environment (change in
soil conditions from sand to clay) will affect the species composition, performance and
success of the vegetation and this, in turn, will affect the animals that are found in the
area. Therefore, if the habitat changes, the vegetation also changes. This implies that
every set of physical environmental variables on a particular site forms the habitat for a
particular set of associated plant species.
Vegetation and man
Natural vegetation is modified by man’s activities and vegetation cover is
destroyed or altered over large areas of the world. As a result natural components of the
flora disappear and the free space becomes occupied by aliens, mostly encroachers which
are dangerous competitors to the local flora and/or troublesome weeds. The general effect
of human impact on vegetation is the loss of identity of the vegetation and consequent
destruction of the landscape.
Vegetation
can be interpreted as the interface between man and the environment. It preserves man from
stressful factors such as cold, warmth, drought and psychological factors, and it
preserves the physical environment from direct impacts, such as erosion and
desertification. In many parts of the world, because the natural environment is being
destroyed, this interface is reduced to a very thin layer - resulting in very costly
restoration and rehabilitation actions in an effort to improve the deprived quality of man’s
life.
Uncontrolled
and ill-planned development is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity worldwide and to
life forms that have taken millennia to evolve and adapt to their specific habitats.
Development in many parts of the world has led to the destruction of various plant and
animal species and their habitats. In South Africa areas richly endowed with natural
biological resources are often under threat from development. To achieve balanced
development that satisfies present human needs, while also taking the conservation of
natural resources/habitats into consideration, is one of the biggest challenges faced by
planners, conservationists, environmental managers and decision-makers worldwide - and
particularly in South Africa, because of the richness of species diversity and the variety
of cultural impacts on the environment.
Vegetation and
development planning
Historically, development and conservation have been in conflict because
conservationists are seen as a group aiming at the protection of the natural resources at
all costs and not allowing any development, while developers are seen as people exploiting
and destroying these resources. Gradually, it has become accepted that sustainable
development can provide the needs of the present generation without jeopardising the right
of future generations to experience and enjoy nature, in the form of natural and unspoilt
ecosystems where biodiversity has been preserved, as a component of their quality of life.
Along with increased development due to growing urbanisation and declining urban
environmental quality, more attention is being paid to ecological principles as the basis
for development planning. It has become critical that development should be planned in
such a way as to make the best possible use of natural resources whilst avoiding
degradation and allowing for conservation of natural ecosystems. It is of utmost
importance that ways be found to maintain plant and animal species, biodiversity and
ecological processes, within the sustainable development process. Hence explicit attention
must be given to the inclusion of the environment, it’s biota and the associated
habitats in the decision-making and planning process. With this in mind it has become
essential to develop procedures that can evaluate and assess the impact of new
developments on the environment and to include this knowledge in the planning of new
developments.
In the early
eighties, the concepts of Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) and Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIA) were introduced into South Africa. IEM is designed to ensure that
the environmental consequences of any development are clearly understood and considered in
the planning and implementation of the development. The purpose is not to stop or hinder
development, but rather to lessen or avoid any negative impacts on the environment while
enhancing the positive aspects of the development - thus guiding development to consider
the natural environment.
What role can
vegetation assessment play in the planning process?
In order to prevent the destruction of any ecosystem, it is important that
systematic planning and co-ordination of activities and development should receive
priority. This planning should include studies of the natural environment (soil, water,
vegetation, animals) and cultural / historical aspects. Assessments of these aspects are
frequently required to form part of Environmental Impact Assessment Reports, conducted in
terms of the Environment Conservation Act 1989 (Act 73 of 1989).
It is clear
that vegetation is much more than a mere list of plant species. The use of plant species
and plant communities as indicators for land planning and development policies is in
principle accepted in most countries. The idea of using not only plant species but rather
plant communities for planning purposes has been developed, because plant communities
practically summarise the entire floristic diversity and integrate the environmental
variables, including distribution and occurrence of rare and endangered species, degree of
man’s influence, pristineness and degradation, vegetation dynamics, habitats for
animal species, as well as many of the ecological relationships between these various
aspects.
It has often
been demonstrated that the different ecosystems of a particular area can be recognised by
the plant communities within the area. It is therefore clear that different ecosystems can
be delimited by mapping the plant communities, based on floristic composition. Various
authors have emphasised the importance of vegetation surveys in ecosystem research and in
environmental planning and management.
The study of
plant communities, as fundamental units of ecosystems, is therefore basic to environmental
planning and the compilation of environmental management plans. It is necessary to make a
thorough inventory of the plant communities with their species and their associated
habitats, in order to evaluate a site’s potential for development, specific land-use
or conservation. This inventory should then serve as a scientific and ecological basis for
the planning exercises.
A further
consequence is that this knowledge of plant community composition and dynamics can provide
appropriate information for the possibilities of restoration and rehabilitation of
potential natural vegetation in degraded areas.
A vegetation
study as part of the development process will provide a reliable ecological basis for
environmental planning and should be incorporated early in the planning process. |
