Fiona Macleod

Fiona Macleod is an environmental writer for the Mail & Guardian newspaper and editor of the M&G Greening the Future and Investing in the Future supplements.

She is also editor of Lowveld Living magazine in Mpumalanga.

An award-winning journalist, she was previously environmental editor of the M&G for 10 years and was awarded the Nick Steele award for environmental conservation.

She is a former editor of Earthyear magazine, chief sub-editor and assistant editor of the M&G, editor-in-chief of HomeGrown magazines, managing editor of True Love and production editor of The Executive.

She served terms on the judging panels of the SANParks Kudu Awards and The Green Trust Awards. She also worked as a freelance writer, editor and producer of several books, including Your Guide to Green Living, A Social Contract: The Way Forward and Fighting for Justice.

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/ 5 March 2008

Kruger set to cull jumbos

The Kruger National Park is expected to announce a massive elephant culling programme after the latest census showed the population has doubled since the controversial practice was suspended in 1995. An aerial survey conducted last August estimated there were 13 500 elephants in the national park.

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/ 14 January 2008

Anger over Valli accolade

Storm clouds continue to gather over the controversial and seemingly universal slide towards nuclear power. While proponents and antagonists construct compelling reasons for and against its use, the jury stays out on its potentially harmful environmental effects. Local anti-nuclear activists are infuriated that an international panel listed Valli Moosa, chairperson of the Eskom board and former environment minister, one of “50 people who could save the planet”.

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/ 9 November 2007

Bye-bye abalone

Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk is optimistic that his controversial ban on abalone fishing will be as successful as the ivory ban has been in saving Africa’s elephants from extinction. In his first interview since announcing the ban two weeks ago, he said there would be no abalone left in South African seas in a few years if drastic steps were not taken.

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/ 19 October 2007

Kruger threatened by land claim

Communities claiming a large slice of the northern Kruger National Park (KNP) want full title to their land without any developmental restrictions. The land would remain part of the world-renowned wildlife reserve, says the Limpopo Land Claims Commission. Negotiations over this proposed settlement of the second-largest land claim in the Kruger could set a precedent for claims by communities dispossessed during apartheid.

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/ 10 September 2007

Van Schalkwyk’s elephantine error

Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk is having a rough ride after he spent time at a Limpopo outfit that captured young elephants from the wild for elephant-back safaris. Wildlife groups are furious after Van Schalkwyk visited Elephants for Africa Forever, an elephant training outfit.

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/ 7 September 2007

Report on water half-baked

The Water Research Commission has published a controversial report showing that one of Tshwane’s main water sources is heavily polluted with toxic chemicals, but it has apparently been ”doctored” on the orders of a Tshwane metro official. The commission is a scientific body that reports to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry.

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/ 30 July 2007

Who should be hauled over the coals?

Environmentalists are up in arms about who should be responsible for ensuring the mining industry cleans up its act as Eskom fast-tracks its coal-fired power plans. Eskom has announced its intention to double electricity output in the next 20 years and the department of minerals and energy is the main player and referee in issuing and policing coal-mining permits.

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/ 22 June 2007

Landowners haul miners over the coals

Ecotourism outfits based in one of South Africa’s most fragile ecosystems are discovering that coal mining and prospecting permits have been granted on their land without their knowledge or participation. Landowners in the Mpumalanga highveld have gone to court to stop the miners. Some have vowed to deny the miners access to their ­properties.

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/ 7 June 2007

Getting them when they’re young

The South African Scouts firmly believe in getting important messages to people while they are young. With their climate change programme, they are encouraging young people to become “change agents for climate change education and action”. Youth undertake activities that help them understand the cause and effects of climate change.

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/ 11 May 2007

Rietvlei report: don’t drink the water

One of Pretoria’s main water sources is heavily polluted with toxic chemicals that cause sexual mutations and long-term cancers, scientists have warned. A hard-hitting report by a team of scientists documents sexual abnormalities in fish and mammals at the Rietvlei Nature Reserve, which supplies a significant portion of the Tshwane metro council’s water.