Greenpeace is an independent organisation that uses non-violent but creative confrontation to expose environmental injustices. Greenpeace Africa has crosscutting campaigns advocating for a better environment for all. It works to protect biodiversity in all its forms from protecting the ocean and deforestation to ridding Africa of plastic pollution. Air pollution will affect all other climatic factors that have bearing on the livelihoods of Africans who are dependent on weather patterns for their agriculture in rural areas and indirectly the urban consumers. Proactive campaigns on air quality by Greenpeace Africa are a call for Africa to unite on issues that affect it and to address the problems of air pollution and its climatic effects. The campaign on load-shedding, which focuses on transitioning to renewable energy, spans the extractive mining effects on communities to energy emissions and training for youths in renewable energy. The high court in Makhanda ordering Shell to stop its seismic blasting along the Wild Coast was a victory. Another was the decision of the National Air Quality Officer not to grant Eskom a postponement on its compliance with minimum emission standards. Humanity is one and air is ubiquitous, hence any deliberate emissions that affect the ozone, air quality and causing a climatic crisis will affect us all. The campaigns are directed to establishments and have a global impact when synchronised with the other Greenpeace allies. Greenpeace Africa does not accept donations from corporates and governments, so communities and individuals know they own their campaigns.
What’s been your/the organisation’s greatest achievement in your field?
Here are some of the highlights:
1. Helping to stop Shell’s seismic blasting on the Wild Coast.
2. Mainstreaming the demand for renewable energy to address the load-shedding crisis.
3. Producing a roadmap for a South Africa that brings increased grid access, smart and modernised power-market design to achieve an energy market that is 100% renewable energy.
4. Our collective pressure on the government through the relevant and responsible departments is producing results, including the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment taking Eskom to task for failures to act on air quality standards.
Please provide specific examples of how your organisation’s practices and work have a positive effect on the environment
Investigations, campaigns, mobilisation of youth, media engagement, awareness raising and advocacy at the city, province, national government and international levels.
What are some of the biggest environmental challenges faced by South Africans today?
- Climate change and extreme weather events, including drought and floods;
- Air pollution and ecosystem destruction caused by the coal industry;
- Energy crisis;
- Oil and gas expansion at the expense of a stable climate and the well-being and livelihoods of coastal communities’ well-being and livelihoods; and
- Plastic pollution.
Our theme this year is Celebrating Environment Heroes. What do you believe could be the repercussions for millions of people in South Africa and the continent if we do not tackle problems exacerbated by climate change, encompassing issues like drought, floods, fires, extreme heat, biodiversity loss, and pollution of air and water?
Climate change is unfolding violently before our eyes. It is not imminent – it is happening now. The scenes from KwaZulu-Natal in the past few years are a demonstration of how climate change threatens to disrupt every aspect of our lives: education, access to healthcare, water and food security. Crops will fail, supply chains will be disrupted, jobs will be threatened and hunger will persist. Fast-tracking a shift to renewable energy is clearly the solution.