SAFETY, HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT
© ISTOCK – Paul Hartley
ADVANCING THE GREEN AGENDA New legislation takes effect By Nelendhre Moodley
44
SA MINING
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2022
© mark olalde and oxpeckers
I
n 2016 South Africa penned its signature to the Paris Agreement, which committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. More recently, the Minerals Council South Africa lent its weight to the Paris Climate Change Agreement ambition of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But exactly how well placed is South Africa in meeting these targets? SA Mining recently caught up with the Federation for a Sustainable Environment’s (FSE) Mariette Liefferink to chat about some of the key environmental concerns currently facing the country and the measures in place to resolve them. According to Liefferink, while South Africa has many initiatives in play to move to a low carbon economy, it remains plagued by numerous issues, including its heavy reliance on coal as an energy source. South Africa currently sources more than 80% of its energy from fossil fuels; but according to the country’s Energy Master Plan, coal reliance is set to decline to around 43% of the energy mix by 2030. The country is also challenged as it attempts to meet its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, in particular SDG6, which targets the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. According to the World Bank’s preliminary findings on South Africa’s infrastructure needs and ability to achieve the SDG6 goal, the water efficiency target of 175 litres per capita per day was unlikely to be reached by 2030 without radical behaviour change from all users. The total cost to achieve the water and sanitation access targets varied between R104-billion and R133bn per annum over 10 years for water services, including water resources to service the potable demand that is excluding financing costs. “Without either an increase in the
Abandoned and liquidated mines in the West Rand. (Mintails)
water tariff level, potentially impacting on affordability, or an increased allocation from the national fiscus, South Africa will be unable to reach the SDG6 goal and its targets by 2030,” says Liefferink. Moreover, many of the actions in the 2018 National Water and Sanitation Master Plan, which were scheduled for 2019, 2020 and 2021, have not been implemented. These actions included finding a lasting solution for the excessive sewage pollution of the Vaal River and the country’s dysfunctional waste water treatment works as well as resolving issues related to mining within strategic water source areas and critical groundwater recharge areas. There are also many abandoned or liquidated mines that are placing massive pressure on the environment and the state. “Furthermore, the failure by the National Nuclear Regulator to regulate and remediate radioactive mine residue areas and concerns related to the application for a new nuclear power station (Thyspunt) are also worrying since there is a conflict between the mandate of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, which promotes the use of nuclear power, and its mandate to regulate the industry,” says Liefferink.
www.samining.co.za
NEW LEGISLATION
But all is not lost – the good news is that government has formalised new pieces of legislation to combat these challenges. How effective they prove to be is yet to be seen. Among the latest legislative developments are the National Nuclear Regulator Bill 2021 and the Draft National Mine Closure Strategy, 2021. The National Nuclear Regulator Bill seeks to address the existing gaps in the current National Nuclear Regulator Act and strengthen the enforcement provisions of the inspectors and the occupational safety exposure risks for the air crews. But, says Liefferink, the bill in its current form fails to address the recommendations of the South African Human Rights Commission on impacts relating to Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) and Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM), the legacy of uraniferous waste (600 000 tonnes of uranium stored in 270 tailings storage facilities) within the Witwatersrand gold fields and the impacts on 1.6 million people as well as the remediation of 380 radioactive mine residue areas. “It is common knowledge that the
