Current Environmental News: Maintstream and Private Conservation

Water Conservation at Maropeng

Details: Parent Category: News; Published on Sunday, 24 March 2013 10:20

Water Conservation a Priority at Maropeng

Over the next decade, fresh water supplies on the continent will begin drastically dwindling with many African countries experiencing water shortages by 2025. With this in mind the onus is on all South Africans and particularly businesses to review their operations and consider how they can conserve water, especially now during National Water Week taking place from 18 to 24 March.

Urgent: tackle global sanitation crisis

Details: Parent Category: News; Published on Sunday, 24 March 2013 07:26

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson calls for urgent action to end the crisis of 2.5 billion people without basic sanitation, and to change a situation in which more people worldwide have mobile phones than toilets.

The call to action on the eve of World Water Day, aims to focus on improving hygiene, changing social norms, better managing human waste and waste-water, and, by 2025, completely eliminating the practice of open defecation, which perpetuates the vicious cycle of disease and entrenched poverty.

“I am determined to energize action that will lead to results,” said Mr. Eliasson. “I am calling on all actors – government, civil society, business and international organizations – to commit to measurable action and to mobilize the resources to rapidly increase access to basic sanitation.

Citizen Science and Water Leaks

Details: Parent Category: News; Published on Sunday, 24 March 2013 06:56

IBM marks World Water Day with the launch of a crowdsourcing project to help capture, share and analyze information about the water distribution system in South Africa. The project, called “WaterWatchers,” is driven by a new mobile phone application and SMS capability that will enable South African citizens to report water leaks, faulty water pipes and general conditions of water canals. Every update will provide vital data points to an aggregated “WaterWatchers” report to create a single view of the issues challenging South Africa’s water distribution system.

Maropeng Embraces the Right to Education

Details: Parent Category: News; Published on Wednesday, 20 March 2013 10:23

As the official visitor's centre to the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, Maropeng welcomes over 250 000 people each year. Many of these are local learners and schools and every year, inline with national Human Rights Day, Maropeng reaffirms its responsibility and commitment as custodians ofour heritage to passing on its knowledge to all learners.

More people have mobile phones than toilets

Details: Parent Category: News; Published on Sunday, 24 March 2013 06:22

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson today launched a call for urgent action to end the crisis of 2.5 billion people without basic sanitation, and to change a situation in which more people worldwide have mobile phones than toilets.

The call to action, which comes on the eve of World Water Day, aims to focus on improving hygiene, changing social norms, better managing human waste and waste-water, and, by 2025, completely eliminating the practice of open defecation, which perpetuates the vicious cycle of disease and entrenched poverty.

8th Annual GSSA Congress: 15-19/7

Details: Published on Sunday, 24 March 2013 04:41

The Grassland Society of Southern Africa 's Annual Congress will be hosted by the Limpopo Province at Weesgerus in Modimolle from 15 to 19 July 2013.

Nature Delivering Services

Details: Parent Category: News; Published on Tuesday, 19 February 2013 09:17

South Africa is on the cusp of a major investment in infrastructure, but are we adequately investing in ecological infrastructure to support our national development priorities of service delivery, job creation and economic growth? This was the central issue debated at the recent Dialogue on Ecological Infrastructure hosted by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) Grasslands Programme at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).

Ban public servants from contracting with state – Manuel

Details: Parent Category: News; Published on Thursday, 21 February 2013 16:36

No public servant should be able to contract with government at all – even those from different departments – and consequences should be applied to those civil servants that benefit from state contracts, National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel said today.

Manuel echoed the Minister of Public Service and Administration Lindiwe Sisulu’s call a few days ago, that public servants should be outlawed from benefiting from government contracts. Sisulu’s department is working on amending the Public Service Act to make it law that civil servants cannot do business with the state.

Latest News

Sustainability Ideas

Travel in your EGG

Recently unveiled at the ongoing 2013 Seoul Motor Show, the E4U is a one-seater that can move easily in any direction. It travels on a rotating front sphere and two rear training-wheel-like supports. Propulsion is

Power from a cup of water

Got a cup of boiling water? You can charge your cellphone!

From inventive Kenya comes a solution that puts pay to waste. That kettle you have just boiled, the campfire heat, the used plastic bottle destined for the landfill, all elements that can be put to good use.

The Bottle Charger works day or night,rain or shine to bring el

Re-use paper with the un-prinitng machine

In spite of technology and all the gadgets we now have available to be paperless, paper is still a part of every office. In the future we may be able to re-use the printed page by un-printing it.

The technology relies on nano-second bursts of laser energy to remove the toner from the page. And that can be done up to five times.