Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 23 January 1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# Experts warn the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles could occur in Cape Town, as it has a similar climate, mountainous topography and vegetation to the American city. The metro’s Fire and Rescue Service says there were more than seven-thousand fires in the 2023/’24 financial year. Elsewhere in the Western Cape, the 2017 Knysna fires resulted in eight deaths, two of them firefighters, and the loss of one-thousand-444 homes. Cape Peninsula Fire Protection Association chairperson, Philip Prins, told Moneyweb there is a need for firebreak maintenance and alien clearing in the metro.

Meanwhile, more than 30-thousand people have been ordered to leave their homes north of Los Angeles after a new wildfire broke out in California. Another 25-thousand people are in zones facing evacuation warnings. The latest blaze, dubbed the Hughes Fire, started late yesterday morning near Lake Castaic, around 60 kilometres from the Eaton and Palisades wildfires that devastated parts of LA earlier this month. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the fire is currently at 14-percent containment.

# And finally: Thirteen new industrial clusters from countries including India, Brazil, and the UK have joined the World Economic Forum’s Transitioning Industrial Clusters initiative. The programme aims to reduce carbondioxide emissions, drive economic growth, and enhance employment. The 33 participating clusters across 16 countries represent potential greenhouse gas reductions of 832-million-tonnes. Forum leaders emphasise collaboration across industries and geographies as key to accelerating the clean energy transition.

Stay tuned for more news………….