June 9, 2006
By Shamin Chibba
YOUNG residents of Johannesburg are being asked to play an active role in improving their environment, by making an effort to save energy, beautify the environment and save water.
This became clear at a conference held by Johannesburg City Parks in Braamfontein on 7 June. The conference was one of the events noting National Environment Week from 5 to 11 June.
"The day's main focus is the youth," said the mayoral committee member for environment, Prema Naidoo, noting that everyone had a role in protecting the environment.
Among the tasks of the City's department for environment is the education of youngsters on environmental challenges such as pollution, water wastage and open space management.
Naidoo said that vehicle emissions and the burning of fossil fuels affected the city's air.
"Smoke in the city has increased because of the fires people burn to keep warm during winter." Pollution could be cut if people lit paper, wood and coal from the bottom, Naidoo said.
Although the quality of water in Johannesburg is among the best in the world, "the quality of water in our streams is in appalling condition", Naidoo added.
"We need to discourage communities from dumping in our streams." Dumping in streams contaminates the water and puts the ecological life as well as the health of the surrounding communities at risk.
Naidoo also emphasised the need for waste management. "We use landfill sites to get rid of our waste." These needed to be carefully monitored so as not to contaminate the ground water supply.
Learners from the Michael Seageng Primary School from Soweto perform a sketch about the benefits of protecting the environment
Conference delegates tackled four major areas: greening and open space management; water conservation and sanitation; waste management; and energy saving.
Open Space Management
Of the 3.6-million people in Johannesburg, some 53 percent live in disadvantaged areas, according to the general manager of environmental conservation development for City Parks, Shoni Munzhedzi. As more and more people flock to the city, managing open space becomes a tougher task.
"We are already losing open spaces to development," said Munzhedzi, urging residents and the City to find solutions together.
City Parks' approach to managing space involves upholding social development and ecological development. "Sustainability should be a balanced approach," he said.
Munzhedzi said good open space management lead to a better quality of life and sustainable development. "We can't have a situation where there's no trees to clean our air," said Munzhedzi.
Another role performed by City Parks is to protect endangered species such as the African bush baby and bullfrogs in Midrand.
Water Conservation and Sanitation
This group focused on river pollution and ways to improve the quality of water in affected communities. Emphasis was put on the Jukskei River, which runs through Alexandra.
Water pollution leads to a build-up of carbon dioxide, which kills water life.
A suggestion was put forward to encourage communities to come up with solutions, including educating the youth about the importance of clean water. Another suggestion was to run community-based clean-up campaigns.
Waste Management
The waste management seminar looked at ways to combat burgeoning waste and litter, and encouraged young people to create awareness of the hazards of being exposed to waste.
Illegal businesses, overcrowding in flats and the erection of houses in informal settlements generated huge amounts of waste.
Other problems included delays in waste collection; the difficulty of attracting and retaining volunteers in cleaning of waste; and the lack of commitment from some communities in creating a clean environment.
Another issue was that recycling is not taken seriously.
Proposed solutions ranged from effective cleaning campaigns and environmental awareness programmes for inner city residents, to cutting down on the number of street vendors.
Energy Saving
The City's electricity provider, City Power, is looking at alternative energy sources, including recycling waste material to generate electricity.
Other solutions, according to Zanele Phoku of Johannesburg environment's impact management department, include designing energy efficient housing. "We have to design houses to get solar energy," she said.
Phoku mentioned recycling cooking oil as a way to produce bio-fuel. This type of fuel uses treated waste and renewable resources to create energy.
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