Lake St Lucia Restoration Plan Introduced

[Toko]

http://zululandobserver.co.za/106128/ra ... a-estuary/

Rains boost St Lucia estuary
The interim court order determining when the Mfolozi River is to be breached to the sea still stands until mid-May
21 hours ago

DESPITE last week’s breaching of the Mfolozi River in keeping with the interim court order issued in October, some 16.5 billion litres of fresh Mfolozi River water had entered the Lake St Lucia system by Friday.

‘It has meant that about 70-80% of the fresh water from recent rains will go into Lake St Lucia rather than be wasted out to sea.

The Narrows has risen by 75cm and water has reached Makakatana Bay and the southern reaches of Catalina Bay,’ said Andrew Zaloumis, iSimangaliso CEO.

Although large tracts of the lake bed are still dry, the recent inflow of fresh water has provided a buffer against the possibility of continued low rainfall over the next six months, and it is hoped some of the negative impacts of the drought will be reduced.

In keeping with the interim court order, iSimangaliso breached the Mfolozi River to the sea last Tuesday but were on Wednesday served urgent papers by UCOSP.

The matter went to court on Friday but it was agreed that it, along with UCOSP’s two other urgent applications, would be heard on 19 May, the date that was last year set for the two parties to present detailed arguments.

The breaching-related interim court order stands until mid-May.

It appears last week’s urgent application by UCOSP was an attempt to have iSimangaliso breach the Mfolozi River further south.

The current interim court order states that, when water levels in the Mfolozi River reach 1.2msl at the Cotcane measuring gauge, the river must be breached to the sea at a point of iSimangaliso’s choosing.

Breaching the river to the sea further south, however, would not be ecologically viable and, by iSimangaliso choosing the current breaching point, it has ensured that any ecological damage to Lake St Lucia would be minimised.

[Toko]

http://sundaytribune.newspaperdirect.co ... cd93f28936

Landmark win for nature Court rules against estuary breaching

IN A LANDMARK victory for nature a Durban High Court judge on Friday dismissed an application
brought against iSimangaliso Wetland Park that forced it to breach the uMfolozi river two months ago,
that sent millions of litres of water into the sea instead of into the drought­stressed estuary.
The order by Judge Mohini Moodley means the managers of one of the world’s oldest estuaries will not
have to make artificial breaches against their will, at the behest of farmers and farming interests
upstream.
It also paves the way for the World Heritage Site to start a “new beginning” with these neighbours, a
relationship conservationists believe should place nature before commercial interests.
Judge Moodley dismissed the application by Umfolozi Sugar Planters and two farmers against
iSimangaliso, and the departments of environment affairs, water and sanitation, rural land reform and
development and agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
The judge concluded the interim relief had run its course and dismissed the main application, along
with two others.
He noted the matter had demanded a great deal from iSimangaliso and Umfolozi Sugar Planters, and
in the interests of justice and both parties, it was expedient to make a judgment immediately so the
relationship between the parties could be regulated.
Andrea Gabriel, counsel for iSimangaliso, argued the matter affected the lives of 80 000 people
dependent on the estuary for subsistence livelihoods, as well as the tourism and fisheries industries.
Gabriel gave the environment a voice when she said it was about protecting the interests of “all
inhabitants and living organisms dependent on the coastal environment”.
She asked the court, “What are we going to tell our children and to South Africa, about what we did
to save St Lucia?”
Nicolette Forbes and Professor Derek Stretch gave expert estuarine and engineering evidence. On
hearing the judgment, Forbes said: “This is as big – if not bigger – than the no­mining decision by
president Nelson Mandela’s cabinet in 1996.”
Forbes was referring to 500 000 signatures to a petition that ended plans to mine the eastern shores
of Lake St Lucia, which was listed in 1999 by Unesco as South Africa’s first World Heritage Site.
Kemp J Kemp appeared for the sugar planters and the farmers, Paul van Rooyen and Petrus
Maphumulo, in three urgent applications brought against iSimangaliso. In what amounts to “bullying by
litigation”, the first application was served in August last year following 14 threats of legal action against
iSimangaliso. The August application was concluded in October by settlement agreement. In December
and March, two urgent applications were filed for non­compliance with the settlement agreement by
iSimangaliso.
The dispute between the parties concerned the breaching of the uMfolozi to the sea. The planters and
farmers said they had a right to do so to alleviate backflooding on low­lying farms. The farms in question
comprised less than 1 percent of the 9 127 hectares under sugarcane.
iSimangaliso argued that despite repeated attempts to impress on the planters the implications of
farming on land located in the tidal zone in the face of climate change, the planters had failed to deliver
on its promises to improve its flood protection measures. Reports commissioned by the planters showed
that land had slumped by 1m in 26 years and would continue to do so.
An elated Andrew Zaloumis, chief executive of iSimangaliso, said yesterday that the ruling was not
only a victory for nature, but also for the thousands of people who depended on the estuary, and the R1.2
billion it generated through tourism.
“Lake St Lucia’s life blood has been returned. The Mfolozi River is the major source of fresh water into
Africa’s largest estuarine lake and the engine that keeps its mouth open to the sea. This is a story of
environmental justice for the 800 hippos and 1 200 large crocodiles, as well as many other endemic and
threatened species, whose home is the lake.”
He thanked the national and provincial departments of environmental affairs, Ezemvelo, lawyers and
the local community for championing the environment.
He extended his hand to the farmers and Lawrence McGrath, general manager of Umfolozi Sugar
Planters, to “re­engage as neighbours to work towards a win­win solution that does not compromise the
globally recognised and acclaimed St Lucia Estuary”. When approached for comment yesterday, McGrath
said the applicants respected the ruling, but declined to comment further.

