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The Northern
Cape State of the Environment specialist studies have reported on
the environment through the
following
themes:
The following are summaries of the state of the
environment for each
reporting
theme.
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| Atmosphere and
climate |
Although there are currently no operational
asbestos mines in the Northern Cape, environmental exposure to
asbestos is still a concern. Rehabilitation of asbestos mines is a
costly exercise and less than half of the mines in the Province have
been rehabilitated to date. Solar energy use currently
contributes a very small portion of the total energy supply in the
Northern Cape. There is a national drive to increase the use
of technologies making use of solar energy. The area of the Northern
Cape that borders on the Orange River and Namibia boasts the highest
solar radiation intensity anywhere
in southern
Africa.
Trends in temperature deviations indicate
that temperature has been increasing over the past few years,
especially in the northern regions. No comprehensive assessment
of air quality in the Northern Cape is possible as monitoring
is performed on a fragmented basis. Air pollution is not
perceived as an important issue for the Province,
perhaps because of the low number of industries present. This
has impacted air resource management in
the Northern
Cape.
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Biodiversity |
The most extensive vegetation types in the
Northern Cape are: Bushmanland, Orange River Nama Karoo, Shrubby
Kalahari Dune Bushveld, Upper Nama Karoo and Upland Succulent
Karoo. The primary threats to biodiversity, ecosystem goods and
services are habitat transformation and degradation,
and invasive alien species. The five most prevalent invasive
alien plants within the Northern Cape are all classified as major
invaders. The concern regarding threats to biodiversity is borne out
of the recognition that our natural resource base provides a variety
of goods and services on which life depends. The value of this is
difficult to
quantify.
The management of our natural resources is
critical in ensuring effective conservation and sustainable use of
our biodiversity. One way of measuring the effectiveness of
biodiversity management is to examine its budgetary allocation. The
budgetary allocation in Rands per hectare does not auger well for
the successful management of the Northern Cape's biological resource
base. Acoordinated system of conservation planning that is
representative of those areas of highest conservation importance is
necessary and essential if effective protection is
to be
realised.
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| Environmental
Management |
There has been an overall increase in the budgeted allocation to
the five environmental management sub-programmes in the Northern
Cape. However, staff capacity remains low. An analysis of the
staff complement required versus filled revealed that only 27% of
the total posts are filled. Furthermore, the EIA applications
received by the Department have steadily increased over the past few
years. The implication is that the department is under severe
human resource constraints and the number of vacant posts needs to
be filled for the Department to successfully execute its mandate. In
addition, selected IDP reports in the Province revealed a relatively
low level of commitment to environment.
There seems to be a limited number of initiatives that allow for
co-operative governance between government, private sector and
society. However, in order to be able to introduce these
mechanisms for co-operative governance, there needs to be adequate
resources to accomplish the objectives and goals of these
initiatives. In other words, appropriately skilled and
experienced staff are required to drive these processes.
Investing more resources to promote co-operative governance will
place the Province in a better position to assist communities in
managing their environment, and accepting responsibility and
accountability for their environmental performance.
In terms of disaster management, this study revealed that there
is no effective procedure in place to deal with disasters.
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| Fresh
water |
The Northern Cape is a semi-arid region dependant on both surface
and groundwater resources. Demands for water from the agricultural,
industrial and domestic sectors exist. Damming and modification of
water courses has been necessary to meet the demands for water from
a variety of users. Water quality in many regions is poor and high
nutrient levels prevail. There has been a deterioration of water
quality in all sub-WMS and water is saline over large areas of the
Province.
High exceedances of pH, EC and TDS are experienced throughout the
Province; particularly in the Vanderkloof, Molopo and Lower Orange
areas. However, only 2 out of 13 regions in the Province experience
elevated levels of nutrients above the threshold for human
consumption.
The greatest water requirements in the Province are for transfers
out of the area, followed by irrigation. Large volumes of water (764
million m3 per annum) are required for irrigation in the Orange
sub-WMA. Available water is unevenly distributed with 3534 million
m3 available per year in the Vanderkloof sub-WMA and only 7 million
m3 per annum available in the Knersvlakte sub-WMA. These large
disparities necessitate the transfer of water from one WMA to
another.
