The financial benefits of conserving and restoring the environment outweigh the costs by a ratio of between 25 and 100 to one, according to a major international report on the economic value of ecosystems and biodiversity.
The so-called TEEB report for policymakers, hosted by the UN and sponsored by the European Commission and individual European nations, [...]
Twenty hectares of industrial hemp will be planted in the Eastern Cape this summer in the first commercial trials since the government committed itself to establishing a local hemp industry more than 10 years ago.
The trials are part of the newly launched Hemp Project, a combined effort by government, business and community organisations to uplift [...]
Written on October 22, 2009 | Posted in
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The world is losing its vital natural systems faster than ever before with severe consequences for the health and livelihood of the human population, according to international biodiversity experts meeting in Cape Town this week for a landmark conference.
The conference, convened by the UN-supported science programme Diversitas, has attracted 600 experts to discuss science–based solutions [...]
Field trials of genetically modified canola will put South Africa’s GM-free canola industry at risk and threaten biodiversity and human health, according to organisations representing thousands of consumers and small farmers.
Written on October 4, 2009 | Posted in
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Thousands of hectares of valuable farmland will be lost and the country’s water security further threatened if a gigantic uranium slimes dam planned for a greenfield site near the Vaal River is not stopped, according to a wide range of objectors.
The Transvaal Agricultural Union, the Federation for a Sustainable Environment and hundreds of landowners have [...]
Written on October 4, 2009 | Posted in
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Private developers hoping to build a huge urban complex on protected farmland on the Cape Flats have been dealt a blow by the national Department of Agriculture.
Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee was due to rule on the controversial application last week, but was surprised by the arrival of a letter from the national department strongly opposing [...]
Written on October 4, 2009 | Posted in
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Africa could produce between two and three times its current food output if it converted entirely to organic farming, according to an internationally-respected eco-agriculturist.
Dr Raymond Auerbach, founder and director of the Rainman Landcare Foundation which trains farmers in organic production, was the only representative from South Africa’s organic and smallholder sector permitted to address this [...]
Written on October 4, 2009 | Posted in
Agriculture,
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