With 600 000 trees set to be destroyed for coal mining, Limpopo faces a tough choice: economic development or preserving fragile ecosystems for future generations?
When it comes to preserving the environment, especially in a developing country, the argument of economic progress and job creation will often triumph over nature.
And, it is difficult to argue with that in a nation wracked by poverty and inequality.
Sadly, too, the conservationists campaigning for unspoiled wilderness areas are often well-off, well-educated people from the cities who never have to worry about where their next meal will come from.
That’s why we don’t have much faith that activists will be able to stop what could be a devastating development for the northern part of Limpopo.
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A total of 600 000 protected trees may be destroyed to make way for a coal-fuelled industrial zone.
Lauren Liebenberg of Living Limpopo says 125 000 hectares of indigenous vegetation in the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve will be stripped away for the Musina-Makhado special economic zone and the 10 new open-cast coal mines that will supply the industrial zone.
Among those scheduled for execution are 10 000 baobabs, the trees which symbolise the arid northern areas of South Africa which have been growing for hundreds of years.
In return, Limpopo might get some economic benefit – but will it compensate for the irreversible destruction and pollution of a fragile habitat?
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