Author: Mark McTaggart

Each year, 2 February is celebrated as World Wetlands Day to mark the adoption of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance on 2 February 1971. This year the theme for World Wetlands Day is Wetlands and Climate Change, to reflect on and raise awareness around the value of wetlands and how the natural…

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) remains in a moderate El Niño state and the forecast indicates that it will remain in at least a weak El Niño state throughout early- and mid-summer. Caution is advised however, as ENSO forecasts are less skilful during the winter and spring periods. There is an indication of above-normal rainfall…

Environmental activists are dragging the government to court over its alleged poor progress in cleaning up air pollution in the Mpumalanga highveld. GroundWork and the Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action, represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights, have launched a landmark case to demand that the government clean up the air in the highly…

Highly dependent on fossil fuels and ranked 114 by World Economic Forum’s Energy Transition Index, the country is only better than Haiti The dominance of coal as the major source of electrical energy supply has meant SA is very far behind in terms of environmentally sustainable energy generation, worse than even Venezuela Read more: Business…

Due to the exceptionally rugged terrain created by the Blyde River Canyon and the Mpumalanga Escarpment, significant alien plant invasions on several isolated mountain tops had remained untreated for several decades. The High Altitude Teams (HAT) working in the area had recognised this problem for some time, but struggled to secure funding for helicopter transport…