DWAF Regional Office currently performs the function of the CMAs
and are responsible for implementing, coordinating and managing
water resources in the Province.
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| Human
Settlements |
The Northern Cape is characterised by very low population size
and density, mostly owing to the large land size of the
Province. The Northern Cape was the only province in South
Africa to have shown a negative population growth between 1996 and
2001, and the Province's population now constitutes less than 2% of
the total population of South Africa.
Within the Province, human settlements are characterised by the
legacy of apartheid, with some areas showing a distinct lack of
services and infrastructure. The Northern Cape Government has
made substantial success in service delivery, with the percentage
households with basic sanitation and refuse removal increasing from
1996 to 2001. Housing in the Northern Cape is mostly formal, with
some traditional housing being found in areas such as Kgalagadi
District Municipality and the Namakwa District Municipality.
Whilst basic service delivery and the provision of housing appears
to have been successful, most of the population still does not have
access to appropriate modes of travel.
Issues such as culture and heritage have also been raised as
important issues for consideration in human settlements.
Minimal progress has been made towards the establishment of a
Provincial Heritage Resource Agency, and it is unknown at this point
what funding will be provided to such an agency. The
management of the Northern Cape's heritage resources is considered
an urgent priority.
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Land |
The Northern Cape Province is an arid province which is
susceptible to land degradation and desertification. Most of
the Province is dominated by open areas of natural vegetation
consisting of shrublands and low fynbos. Policies and programmes are
required to promote the sustainable management of land resources in
the province. Mining has played a major role in shaping the
economic development of the Northern Cape, but has also had a
negative impact on land resources in certain parts of the Province.
Just over half the Province has been classified as moderately and
extremely degraded. This is a cause for concern and measures
need be devised to ensure that the situation does not worsen. Soil
salinisation is a problem in the Province, particularly in areas
where irrigated agriculture is practised. The Province is also
highly susceptible to desertification and additional programmes to
promote sustainable land management should be established. The
NAP to combat desertification and land degradation should take the
Northern Cape as one of its focal areas in which to implement
interventions.
There have been 2 773 claims for land restitution submitted in
the Northern Cape and the Land Claims Commission had processed 2 606
of these by the end of 2003, and 3 997 645.19 ha of land is
being claimed. Appropriate and sustainable land management systems
should be implemented in areas where people are resettled.
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| Marine and
Coast |
The Northern Cape Province's coastline
stretches for 313 kilometers, along the Namaqualand District
Municipality. The area is rich in marine and coastal resources
including abundant marine life associated with the Benguela Current
Large Marine Ecosystem and rich mineral resources. The existence of
mineral resources, particularly diamonds, in the coastal and
offshore environments have had a significant impact on the
development of these areas as well as the ability of the people of
the Northern Cape to use other marine and coastal resources for
financial, subsistence and recreational benefit.
A number of companies are involved in
commercial exploitation of marine resources through the fishing of
certain commercial linefish, West Coast Rock Lobster and
seaweed. The sector is affected by a history of permit
allocations being limited to a few big companies, and plans are
underway at a national and provincial level to support SMME
development in this sector. The exploitation of marine and coastal
resources has generated economic benefit to the Province. This
benefit is mostly directed to the Namaqualand District Municipality
and is a relatively small amount compared to benefits derived from
other primary sector activities such as mining.
In terms of the distribution and abundance
of resource species, it seems that the invasive mussel species are
well established in the Northern Cape. Current research is also
being undertaken to understand the state of the West Coast Rock
Lobster and seaweed resources in the Province. In many cases, it is
difficult to report on resource species due to insufficient data for
TAC and allocations.
There has been positive development in
recent years for the overall management of marine and coastal
resources in the Northern Cape. This includes the
establishment of the NC PCC, the development of a NCCMP and
establishment of a marine protected area.
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