[Lisbeth]

[Puff Addy]

[Klipspringer]

https://dailyfriend.co.za/2020/10/23/st ... -solution/

The symposium organised by the iSimangaliso Wetland Authority from 13 to 15 October was remarkable for the consensus that the sealing of the estuary mouth is the critical problem facing the region.

Asked to list critical issues, all nine breakaway discussion groups, consisting of 80 participants, listed the estuary first. Given the diversity of interests represented – the iSimangaliso Wetland Authority itself, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, traditional leaders, scientists, ratepayers, the local tourism and hospitality industry, sugar farmers, small-scale community farmers, traditional fishermen and line anglers – such a level of agreement was remarkable.

It certainly impressed iSimangaliso CEO Sibusiso Bukhosini, who remarked on the extraordinary vibrancy of group discussions as well as the considerable agreement on most issues raised.

But genuine community consultative processes are slow.

Bukhosini himself may well have been disappointed by the symposium’s rather limited immediate outcome. It agreed to set up a stakeholder working group, comprising all the interests present, to determine the way ahead. Given that this still has to be established (today is the closing date for nominations) and its terms of reference agreed, the optimal moment for breaching the estuary mouth – to coincide with the first floods of the summer, expected imminently – might be missed. Bukhosini could promise no more than that there was budget available and that it had to be spent by March 2021.

The fact is that the St Lucia estuary is in a critical condition. What was until recently South Africa’s greatest estuarine system has been sealed from the ocean since 2002, with only a brief breach between lake and ocean for five months in 2007. The problem is the result of management decisions and human intervention and the obvious solution – an artificial breach – is a tried and tested management technique which needs to be urgently reintroduced.

Estuaries are very special environments in which life has adapted to a changing mix of salty seawater and freshwater. Such environments are associated with mangroves and other flora and fauna adapted to thrive under conditions of varying salinity. A healthy estuary is typically clean and mud-free, thanks to the scouring effects of rivers and ocean tides. Like all estuaries, St Lucia had a thriving fish and bird population, complemented by a big population of hippos and crocodiles. The estuarine prawn nursery has previously been described as the ‘most productive’ on the South Africa coast.

Drowned in mud

But the St Lucia estuary has drowned in mud. This has been deposited by the Mfolosi River through four points of entry including the three back-channels which were previously closed to prevent increased sedimentation. The river was artificially linked to the estuary in an attempt to deal with drought conditions prior to 2016, a problem aggravated by intervention which prevented any water entering Lake St Lucia within the mouth area. These conditions provided the opportunity to remove the ‘dredger spill dune’, utilising the material to construct a ‘dam wall’, completely separating the ocean and the lake. This was a huge mistake and it cannot be understood how consultants, management and scientists allowed it to happen.

