Draft Status Quo Report for the Pixley Ka Seme ... - SRK Consulting

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SRK Consulting in association with BKS Pixley Ka Seme Local Municipality EMF – Draft Status Quo Report Page 49 Coal mining involves the extraction of a non-renewable resource and benefits need to be compared with industries such as agriculture, forestry and tourism that involve renewable resource uses (Van Zyl, 2010). 3.6.5 Forestry The forestry industry in PKSLM is small compared to GSDM as a whole and consists of plantations covering roughly 1,077 ha (or 0.21% of the total PKSLM land area). It is probable that roughly 25 to 40 direct jobs are supported by the sector based on provincial averages for employment per ha of plantation. Demand for timber is unlikely to increase beyond normal growth levels. Water availability and the availability of suitable land play are further factors limiting expansion potential. In particular, the majority of the study area coincides with areas of stress or water deficit (DWAF 2004, 2004a and 2004b). 3.6.6 Economic values associated with the maintenance of natural capital The high value of properly functioning ecosystems particularly in terms of water services provides an economic justification for their protection and restoration. PKSLM boasts grasslands that are generally in significantly better condition than those in the Maloti-Drakensberg and care needs to be taken to avoid degradation. Improvements can be made in pockets of land that have become degraded. One of the key regulating ecosystem services provided by grasslands are associated with the water environment given the areas importance at the headwater of three major catchments/WMAs. Numerous wetlands are present in the area including the Wakkerstroom wetland which is of national prominence (Palmer, 2010). The Wakkerstroom wetland complex is one of few peatland wetlands in South Africa. They are centres of biodiversity, act as carbon sinks and are key to the hydrological functioning of drainage systems (PKSLM, 2008). The services provide water security for the area and also play a critical role as a ‘water factory’ area with national importance for water security (Van Zyl, 2010). Thus far the waste sink function and other regulating functions of the aquatic and terrestrial environment appears to be working relatively well in most parts of PKSLM. Future planning and management will have to be exercised with care if ecological infrastructure in the study area is to keep delivering. Intensively developed catchments nearby such as the Olifants River provide lessons regarding to the economic risks associated with the degradation of the water environment and natural capital (Van Zyl, 2010). 3.6.7 Economic costs/externalities associated with resource uses Key resources uses (agriculture, tourism and recreation, mining, forestry and harvesting) have the potential to clash with each other and destroy/degrade natural capital or ecological infrastructure from terrestrial and aquatic natural areas. Mining primarily impacts on water quantity and quality, land degradation, air quality and biodiversity. It further and exacerbates impacts through high volumes of truck traffic. Water pollution may impact downstream of the pollution source with potential international implications. The available evidence and observation of the situation in other mining areas indicates a high risk of significant unmitigated cumulative impacts from intensive mining. Despite numerous EIAs and seemingly well funded Environmental Management Plans, significant damage is occurring in mining areas. Potentially unacceptable residual impacts appear to be a reality of coal mining, particularly where a number of mines operate in sensitive areas. Adequate mitigation does not equate with observable reality at this point and strongly suggests that the precautionary principle needs to be applied to the approval of mining in the first instance in sensitive areas (Van Zyl, 2010). The often parlous state of roads in Mpumalanga can act as a significant constraint to tourism development in remote areas such as PKSLM reliant on road access. Forestry has a marked impact on the natural environment and affects biodiversity, water and soil resources as well as air quality. Extensive forestry also has the ability to reduce available water substantially. In the Usutu River, for example, it is estimated that 70 000 ha of pine plantations reduce water yield by about 50%. In addition, elevated sediment loads and pollution can be detrimental to water quality and the availability of aquatic habitats. KILI/BEAT G:\404946_PIXLEY EMF\7REPORTS\Status Quo report\Draft report\Draft status quo report, July 2010.docx July 2010
SRK Consulting in association with BKS Pixley Ka Seme Local Municipality EMF – Draft Status Quo Report Page 50 The potential impacts associated with agriculture are similar to those associated with forestry. Impacts include disturbance caused by the clearing of land, deterioration of soil quality, water quality impacts from siltation and agricultural wastes; as well as contamination of surface and groundwater from fertilizer and pesticide run-off. Currently environmental impacts associated with tourism in the study area are minor. Limited impacts are associated with low visitor numbers and unobtrusive developments as currently managed. As tourism expands it will need to go hand in hand with increased management effort if impacts are to be kept at acceptable levels. Particular attention will be needed for sensitive ecological areas as well as heritage sites. The consideration of land use changes ideally needs to take climate change implications into account given the importance of the ecosystem services that natural habitats provide in both mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change. In essence, natural vegetation is the optimum from a GHG emissions perspective followed by forestry (which has potentially negative biodiversity and water use implications), agriculture (which can result in relative low emissions if well managed), and mining (which essentially extracts concentrated carbon in the form of coal from the earth for burning and release into the atmosphere while also releasing methane gas embedded in the coal seam which has a global warming potential that is roughly 20 times greater than that of carbon dioxide per volume). In addition, while management practices have a significant potential to reduce emissions for agriculture, their potential in the case of coal mining is low given current technologies. KILI/BEAT G:\404946_PIXLEY EMF\7REPORTS\Status Quo report\Draft report\Draft status quo report, July 2010.docx July 2010
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Draft Status Quo Report for the Pixley Ka Seme ... - SRK Consulting

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