SWAZILAND: Environmental protection versus development

U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

SWAZILAND: Environmental protection versus development

MBABANE, 25 April (IRIN) - What can a small impoverished nation do to
preserve its environment when faced with a destructive population growth
rate and an imperative to lure industrial investment to create jobs?

While Swaziland, a landlocked kingdom of less than one million people,
struggles with these questions, conservationists are heartened by the first
major victory of an environmental monitoring body whose success is by no
means assured.

The Swaziland Environmental Authority has temporarily halted operations at a
sugar processing plant in the eastern lowveld area of Big Bend. Although
plant management told the local press that waste pools that overflowed into
the Usutu river when it rained were a minor matter that has been cleared up,
sources with the environmental authority said the factory was stopped from
drilling "super deep" boreholes to disperse industrial waste into the
groundwater supply.

"It takes thousands of years to regenerate an aquifer, and if they are
polluted an entire section of the country loses its principal water supply,"
said an official source.

The plant closure is the first major penalty imposed by the environmental
authority in its four years of existence. But sceptics wonder if the
authority can compete with the government's agenda of attracting new
businesses at all cost.

"Two-thirds of Swazis live below the poverty line, and creating jobs is our
priority," Finance Minister Majozi Sithole emphasised to parliament when he
presented this year's budget.

His cabinet colleague, Magwagwa Mdluli, minister of nature resources whose
portfolio includes the environmental authority, said: "Jobs are important,
but so is quality of life, and an unhealthy environment is a deterrent to
that. Tourism is a major source of jobs, too, and visitors come to Swaziland
to enjoy what is regarded as one of Southern Africa's most scenic
countries."

Ted Reilly, executive director of Big Game Parks of Swaziland, has used his
position as counsellor to King Mswati to advocate for tougher environmental
laws. "The political will to push preservation must come from the top, and
King Mswati is an avid conservationist."

A report released in February by the Swaziland Natural History Society,
showing botanists' findings that indigenous plant species are disappearing
in the kingdom, was an alarm bell that coincided with similar findings by
the agriculture ministry.
Agriculture Minister Roy Fanourakis last month tabled a Forestry Bill that
makes indigenous plants protected species. Like a successful Game Act that
has stopped poaching of protected animal species with stiff fines, the
Forestry Act calls for jail terms for repeated spoilers of the environment.

"The traditional way of life where people take from the land whatever they
want is no longer sustainable. There are just too many people, and not
enough land," said Fanourakis.

The ultimate test for the burgeoning environmental movement will be the
Millennium Airport, an ambitious US $129 million development government sees
as a way to lure tourists and investors. But the airport's planned location
places flight paths directly over three game parks, which will necessitate
the eradication of game bird populations that might collide with jets.

By law, game animals may not be harmed, and the airport project should be
moved or shelved. But no government official will acknowledge this fact, and
the project's environmental impact study is "a joke", according to Ara
Monadjem, a biologist at the University of Swaziland. Monadjem's specialty
is nesting raptors, of which there are 200 breeding pairs, the largest
concentration in Southern Africa, in the proposed airport area.

"All the birds will all have to go to make way for an airport for tourists,
who will then be denied some of the very wild game they come to Swaziland to
see," he said.

A small country with big dreams of economic advancement, Swaziland still
recognises the value of its natural environmental. The tension between
these competing interests may be determined one way or the other with a
decision to proceed with the new airport.

[ENDS]

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