Eco-warriors join fight to save South African Wild Coast

An international environmental foundation has now joined the campaign to Save the Wild Coast. Members of Euronatur, based in Ludwigsburg, Germany, flew to the Eastern Cape on Friday to assess the proposed N2 toll road through the Transkei.

They hope, after getting first-hand information, to come up with possible solutions to the problem.

The road, which would pass through some of the Transkei's most pristine areas, has raised a storm of protest.

The consortium proposing the road was shown the red card by the national Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, owing to a flawed Environmental Impact Assessment.

This week, the South African National Roads Agency again released its toll plan, which critics said is just a rehash of the one that was rejected.

Last year the Sunday Tribune broke the news that the Chairperson of Bohlweki Environmental, Rufus Maruma - who founded the consulting firm appointed to do the Environmental Impact Assessment - also sat on the board of Stewart Scott International, one of five companies which make up the N2 Wild Coast Consortium vying to land the tender for the project.

Maruma was also a non-executive director of engineering giant Group Five, another developer in the consortium.

Such revelations, plus the fact that mining is being mooted in this environmentally fragile and unspoiled area, has caught the attention of local environmentalists and the international community.

Two leading European conservationists, and three specialist environmental reporters will be taking the issue to the European public.

The group is headed by Claus-Pieter Hutter, President of Euronatur, one of Europe's leading environmental organisations.

Tour leader Ulf Doerner is also well known in South Africa for his tireless work on the Save St Lucia Campaign.

Seasoned environmental campaigner and pilot Paul Dutton, and Pietermaritzburg-based pilots Harry Antal and Adrian High, all of the Bateleurs - a group of volunteer pilots who do environmental air surveys - flew the group on their mission.

Shortly before taking off on their fact-finding visit to the Transkei, Doerner spoke to the Sunday Tribune.

"This is an area of international importance," he said. "We want to see what we can do to encourage local communities and South Africans to bond across the spectrum."

The group would not just fly over the area under threat, but would touch down to meet local communities to establish their feelings on the matter, he said.

While the G8 group of nations had said one way of dealing with poverty was by road construction, Doerner felt this was not always a rule of thumb. In this case, he said, it might be better to upgrade the old road, rather than construct a new one.

Doerner believes there is much to be learned from the Dukuduku forest debacle in KwaZulu-Natal, where hundreds of people illegally invaded the forest.

"Things got out of hand because the government did not look into the issue closely," he said. However, it was not the intention to deprive anyone of their right to self-fulfillment and jobs.

"We will release our conclusions only after consulting many of the local communities."

Doerner said the Wild Coast issue was one wilderness area close to his heart. "Many of Europe's migratory bird species visit the Transkei."


In 1998, Doerner was awarded the Order of the Golden Arc, in recognition of his conservation work by Prince Bernhardt of the Netherlands. He was the youngest recipient of this award.

He also received an Order of Merit from the German state president in 2001, and the Audi Terra Nova Award, in 2003.

This year he was appointed a member of the Club of Rome - a G8 environmental group.

Source: www.iol.co.za