Apologies for such a long absence since our last communication, mainly caused by financial constraints, but I am pleased to be able to give some feedback and report on our victories whilst simultaneously informing you of concerns happening in our area.

Firstly I must thank our loyal and dedicated staffers, (now numbering six, including interns!!), for all the effort and passion that they give to the C.W.C.B.R., this is what makes us tick. Secondly a vote of thanks to my fellow directors, a dedicated bunch who continue to be committed, sacrificing their time and effort free of charge, despite the pressures of the present economic climate. Special thanks to Janette who, over and above her various other inputs, is now the AfriMab representative, representing all African Biospheres at an international level, awesome.

In terms of our attainable goals we are planning a workshop on the 12th November to address our business plan, to identify what we have achieved to date, where our strengths and weaknesses lie as well as identify where we are going. The C.W.C.B.R. has metamorphasised so much in the last five years that I do believe that this will be a very informative exercise for staff, directors and members.

Bearing in mind our commitment to the U.N.E.S.C.O., M.A.B. principal, (Man and the Biosphere.) I shall attempt to balance this report accordingly.

Our Mountain to The Sea project continues to grow and is now in its third year. This has to be one of our most successful outreach projects to date and I think it would be very interesting to see if we have made any difference in these children’s lives, i.e. what sort of career paths they choose?

The other very successful enterprise is our Landcare Project, hosted by the West Coast Fossil Park and currently sponsored by the Department of Agriculture and strongly supported by their Technical Adviser Johan Meij. This department has consistently year on year increased their funding to ourselves and I do wish to extend my gratitude to them and particularly Johan, I do believe we are making a difference.

No Chairman's report would be complete without mentioning our Trails and Tourism as well as our Spatial Development project, which are our two flagship projects as per the business plan, (which was compiled alongside our stakeholders in the Biosphere) but I am not going to go into more detail on this one, if you require more info check our website for details or contact the office.

I have just touched on a few of the highlights here and obviously space does not allow me to mention and analyze each and every project that we are busy with, however, rest assured, there are a lot more in various stages of completion. Let me now just touch on some of the issues with regard to environmental concerns.

The port expansion at Saldanha has been shelved due to “International market pressure relating to the financial crisis worldwide as well as concerns raised by certain local N.G.O.`s” By teaming up with Bird Life South Africa we managed to get a programme flighted on 50/50 raising concerns about the threats to Langebaan Lagoon and the Ramsar site. Here I must thank Carolyn Ah-Shene Verdoorn from B.L.S.A. who came, saw, and was the driving force in turning this programme into a reality. Response to the programme was overwhelming and it has culminated in an Environmental Management Framework being prepared for the area, something we have been trying to achieve for some time. We did, however, end up getting rapped over the knuckles for taking up this issue with Ramsar secretariat in Switzerland.

Almost simultaneously, we were shocked to discover that there were plans afoot to mine Tungsten in the Moutonshoek Valley, the catchment area for the Verlorenvlei. Fellow director Keith Harrison and I decided that although outside of the “Official” Biosphere boundaries, we could not just sit back and let another Ramsar site come under such serious threat, so off we went and jumped in boots and all. Unbelievably there is no Environmental Management Plan for this area but thankfully this is now being addressed. I ended up as part of a team who raised our concerns with the Director General of the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs in Cape Town. Further mining applications have sporadically popped up on such properties as Elandsfontein, an area of great paleontological importance in close proximity to the West Coast Fossil Park and in an area earmarked for future expansion by the West Coast National Park.

Our recently completed Spatial Development Framework Plan should be starting to have an impact on these types of applications. This is an overlay of some of the most up to date data relating to the environment within the biosphere, clearly highlighting important conservation sites and giving planners some sort of model to work towards over the next twenty years. Most town planners are exactly that, town planners and have very little real experience with regard to rural expansion and I hope this will be a useful tool or guideline for them. Now if only we can get the Department of Mineral and Energy affairs to take note of this document………

I do believe that there are now moves afoot to establish some sort of Ramsar management committee to operate at National level which is to be commended, albeit overdue.

