600 OOO trees face chop

Conservationists cry foul at possible destruction of the Vhembe biosphere.

- Barry Viljoen

The announcement that 600 ooo protected trees may be destroyed to make way for coalfuelled industrial development in Northern Limpopo has met with public outcry and conservationists are aiming to do all in their power to stop the bulldozing of SA's national heritage. According to Lauren Liebenberg of Living Limpopo, over 125 ooo hectares of indigenous vegetation in Vhembe Biosphere Reserve will be stripped for the Musina-Makhado special economic zone (SEZ) and the 10 new open-cast coal mines that will supply the industrial zone. According to Liebenberg, Living Limpopo has obtained records connected to licences to destroy the protected trees on the SEZ sites, which reveal that 658 058 protected trees, including 10 ooo baobabs, will have to be cut down on the 8 ooo hectares south site, and a further 10 ooo at the 3 500 hectares north site. "The records were released by the department of forestry fisheries and the environment in response to an application under the Protection of Access to Information Act made by All Rise Attorneys for Climate and Environmental Justice acting for Living Limpopo and Cals," Liebenberg s