Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 16 October 1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# The European Commission says it has secured ambitious negotiating mandates for the COP29 Climate Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, next month. The conference allows world leaders to assess global efforts to advance the Paris Agreement including limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celius. The commission says the destructive impact of the climate crisis has never been more evident and the world’s response to it has never been more necessary. It adds that COP29 must achieve an ambitious outcome building on the commitments made in Dubai last year.

# Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Dion George, says the department has made significant progress in implementing the Climate Change Act. The legislation, which president Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law in July, is designed to define, manage, monitor, and implement South Africa’s response to climate change. George says the department is developing a detailed timeline for the rollout and implementation of the Act, including participating in the Presidential Climate Change Commission meetings.

# And finally: The University of the Western Cape says Ukwanda Puppets and Designs Art Collective will create prototypes for 600 life-size animal puppets. The puppets will migrate from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Arctic Circle to draw attention to the climate crisis. Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change impacts. Professor Heidi Grunebaum says the puppets will depict a herd of animals forced out of their natural habitats due to global warming:

Stay tuned for more news………….