At a recent inspection of the gypsum mine at the salt pans outside Yzerfontein with Vice Chairman Martin Halvorsen, as well as certain government officials, it was discovered that little or none of the pre-conditions set for the establishment of this mine had been complied with. Sadly this appears to be the norm rather than the exception to the rule. In most instances these pre-conditions are set by the province and the local municipalities are not supplied with the skills, capacity or budget to ensure that these conditions are met. This will have to be addressed.

What one can take out of all this is that although we have some of the best environmental legislation in the world, without the commitment or capacity at local, provincial as well as national government level, the onus will remain on N.G.O.`s such as ourselves to be the watchdog out there. Although we do not lack the commitment, our financial capacity does constrain us. To win a war, one often has to carefully choose your battles.
Just in closing, we cannot operate without the support of our members and this will have to have a strong focus going forward. Our best advertisement is word of mouth, so to every one of you reading this please pass this message on to any person or company that may be interested in supporting us.

Greetings from the land of the big blue sky,

Jimmy.

 

Langebaan development:

Despite the fact that it is one of the most protected natural harbours on the South African coastline, old van Riebeeck could not do his veggie garden thing here, because, there was not enough fresh water in the area. So what has changed in the last three hundred and seventy odd years? Quite frankly, nothing.

In the early seventies the construction of the iron ore harbour took place changing the lagoon forever. Blasting resulted in fish populations disappearing virtually overnight. There was also terrible disruption to avian communities in the area. A form of clam, indigenous to the Langebaan Lagoon, suddenly died out, never to be seen on these shores again as closing the gap between the mainland and Marcus Island changed the natural tidal flow in the lagoon.

Today we find that the beaches of Langebaan have virtually disappeared, with a fortune in taxpayers money being spent trying to shore up what is left. Homes that had seventy to eighty metres of beach have now either washed away or have had rock dumped in front of their properties in an attempt to prevent further erosion. In fact, homes close to the Alabama slipway in Langebaan, face a situation that this rock was dumped on top of a main sewer line and currently this sewer line appears to support the rock as the underlying sand has been eroded. A truly crappy state of affairs looms on the horizon.

The proposed Baja Sardinia project, which falls outside of the recognised Urban Edge into what is essentially a Buffer Zone between the town of Langebaan and the West Coast National Park, has thankfully drawn huge objections from many quarters. Visit www.savesharkbay.org for more information and to register any objections you may have.

Even though only approximately half of the erven have been built on in Langebaan at present, the sewerage plant is running at maximum capacity and we have recently seen two severe sewerage spills in the area. Over the December holidays there were regular water cut-offs as well as water pressure so low that one had to jump around in the shower to get wet on most mornings.

Part of the problem is that each development is looked at as a separate entity, without the cumulative impact being considered on the whole. With burgeoning industry to the North, coupled with rampant housing developments, the wetlands and proclaimed RAMSAR site, including the West Coast National Park to the South, are under severe threat.

Declare the area an “Endangered Ecosystem”?

In terms of NEMA, (National Environmental Management Act.) we could petition the Minister to have the whole of the lagoon and surroundings, proclaimed as an “Endangered Ecosystem”. If you are supportive of such a suggestion please contact us via info@capebiosphere.co.za

We are faced with the fact that this unique ecosystem, which held the oldest human footprint on this planet, could soon be stamped with a shameful and indelible footprint by modern man and his insatiable greed.

Next catastrophe on the list:Saldanah Bay

The water in the Saldanha Bay area, historically being scoured by each tide, have recently shown e-coli counts that were so high that the water was deemed unsafe to swim in.

The ore harbour is to be expanded to triple capacity. The lagoon is to be dredged and probably blasted to accommodate the larger ore carriers, by removing 11,000,000 cubic metres off of the bottom of the lagoon. Although there is as yet no explanation as to where the 72,000,000 litres of water required, per month, to run this operation will come from, the green light has been given. Apparently desalination is being considered, yes and where does the electricity for this come from?

Expect more from me on this hot topic and I would welcome any comments or information you have to share with me.

Jimmy Walsh

If you have anything to say, please email me at info@capebiosphere.co.za