Whats New - the very latest...

Climate change workshops

We have an exciting new project on the cards. Over the next few years, we will be working with 2 small-scale farmer organisations and 2 artisinal fisher organisations, exploring how they can build their community's resilience to the impacts of climate change. Together with each community group, we try to gain a deeper understanding of the particular impacts of climate change on their lives and livlihoods, explore the questions that concern them, and develop a set of action-research activities they want to pursue.

EMG's rainwater tank   certificate_handover_2

EMG recently won a 'climate champion' award from Project 90 x 2030, for our efforts to reduce our organisational carbon footprint. Our prize was a generous donation of R10 000 to support further emission reductions, and we decided to use the prize to install a rainwater tank at our office in Observatory. At the moment we're using the water we're collecting to irrigate our small herb and veggie garden, and hopefully one day in the future we'll be flushing our toilet with rainwater! Thanks to Brenda and everyone at Project 90 x 2030.

 

What options for civil society post Copenhagen?change_politics

The failed talks in Copenhagen showed that world’s political systems are unable to respond to the challenges of climate change quickly enough (if ever). What then should we do as civil society? This was the topic of a seminar held at EMG on 4 February 2010. Samantha Bailey, was in Copenhagen as part of 350.org, a new-style campaigning organisation; Thabang Ngcozela and Taryn Pereira were part of an EMG team aiming to build activism in Cape Town; Noel Oettle from EMG took experiences on small-scale farmer adaptation to dedicated side-events in Copenhagen. Seminar participants stressed the importance of deeper analysis on the root-causes of climate change and visioning a post-fossil fuel economy. At the same time local mobilising, starting where people are, relating climate change to every-day struggles is critical. The South African government must be held to account! (What are we doing escalating the price of electricity to pay for new COAL-fired power stations?) New forms of mobilisation (e.g. face-book, flash-mobs, single messaging) can be exciting and empowering, but doesn’t work for everyone. The conversation continues...

Jessica Wilson from EMG was at the COP in Copenhagen and wrote a commentary on the debacle called, "No Deal at Copenhagen", published by the South African Journal of Science and available at http://www.sajs.co.za.

Transition to Joomla

We've just switched our website to Joomla and still are still getting to grips with this new system. Our apologies if things don't work as smoothly as normal. If you are unable to access pages of download documents, please email taryn at emg dot org dot za or stephen at emg dot org dot za.

New study on coal mining

EMG was commissioned by Dutch NGO, Both ENDS, to provide a review of some of the key social and environmental impacts of coal mining in the country. They are concerned with plans to build a large new coal-fired power-station in the Netherlands, and want to raise awareness of the extended global footprint of such a project. A significant proportion of Dutch coal is imported from South Africa. Similar studies have been conducted by NGOs in Colombia and Indonesia.

A copy of the report (307KB) is available here.

Pan-African Climate Change Hearings

Oxfam and EMG hosted the Pan-African Hearing on Poverty and Climate Change on Monday 5th October at the Common Ground Church, Rondebosch, Cape Town.

The aim of the event was to suspend the big questions about climate change for a while and take the opportunity to listen to ordinary people and how vulnerable their lives are to changes in the climate.

The event brough together witnesses from Mali, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and South Africa who gave testimony to the impact of climate change on their lives, how vulnerable they are to changes in climate patterns, and the how they have tried to respond. More...

Cape Town Climate Change Hearings

The Pan-African Hearings (above) was followed onthe 6th by a more intimate event focussed on the potential impacts of climate change on food, water and livelihoods. Testimonies were heard from small-scale farmers, artisanal fishers and low-income township residents, with input also from environmental activists, scientists, city officials, and industry. More...

Centre for Environmental Rights

South Africa has some very progressive policy and legislation protecting social and environmental rights. But using the law to assert these rights can be a complex and expensive business, and not always with a clear outcome... enough to put most environmental activists off.

After almost a year of scoping and consultations, a new NGO, the Centre of Environmental Rights is almost ready for launching. The Centre will be based in Cape Town, but with the possibility of expanding nationally. EMG is on the Steering Committee of this initiative.

The proposed Centre for Environmental Rights will aim to “advance environmental rights using the law”, and will likely focus on four main areas of work:

- provide legal advice and support;
- promote participation of CSOs in licensing processes such as EIAs;
- provide relevant and up-to-date information (legislation, judgements, etc.); and
- collaborate with other institutions and organisations.

A three-year business plan for the Centre has been drafted and applications for funding are being submitted to a range of local and international institutions. Comments, queries, letters of support and donations can be directed to the Project Consultant, Melissa Fourie, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .