Coal power is turning Mpumalanga Highveld into a wasteland – new research,The Destruction of the Highveld: Call for a Just Transition
21 November 2017 - Affected community groups [1] have called for a shift away from coal and a just transition taking care of communities and workers at a meeting in eMalahleni. At the launch of the groundWork [2] 2017 report, Destruction of the Highveld: Part 2 – Burning Coal in the ‘place of coal’ yesterday, community members confirmed that Eskom’s coal addiction is causing serious health problems and killing people in the Highveld. They called for a community and worker led process to drive a just transition, and end the way in which coal power is turning the Mpumalanga Highveld into a wasteland.
The new study reports that people are already experiencing the severe effects of climate change and that a just transition requires the following elements:
- A new energy system based on socially owned renewables;
- New jobs in renewables;
- Large scale restoration and detoxification of land and ecosystems injured by the fossil fuel economy on the Highveld;
- A new and healthier food economy;
- Properly built and energy efficient housing;
- A new and healthier transport economy;
- A reorientation and expansion of municipal services; and
- A basic income grant for all.
Download the new report from groundWork’s website here.
You can download the 2016 report - “Destruction of the Highveld: Part 1 – Digging Coal” here.
groundWork’s latest report will also be launched in Johannesburg at The Cottages, 30 Gill Street, Observatory, today, Tuesday 21st November, @ 14:30 hrs, with lunch at 13:30 hrs.
Ends -
Contacts
Zinzile Sibanda (for meeting details)
groundWork
074 695 9970
Nomcebo Makhubelo
Highveld Environmental Justice Network
072 120 1626
Promise Mabilo
Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action
079 748 9115
David Hallowes (researcher)
groundWork
083 262 4922
Footnotes:
[1] Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action (Emalahleni); Highveld Environmental Justice Network & Guide the People (Arbor).
[2] groundWork is an environmental justice organisation working with community people from around South Africa, and increasingly Southern Africa, on environmental justice and human rights issues focusing on Air Quality, Climate and Energy Justice, Waste and Environmental Health. groundWork is the South African member of Friends of the Earth International and a member of the Global Anti-Incineration Alliance (GAIA).