Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 25 August 1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Dion George, says the new regulations to control offshore ship-to-ship fuel transfers in South African waters are a decisive step to safeguard the oceans. The regulations introduce a risk-based system to prevent and reduce the harm that offshore ship-to-ship transfers, including bunkering, can cause to marine and coastal ecosystems. George says non-compliance will be met with firm penalties, including fines of up to two-million-rand and imprisonment for up to five years, or both.

# The World Wildlife Fund South Africa says sustainable development of a transition minerals industry could not be more pertinent as South Africa prepares to host the G20 nations later this year. The World Bank estimates there will be a 500-percent increase in demand for minerals such as graphite and lithium by 2050 to meet the needs of the global just transition to a new energy order. WWF SA says the race is on to secure the minerals required for an energy transition away from fossil fuels to a low-carbon future.

# And finally: Spain’s meteorological agency says the 16-day heatwave the country suffered this month was the most intense on record. The heatwave, which claimed more than one-thousand lives, fuelled wildfires that continue to ravage parts of the north and west of the country. The agency says provisional readings for the third to the 18th of August showed an average temperature of 4.6 degrees Celsius higher than during previous heatwaves. Scientists say the climate crisis is driving longer, more intense and more frequent heatwaves worldwide.

Stay tuned for more news………….