St Lucia was proclaimed a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) World Heritage Site in 1999. The proclamation includes much more than just the estuary and covers a system of lakes and wetlands which run up the Zululand coast to the Mozambique border. But the 70km-long estuary was singled out by Unesco as one of three ‘outstanding natural phenomena’ which justified World Heritage status. Unesco remarked at the time:

‘One (of the outstanding features) is the shifting salinity states within Lake St Lucia which are linked to wet and dry climatic cycles with the lake responding accordingly with shifts from low to hyper-saline states’.

No longer a functioning estuary

The problem is that there is simply no longer a functioning estuary. The unique estuarine features of Lake St Lucia have evaporated like dew before the morning sun, leaving an expanse of mud and reeds, and in some areas a much less diverse fresh-water lake. A report to the Living Lakes Foundation last year summarises the present condition of the area:

‘Salt-reliant plants have died including the mangroves and organisms dependent on them have become extinct. Excessive reedbeds have flourished and expanded in these fresh-water conditions … the natural pendulum shift between fresh and saline water has ceased to function … fish that rely on the estuary and lake … are therefore unable to do this while other fish that need to return to the ocean are landlocked’.

Lake St. Lucia joined the International Living Lakes Organization in 1998 under the threat of dune mining for heavy metals. Although the dune mining threat was beaten off, it has been replaced by the issue of estuarine collapse. Representations have been made recently to have St Lucia declared ‘a threatened non-functional lake under its present dire condition’.

Presentations at the symposium by former iSimangaliso scientist Ricky Taylor and Nelson Mandela University estuarine scientist Professor Janine Adams confirm that the estuary is simply not functioning and hasn’t worked for a long time. Both pointed out that estuarine fish species like grunter and mullet are no longer found in the lake. Adams says that recent research has found that invasive fresh-water species (duckweed, snails) are driving out locally adapted estuarine life. She adds that ‘fine suspended sediment’ is now found all the way up to South Lake’. Hippos and crocodiles are no longer found in ‘The Narrows’ – the five-kilometre stretch running from the mouth to the main lake – where they were abundant only five years ago.

Since its proclamation, the estuary has been under the management of the iSimangaliso Wetland Authority, a purpose-established agency which reports directly to national government. It had previously been managed by the provincial conservation authority, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, which had taken a very active approach to managing the mouth. Through dredging, the mouth was kept open ninety-two percent of the time, thereby preserving its estuarine condition. In the 1990s, when dredging and artificial breaching were still being done, the National Research Foundation’s Estuary Information System described the condition as ‘good’. Under iSimanagaliso, however, not dredging and thus keeping the mouth closed has become the default management policy.


First sealed from the sea

The estuary was first sealed from the sea in 2002 to protect it from spillage from a shipwreck. The 31 000-tonne freighter Jolly Rubino had caught alight and then gone aground dangerously close to the estuary. The decision to artificially close the estuary mouth was widely approved at the time. However, although it was stated that the new berms and closures would be removed following clearance of the potential oil spill, this never happened. The estuary remained shut. Damaging though this was, the most harmful intervention was yet to happen.

The Mfolosi mouth had been kept separate from Lake St Lucia, by dredging both at the mouth and further back, in ‘the narrows’, since 1952. Large amounts of dredger spoil were deposited in the southern part of the estuary, in the process reinforcing the levee which redirected the river. The decision was taken to remove the levy and pump the dredger spoil into the sea to be dispersed by the current. The iSimangaliso Wetland Authority management of the time did not like the existing arrangement, referring disapprovingly to ‘excessive dredging in the narrows’ in a 2011 Information document.

Funding was obtained from the World Bank’s Global Environmental Facility (GEF) which put up US$9 million between 2009 and project closure in 2017. Other funding came from the South African government and other donors, notably the government of the Netherlands. Although the funding was designed to cover many aspects of sustainable development, including scientific studies, education, community and small business development, the central focus was on removing the dredger spoil. But this part of the programme was a disaster.

The process of mechanically pumping the dredger spoil into the sea commenced in May 2016 and immediately ran into problems. The task was beyond the capacity of the equipment available and the situation was not helped by iSimangaliso’s refusal to allow the contractor to abstract fresh water to flush the spoil down the 300 mm pipe. Attempts to pump the spoil were quickly abandoned and mechanical excavators deployed instead.

The problem was that instead of being pumped into the sea to be dispersed by currents, the dredge spoil was dumped on the beach at more-or-less the point where the estuary mouth would ordinarily breach. The result is that the estuary and the sea are separated by an artificial wall which nature is highly unlikely to breach without human assistance. A satisfactory explanation for transporting the spoil only halfway to its obvious dumping point in the ocean was never given by either iSimangaliso or the World Bank. Unesco too has been entirely silent on the matter.


Dredge spoil dumped on the beach

The volume of dredge spoil dumped on the beach is easy to underestimate especially if viewed from ground level on the Lake St Lucia side. But, according to the World Bank’s 2017 Project Closure document, the volume dumped totalled 140 million cubic metres. If this volume of mud and sand were arranged in a cube, it would be one hundred and twelve metres along each side. That is approximately one third of the height of the Empire State Building in New York and almost exactly the same height as one of Durban’s tallest buildings, 320 West Street.

The initial hope was that a natural breach, brought about by summer flooding, would re-link the estuary to the sea. But the volume of spoil is too great to make this a realistic expectation. Instead, each wet season exacerbates the problem by dumping more sediment, thus reducing the velocity of floodwaters attacking the artificial wall from the Mfolosi River side.

Those counting on a natural breach have been reduced to suggesting that the solution is a replay of 1984’s Tropical Cyclone Demoina which washed away much beachfront and the dredger harbour in the estuary. But Demoina is described as a ‘once-in-a-hundred-year storm’ and was hugely destructive. The cyclone killed 242 people (60 in South Africa), left tens of thousands of poor rural people stranded and damage valued (then) at R100 million. Hoping for a replay is both morally indefensible and no sort of management strategy whatsoever.

St Lucia is said by the authorities to represent eighty percent of the sub-tropical estuarine environment in Southern Africa. But this rare and beautiful natural phenomenon is not the only casualty of a management misstep. The local tourism industry is heavily dependent on offering an estuarine experience, involving viewing hippos and crocodiles, especially to foreign tourists. Prior to the introduction of travel restrictions to combat Covid-19, foreign tourists made up eighty percent of the market. Without this offering, many of the 13 300 direct local tourism jobs are at risk. Many local people are already struggling to put food on the table. Failure to revive the estuary would come as a final blow to many.

Also at risk are upstream agricultural activities. The backing up of the Mfolosi River behind the artificial wall has affected commercial sugar farms through flooding. Farmers affected include three land-restitution beneficiaries.

Impact of back-flooding

Land restitution beneficiary Amanda Maphumulo received her farm in 2008. It was not easy to start farming in the middle of a recession, she says. But those difficulties are dwarfed by the impact of back-flooding since 2016. Maphumulo says she has lost eighty percent of her arable land to water inundation and with it, eighty percent of her crop. ‘We have inherited mosquitos, crocodiles, hippos and reeds’ she says. Debt is piling up and she doesn’t know if ‘there will be food on the table tomorrow or whether it will be possible to pay (her) employees’. She has already retrenched seventy-five percent of her workforce and says that the last four years have been ‘an emotional rollercoaster’.

The Sokolu community at Maphelane on the southern edge of the estuary have also been flooded out. Sokolu’s induna, uBaba Petrus Mlaba, says his community with its 300 farmers are unable to plant vegetables, bananas or sugar cane because their lands ‘are under water’. Ancestors’ graves are also inundated. Mlaba argues that the community’s economic and social future hangs on a knife-edge. He says the community previously wrote to the minister and received a response saying that there is ‘nothing to prevent the breaching of the mouth’. He told the symposium that he cannot understand why there has been no action.

