Network of Earthkeeping Christian Communities in South Africa

NECCSA Update: March 2003

A monthly newsletter on Church and Environment in South Africa

1. Issues

a) N2 Toll Road

At the last meeting of the NECCSA Governing Board Bishop Geoff Davies again expressed his concern over the proposed N2 Toll Road. There is a real danger that economic incentives will yet again override environmental concerns. In this case vast tracts of pristine indigenous forest along the Pondoland coast may be sacrificed in the process. See the NECCSA website for more detail.

b) Cholera - A disease of the poor

This report from Alex Molahloe & Annie Chimphango, Environmental Monitoring Group, appeared in a recent addition of Environmental Policy Initiative News

The Minister of Finance's Budget has been welcomed by most commentators, primarily for the tax cuts to the low- and middle-income earners and the significant increase in old age pensions and the child support grant. It is also encouraging that AIDS was at least recognised in the Budget, though with not nearly enough appreciation for the magnitude of the pandemic. Another killer disease that has not received nearly enough attention is cholera. In KwaZulu Natal and the Northern Province, over 100 000 people have been infected and several hundreds have died over the last 4 or 5 years. Water-borne diseases (including cholera), associated with overcrowded living conditions, poverty and poor sanitation, are a leading cause of death amongst the rural poor, particularly children and the elderly. Statistics show that 3 million households (approx. 18 million people) lack proper sanitation (Business Day, June 8, 2001). KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Province are particularly affected. About 60% of the households in KZN have no access to proper toilets. In the Northern Province, approximately 62% of the households live "in poverty", while in KZN the figure is 40%. Both provinces have a high proportion of their population living without adequate sanitation and lack access to clean water (Heintz J.; Jardine C, 1998, NALEDI). Although the Department of Water Affairs has made some progress, we would have liked to see the Minister set aside even more for water and sanitation in rural areas.

c) Renosterveld

The Tygerhills and surrounding Renosterveld represents an area of exceptional biological diversity.  However, only 3% of the original Renosterveld vegetation is still in existence today and this is highly threatened by development and alien invaders.

Contact Ben Marais (bkrm@absamail.co.za) for more information about an initiative from the Friends of the Tygerhills to challenge the golf estates in the area to help in an effort to preserve the biological diversity in such Renosterveld.

2. Resources

a) Genetically Modified Organisms

A report on GMO's entitled "The impending disaster", produced by the South African Catholic Bishops Conference, has now been posted on the NECCSA website.

3. Stories

This space is waiting for your story on Christians involved in earthkeeping practices, to be distributed for the benefit of others!

4. Tips for earthkeeping

a) Squirrels

Has anyone got good advice on what to do with squirrels making their nests in the roof of one's house? Our house has a thatched roof and the squirrels have made their nests in between the ceiling and the floor of the room upstairs. They are making so much noise that I wake up at night from their activities. I have tried everything (environ­ment­ally sound and, I must confess, not so sound), but with little success. Can anyone give me some good advice? (EMC)

Please send us practical suggestions for earthkeeping, especially in and around the house, that we can share through this newsletter with others.

5. Religion and the environment

Environmentalism is getting a big boost from religious communities that increasingly see protecting the Earth as central to their theology, according to the Worldwatch Institute.  In its annual "State of the World" report released late last week, World­watch found that religious organizations from all corners of the globe are urging their congregations to save wildlife preserves, protect rainforests, and oppose overuse of natural resources, among other environmental tenets.  In Pakistan, the government has sought the advice of Muslim clergy in designing an environmental awareness program based on the teachings of the Koran.  In Thailand, Buddhist monks are helping lead the campaign against their country's deforestation.  In the U.S., the Sierra Club and the National Council of Churches teamed up to make a television ad using a Jewish prayer to urge protection of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  "The quickening of religious interest in environmental issues suggests that a powerful new political alignment may be emerging that could greatly strengthen the effort to build a sustainable world," said Worldwatch's Gary Gardner.

Source:  MSNBC.com, Associated Press, http://www.msnbc.com/news/857484.asp

NECCSA website address: www.neccsa.org.za. You are invited to accept ownership of this website in order to use it to share information on Christianity and earthkeeping practices. Please send any information to the email address below.

You are welcome to distribute this NECCSA Update electronically to any other interested person. You are also welcome to send news to be included in the next NECCSA update to emcemp@iafrica.com by 15 April 2003. You may send such contributions in the language of your choice.

Distributed by EM Conradie 18/3/2003