Greening programme bearing fruit

Durban is increasingly being acknowledged as a global leader in the environmental field, specifically in the area of climate protection planning, says Dr Debra Roberts, deputy head of the environmental planning and climate protection department (EPCPD) at eThekwini municipality.

She says COP17 provides a critical opportunity for the city to demonstrate its environmental approach through the COP17-CMP7 Greening Programme, which aims to minimise the environmental impact of the event.

Key principles incorporated into the programme include:

• A thorough approach to calculating impacts and selecting relevant measures to minimise these;
• Building on past experience. Durban has built on the event-greening experience of the 2010 World Cup to expand and improve the way in which the city undertakes greening programmes;
• Promoting efficient resource use;
• Focusing on biodiversity and ecosystems. The city's biodiversity provides a wealth of ecosystem goods and services for residents, including helping the city to adapt to climate change. The COP17 Greening Programme will consider the impact that events have on these natural resources, and also how these systems can be restored in order to increase the adaptive capacity of the city to climate change;
• Creating opportunities for social upliftment and advancement of the green economy; and
• Legacy value. An underlying premise in the design of the greening programme is that projects must have life beyond COP17-CMP7 and that their initiation will help to advance the environmental and climate change agenda of the city.

Roberts says one of the key focus areas of the Durban COP17-CMP7 Greening Programme is to ensure a carbon-neutral event.

"Through signing the UNFCCC host country agreement, South Africa has committed to mitigating event-related carbon emissions. For Durban, this is more than just meeting an obligation. It is an opportunity to support and profile climate adaptation and mitigation projects that contribute meaningfully towards a transition towards less vulnerable and more resilient communities, ecosystems and economies.

"As part of the city's preparations for COP17, Durban is responsible for calculating the local carbon footprint of the event, and then finding ways to minimise the footprint and, where necessary, to offset this through appropriate means. Durban has adopted a particularly thorough approach to this and has appointed an experienced team to calculate the local carbon footprint of COP17-CMP7."

She says electricity, Liquid Petroleum gas (LPG) and water usage at delegate accommodation makes up the greatest single contributor (61%) to the estimated event carbon footprint. Electricity, water and LPG usage at all event venues is the second-largest contributor (23%), and intra-city transportation the third-largest contributor (15%).

She says a number of initiatives have been put in place to minimise the event's carbon footprint, including eThekwini municipality embarking on the development of its own climate offset project, the Durban Community Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (CEBA) initiative, which is being implemented in partnership with local communities, other spheres of government, business and non-governmental agencies.

The initiative has been developed in response to the need for vulnerable, impoverished communities in African cities to be active participants in the rapid transformation of their cities towards increased resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change.

The second focus area of Durban's COP17-CMP7 Greening Programme is developing a methodology for ecological footprinting.

Roberts says while the carbon footprint of an event is obviously an important component, it does not take into consideration the impact of consumption of other natural resources such as water, food and energy at events.

Neither does it consider the ecosystem services that are needed to provide these, such as water supply, energy production, food production, and waste assimilation and dilution.

The municipality will develop and test a methodology for calculating event ecological footprints.

"It is hoped that the communication of this footprint will help to raise awareness of the full environmental impact of COP17, and will also be pioneered as a new tool within the context of the COP17 Greening Programme that can be used at future events."

Durban's International Convention Centre (ICC), the main venue of COP17-CMP7, has a strong environmental vision and policy, and already has a number of green features that will be profiled as part of the greening programme.

"The building, which recently obtained its ISO14001 certification, is a world-class, hi-tech design which has incorporated green elements such as large glass facades for natural lighting, energy-efficient light fittings and air-conditioning systems, and indigenous landscaping.

"The gardens are populated predominantly with indigenous plant species, reducing the need for landscape irrigation. The water use profile is low for a building of its size, and it is rolling out upgrades to its ablutions, which include sensor taps for hand-washing.

"The centre also has a stringent waste-separation policy and has a strong emphasis on minimising waste at source. Key interventions have included reducing the supply of bottled water for events and functions, using biodegradable packaging products, and minimising the use of disposable catering equipment."

The ICC and Durban Exhibition Centre buildings recently underwent an energy-efficiency retrofit, which includes the latest in lighting technology. This retrofit is expected to reduce the energy requirements of the complex by approximately 7% of current total demand.

"In addition, four of the major road intersections around the ICC have been fitted with solar traffic lighting."

The municipality identified the need to engage the private sector on the provision of "responsible" accommodation and meeting facilities.

Roberts says a "toolkit" was provided to provide practical guidance for tourism businesses to start the process of adopting more responsible practices. In addition, a "Responsible Visitors Charter" was developed which will be widely publicised to visitors over the COP17 period.

The fifth focus area of the greening programme is ensuring efficient public transport, a critical way of reducing carbon emissions.

Roberts says a number of public and non-motorised transport options will be available to delegates, including an airport shuttle; a hotel shuttle service; people-mover buses for inner-city transport; cycling routes (delegates will be able to use bicycles free of charge from the central transport hub, Addington Beach, North Beach and the green hub; and walking routes linking city attractions, the ICC and the beach front.