Decisions about the mouth of the St Lucia estuary and its interaction with the Mfolosi River have been based on commissioned scientific research, funded by the World Bank’s GEF grant and presented in 2012. The objective was ‘to restore the natural hydrological and ecological functioning of this important system’. There is no reason to doubt the integrity of these studies but the subsequent management measures have turned out to be a recipe for disaster. It would seem that the original terms of reference excluded the possibility of artificially breaching the mouth and dredging the narrows.

No need to wait

There is no need to wait for a further round of scientific investigation. iSimangaliso CEO Bhukosini argues that ‘the GEF research’ was not a waste of time. It ‘generated valuable information and knowledge, without which we would not be where we are now’, he argues. But, Bhukosini argues, science evolves. ‘Certain issues may have been overlooked at the time. It is our responsibility to identify these and come up with solutions,’ he says.

For the majority who gathered for the symposium, an artificial breach is the obvious short-term solution. Beyond that, the mouth requires active management, informed by ecological science and community opinion. The establishment of the stakeholder group, decided on by last week’s symposium, is a first step in that direction.

[Richprins]

No need to wait indeed!

[Lisbeth]

The sealing of the estuary mouth has been a hot subject for debates for many, many years. A bit of common sense would have resolved the issue right away, but the sugar field producers did not want the seawater to ruin their fields and somebody else had other problems and thus the time has passed.....Africa time, while everybody thought it was somebody else's problem.

[Lisbeth]

Healing South Africa’s largest lake paradise

By Tony Carnie• 21 November 2020


The boat jetty at Charters Creek left high and dry in 2016, with St Lucia looking more like a desert than South Africa’s largest estuarine lake. (Photo:iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority.)

Lake St Lucia is the heart of the country’s first World Heritage Site, a natural paradise with the potential to rival Kruger National Park and the Okavango as a tourist destination. But local farmers, tourism operators, fishermen and other interest groups are now pushing for a quick-fix solution that threatens to undo decades of conservation work, including a multimillion-rand World Bank project to restore the lake’s depleted water levels and ecology.

Choking up with emotion at times, scientist Nicolette Forbes took to Zoom last week to urge critics to allow nature – not bulldozers – to heal Lake St Lucia, the largest estuarine lake in South Africa and symbolic battleground between developers and conservationists.

Forbes gave the webinar presentation to members and guests of the Port Natal branch of BirdLife in response to growing concerns about media releases and Facebook posts calling for the mouth to be bulldozed.

This expansive shallow-water lake at the core of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park is best known for the titanic clash between conservationists and Richards Bay Minerals during the early 1990s, which led to the historic decision by the newly elected ANC government to prohibit mining and to protect it as South Africa’s first World Heritage site.

But, behind the scenes, there was another problem to be resolved. The lake had been starved of its main water source for many decades largely due to pressure from sugar farmers who began ploughing the fertile soils of the uMfolozi River floodplain just after World War 1.

As the farmers soon discovered, the power of water rarely respects human interference – least of all when fields are dug in or adjacent to one of South Africa’s largest river floodplains.

As a result, several farmers had to build homes on the high-lying ground while they set about draining the surrounding marshland. Over the years, they also changed the meandering path of the river into a new straight-line canal and piled up sandbanks to further reduce flood risk.

There were also other powerful forces of nature at play that complicated things further. At the direct interface between the river and the Indian Ocean, piles of sands and sediment would build up at times, blocking the estuary mouth.

These skirmishes between man and nature continued for many decades until a new “solution” was found in the early 1950s, when the former Natal Parks Board was persuaded not only to break open the estuary mouth but also to divert the natural course of the uMfolozi further south.

It was a bit like removing the rubber plug from an overflowing bathtub. Voila! As the sand bar at the river mouth was breached artificially, water came whooshing out and the flood risk subsided. This helped the farmers, but it spelled near disaster for the lake and its complex ecological cycles.

Overnight, the lake was separated from a river that had hitherto provided almost 60% of its freshwater, says Forbes, an estuarine scientist who has been closely involved in a multimillion estuary restoration project that included at least R40-million of finance from the World’s Bank Global Environment Facility.

