Northern
Farm, near Johannesburg, Gauteng Province
Northern Farm is a 240 hectare site north west of Johannesburg
in Gauteng Province. The land owner, Joburg Property
Company (JPC), plans to create a mixed income suburb
which will promote socio-economic integration in the
City. We are looking at ways we can work with JPC and
their planners to make this a potential One Planet
Living development.
Cape Province
Interest has been expressed by a prospective
developer partner in the Cape who wishes to see a One
Planet Living community built in the province.
In August 2005 BioRegional presented the One Planet
Living initiative to the Western Cape Provincial
Administration, including the Deputy Premier and housing
department personnel. The developer partner’s
project team presented a Position Note on One Planet
Living at the Summit on Sustainable Human Communities
in Stellenbosch, November 2005, and together with local
and provincial government officials, visited London
in September 2006 for a two day study tour, hosted by
BioRegional.
Interest in One Planet Living
remains high in the Cape but the need is to find a suitable
site and a committed developer partner.
The context
in South Africa
South Africa is a key political player in Africa, taking
a leading role in poverty and human rights but also
in the environment and sustainable development. South
Africa acted as host to the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg 2002, and in March 2006,
the ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental
Initiatives) World Congress on Cities and Governments
"Out of Africa: Local Solutions for Global Challenges".
In 2010 the country will host FIFA World Cup Soccer,
a sporting event of international importance and one
that will leave a positive legacy of, amongst other
things, job creation, improved transport links and international
exposure opportunities linked to environment.
The greatest challenge for South Africa,
as for the rest of the world is to improve the quality
of life for both present and future generations without
depleting its natural resources. South Africa continues
to develop a national strategy for sustainable development,
embodied initially by the Reconstruction and Development
Programme in which the government ambitiously attempted
to address the many social and economic problems facing
the country such as lack of housing, unemployment, violence,
inadequate education and health care. Positively, a
number of key sectors started to engage with their sustainable
development challenges e.g. the energy sector on alternative
energy, and the mining, water, health and environment
sectors. The challenge will be to work with these programmes
relevant to One Planet Living to further progress
the goals of both sustainable development and One
Planet Living.
South Africa's eco-footprint is 2.3
hectares per person. This is just greater than the global
average (2.2 ha/person) and is the second largest in
Africa after Libya. However this average across the
differing socio-economic groups hides large discrepancies
in consumption between the rich (realistically living
a three planet lifestyle) and the poor (living below
a one planet lifestyle). A breakdown of the eco-footprint
shows that fossil fuel is the single largest area of
impact (1.35 ha is carbon footprint out of a total energy
eco-footprint of 1.46 ha), reflecting inefficient and
carbon intensive forms of electricity generation and
high levels of car use.
As with the rest of the world, South
Africa must accept the challenge to live within its
global fair share of the Earth's resources. This will
challenge both the ambitions of the poor, aspiring to
attain the ‘three planet lifestyle’, and
of the wealthy, who are over-consuming and living beyond
the Earth's natural capacity, so creating an unsustainable
[three planet] lifestyle.
For more
information
For more information please contact the BioRegional
One Planet Living Country Manager for South
Africa, Sarah Alsen, directly on + 27 (0)31 561 5708
or + 27 (0)84 497 1661, email sarah.alsen@bioregional.com.
One Planet
Living is a global initiative based on 10 principles
of sustainability developed by BioRegional and WWF.
Last updated 14th January 2007 |
