Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 11 April 1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# UNISA water expert, Anja du Plessis, says jailing municipal managers will not fix South Africa’s water pollution crisis. A clause in the National Water Amendment Bill provides that municipal managers and corporate directors may be convicted, and potentially sent to prison, for water pollution offences committed by the entities they represent. A third of municipalities have been found to discharge untreated sewage into rivers, endangering ecosystems. Du Plessis says stricter enforcement of environmental laws is needed to stop pollution.

# Financial firms are warning that climate change poses escalating risks to the global economy. A report by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research estimates that by 2049, climate-related disasters could cost approximately 703-trillion-rand annually. Insurers caution that rising risks are making some regions uninsurable, potentially destabilising financial systems and leading to properties that cannot be financed. They warn this could trigger a climate-induced credit crunch, threatening the stability of the financial sector.

# And finally: A zoo in England has welcomed the birth of twins to a pair of critically endangered cotton-top tamarins. The babies, born on 3 April, are the third set of offspring for parents Gurt and Mico at Marwell Zoo near Winchester in Hampshire. The species is critically endangered mainly due to deforestation, habitat destruction and the illegal pet trade in Colombia. Newborns are about ten centimetres long from head to tail. About two-thousand mature adults remain in the wild, confined to parts of north-west Colombia.

Stay tuned for more news………….