While the breached mouth allowed sea water – and sea fishes – to flow into the lake, it also pushed up the salinity to dangerous levels at times due to drought and the reduced fresh water flows from the iMolozi and other smaller rivers.

In a bold move in 2011, a series of 14expert studies endorsed a decision to revert to natural processes by relinking the uMfolozi River to Lake St Lucia.

Outlining the reasons for this decision, the scientists wrote: “The separation of the uMfolozi from St Lucia in the early 1950s resulted in a major change in the way that the lake functioned. Only now are we beginning to see and experience the full implications of that separation for the wellbeing of the ecosystem, with the lake virtually drying out completely for the first time in living memory.”


Hippos jostle for dominance in the Lake St Lucia estuary. As part of the restoration project, the surrounding park has also been restocked with elephants, rhino and other wildlife species over the last two decades. Photo: iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority.

From 2014 St Lucia dried up again almost completely, killing most of the fish and dividing the shallow water body into a series of puddles.

But when the iSimangaliso Wetland Authority secured funding to dig away millions of tons of sand to relink the uMfolozi to the lake, the farmers went to court, arguing that their livelihoods were threatened.

Finally, in 2017, after a lengthy court case with expert evidence presented by both sides, Durban High Court judge Mohini Moodley dismissed the legal application by the Umfolozi Sugar Planters Limited who wanted bulldozers to continue to open the mouth of the uMfolozi River whenever rising river water threatened cane fields.

In her landmark ruling, Judge Moodley ruled strongly in defence of restoring nature, stating that she had not been persuaded by the farmers’ case. Their insistence on breaching the mouth reflected a “self-serving and dated perspective and a conscious lack of concern that environmental degradation runs contrary to Section 24 of the Constitution”.

The farmers lodged an appeal but the Supreme Court dismissed this in a unanimous decision in October 2018.

Two years later, however, the pressure to bulldoze the mouth has re-emerged from a new coalition of voices under the banner of the Save St Lucia Estuary campaign, apparently spearheaded by Deon Steyn, general manager of the Elephant Lake Hotel in Mullet Street, St Lucia village.

In a media release circulated in mid-October, the group argued that the St Lucia estuary was now in a “critical condition” because the lake had remained sealed off from the ocean almost permanently since 2002.

“The problem is a result of management decisions and human intervention, and the obvious solution – an artificial breach – is a tried and tested management technique successfully applied by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife over decades.”

Steyn and his colleagues argue that “a healthy estuary is typically clean and mud-free thanks to the scouring effects of ocean tides”. But now it was “drowning in mud” after being relinked to the uMfolozi.

“This was a huge mistake and it cannot be understood how consultants, management and scientists allowed it to happen,” they argue.

“The problem is that there is simply no longer a functioning estuary. The unique estuarine features of Lake St Lucia have evaporated like dew before the morning sun, leaving an expanse of mud and reeds, and in some areas a much less diverse fresh-water lake.”

They suggest that unless the mouth is breached by bulldozers, the situation will threaten the local tourism industry as well as commercial sugar farmers.

Local fisherman Petrus Viviers has also posted an 11-minute YouTube video calling for the resumption of bulldozing to enable the return of “fresh marine water” to attract more sea fish species. He also wants to scrap the ban on 4×4 beach-driving in a bid to attract more domestic tourists and anglers who flocked to the resort village in the 1970s and 1980s when the mouth was artificially breached on a regular basis.

The iSimangaliso Wetland Authority has yet to respond formally to the recent calls for the mouth to be bulldozed. However, Forbes expressed her exasperation in a webinar last week about the latest drive for a resumption of artificial breaching.

Forbes, part of a team that has studied the ecology of Lake St Lucia and other local river estuaries for decades, said she was astonished that the latest resurgence of criticism came from people who did not seem to understand natural estuarine processes.

Forbes acknowledges that there are many local interest groups who would like to return to regular breaching and dredging, but these artificial management measures run counter to the dynamic natural processes critical to the long-term health of the estuary.


January 2016. Thousands of fish died because of drought and an artificial reduction of water supplies to the lake. Photo: iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority.

