G8 nations said on Tuesday they would work towards a target of at least halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with other participants in UN talks.
The bulk of allegations made by employees against management and board members at the South African Weather Service have proved to be unfounded.
Africa remains one of the most vulnerable continents to the effects of climate change, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Tuesday.
As police announced the launch of "specialised units" to combat the deadly xenophobic violence in Gauteng and the National Intelligence Agency confirmed that it was probing the violence, the government on Tuesday stood accused of serious policy failures that "created a tinderbox of unmet expectations which exploded in Alexandra".
The police have ”concrete evidence” of a suspected third-force involvement in xenophobic attacks in and around Johannesburg, the Gauteng Legislature heard on Tuesday. ”The police now have concrete evidence of those involved in orchestrations and they are dealing with it,” said Gauteng’s minister for sport Barbara Creecy.
South Africa’s 13-year moratorium on elephant culling was set to be lifted on Thursday to combat a surge in population numbers, despite an outcry from animal rights activists. The South African government earlier this year authorised the culling of elephants from May 1 as a last resort in limiting the numbers of the African elephant.
Final regulations for the banning of asbestos will come into effect on Friday, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Thursday. Van Schalkwyk said the regulations would prohibit the use, processing, manufacturing, and import and export of any asbestos.
A South African court has dismissed a bid by a group of fishermen to overturn an official ban on commercial abalone fishing, the Environmental Affairs and Tourism ministry said on Thursday. Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk ordered the indefinite ban to protect existing natural stocks of the shellfish
Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Monday dismissed appeals against the decision to grant environmental authorisation for a new Eskom power station in Mpumalanga. The project involves the construction of a 5 400MW coal-fired power station near Witbank.
A grouping of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters on Sunday backed United Nations-led efforts to forge a global pact to fight climate change but disagreed on a sectoral approach to curb emissions from industry. G20 nations held three days of talks near Tokyo to discuss ways to tackle rapidly rising emissions.
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/ 27 February 2008
The elephant management norms and standards published this week are not a decision to cull, and should not be interpreted as such, global wildlife fund WWF said on Wednesday. It said it welcomed the rules, which would provide a uniform framework for the management of elephants in South Africa.
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/ 26 February 2008
The unnecessary confinement and transportation of elephants for entertainment purposes has left the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) ”seriously perturbed”. It was on Tuesday responding to the Norms and Standards for the Management of Elephants in South Africa, announced a day before.
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/ 23 December 2007
The resolution on climate change adopted in Polokwane by the African National Congress (ANC) is a critical milestone that should be applauded, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, said on Sunday. He said the resolution strengthened the mandate of the government to ”take the tough decisions that will be required”.
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/ 26 November 2007
The Highveld regions of eastern Gauteng and western Mpumalanga, including towns such as Witbank, Standerton and Boksburg, have been declared air-pollution hot spots. ”There is little doubt that people living and working in these areas do not enjoy air quality that is not harmful to their health and well-being,” the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said on Monday.
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/ 8 November 2007
A man and a woman were arrested while off-loading perlemoen worth an estimated R2-million from a truck in Westonaria on Wednesday night. Captain Joseph Magoai said police on patrol saw a man off-loading the perlemoen on to a bakkie that was pulled up next to a fruit truck.
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/ 7 November 2007
The war to halt perlemoen (abalone) poaching has pitched R180-a-kilogram divers on the one side against R4 000-a-month marine inspectors on the other, MPs heard on Wednesday during a briefing to members of Parliament’s environmental affairs portfolio committee.
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/ 5 November 2007
The government is busy changing environmental legislation to ”streamline” further the way environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are carried out, Environmental Affairs Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced on Monday. ”Using EIAs as the only means of dealing with environmental impacts is severely limiting,” he said.
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/ 31 October 2007
The Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Tuesday it would approach the Cape High Court on Wednesday for an interdict to stop the government from implementing an abalone fishing ban that would impact on poor fishing communities.
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/ 29 October 2007
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Groutville, the party branch founded by former African National Congress (ANC) president Albert Luthuli, has nominated Thabo Mbeki for ANC president, the Daily News reported on Monday. Arch-rival Jacob Zuma did not even make the branch’s list of its top six preferred candidates.
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/ 29 October 2007
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Cyril Ramaphosa has been formally nominated to lead the African National Congress, media reports said on Monday — though the businessman has maintained he is not interested in the position. The ANC’s Rondebosch branch in Cape Town has nominated Ramaphosa as its candidate in the party’s succession race.
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/ 26 October 2007
Traditional fishermen and coastal communities are confused and bewildered by the perlemoen ban, the Masifundise Development Trust said on Friday. It was reacting to the Cabinet announcement on Thursday that all wild perlemoen harvesting will be suspended indefinitely from the end of this month.
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/ 25 October 2007
All wild abalone (perlemoen) fishing will be suspended from November 1 to ensure the survival of the species, the government announced on Thursday. A social plan to address the job losses resulting from the decision has been approved, government communications head Themba Maseko said.
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/ 24 September 2007
Negotiations on an effective climate regime must be concluded by 2009, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told a high-level meeting on climate change at the United Nations in New York on Monday. The exceptional one-day summit gathers about 150 nations.
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/ 20 September 2007
The Department of Environment Affairs and Tourism’s new dedicated research vessel, the Ellen Khuzwayo, was launched by Environment Affairs Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk in Cape Town on Thursday. The ship will be used mainly for inshore research, including work on crayfish, linefish, seabirds, marine mammals and sharks.
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/ 17 September 2007
The Environmental and Tourism Affairs Department has secured R500-million for the installation of energy-efficient facilities in the country’s national parks. Speaking at the launch of South Africa’s National Parks week, Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the funds would ensure that the country’s national parks were projected as exemplary sites for energy efficiency.