Over time, she says, the main lake alternated between fresh water and hypersaline conditions according to whether there were floods or drought. It was this constant and sometimes extreme flux between different states that ensured the diversity and resilience of the lake ecology.

“It moves backwards and forwards and there are no set states or timelines. It needs to be allowed to change.”

The closure of the mouth was also a natural part of the lake’s history. And while the uMfolozi had brought in large loads of sediment over the past three years, this river also formed the “power stroke” that would eventually open the mouth naturally once sufficient levels of water had built up in the lake.

Despite the current criticism, Forbes believes that the restoration project over the past few years is “something that South Africa should be proud of”.

Forbes, who won a National Wetlands Award in 2017 for her role in the restoration project, recalls that: “It was the best of times and the worst of times – but it was a dream project to make something better again.

We have now had nearly four years of change [towards a natural regime] and people are panicking – but a certain amount of patience is required after nearly 60 years [of artificial breaching and management]. Nature has a way of correcting things … so it is important to watch and wait.”

The big question, however, is whether short-term or long-term viewpoints will prevail in this latest episode in the lake’s long history. DM168

[Lisbeth]

STAKEHOLDERS APPRECIATES THE PROGRESS MADE IN RESOLVING THE ISSUE OF THE ST. LUCIA ESTUARINE SYSTEM STAKEHOLDERS APPRECIATES THE PROGRESS MADE IN RESOLVING THE ISSUE OF THE ST. LUCIA ESTUARINE SYSTEM

The recent St. Lucia Estuarine stakeholders meeting held in St Lucia town was engulfed with a positive mood when the stakeholders learned of the progress made by iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority in trying to resolve the issues of the St. Lucia estuarine system. These meetings are a platform for all stakeholders to sit around the table and engage with a common purpose in mind. Meetings are convened by the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority and scheduled to sit quarterly with provisions to hold special meetings in between should the need arise. The recent April meeting was described by many attendees as a step towards the right direction after receiving the report on the progress made thus far. Communities and affected parties also acknowledge iSimangaliso for involving them and giving them a chance to participate in resolving this complex matter.

In this meeting, the CEO of iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority Mr Sibusiso Bukhosini reported on the promises he made in the previous meeting. Mr Bukhosini had promised to appoint an Ecologist and introduce him to the stakeholder meetings. As promised, the Ecologist was appointed and introduced to the meeting. He also introduced the service provider who will be reviewing the estuarine management plan and introduced the new iSimangaliso Board to stakeholders. Mr Bukhosini also explained that with these meetings, iSimangaliso is trying to correct the perception people have about government departments not working together in resolving this matter. iSimangaliso find it vital to have such meetings with relevant government sectors, rural community representatives, fishers, famers, business owners and various stakeholders to demonstrate the agreements made in dealing with this matter, outline work that will be done, timeframes and anticipated outcomes of those actions done by different government sectors to ensure this issue is resolved.

Communities and the affected parties believe that with the implemented activities, it shows that iSimangaliso is trying its level best to resolve the issues regarding the St. Lucia Estuarine system, and they hope the issue of the estuary system will be resolved soon. They requested that since the processes has come this far, they do not want anything that will stop or delay it.‍

Mr Reddy representing Rate Payers and Mr Mzonjani Gumede representing Dukuduku community said they are overwhelmed by the progress made thus far regarding the St. Lucia Estuarine system and the flooding of farms. Reminicing about the past, they recall that people used to come to the St Lucia lake to fish and others used to feed their families from the produce harvested from the farms that are currently inundated with water. For the fact that there is such progress regarding the issue of the estuarine, they hope by the end of 3 months, this issue would have been resolved because once the raining season comes again, the situation will be uncontrollable.‍

The iSimangaliso Ecologist, Dr Riaan Cedras delivering his presentation stated that there are 2 Environmental Management Acts options that can be used where one could apply for either Section 30 which deals with incidents and Section 30A which deals with emergency situations, according to Dr Cedras, the term is defined in subsection (1) of Section 30 of NEMA as "an unexpected, sudden, and uncontrolled release of a hazardous substance," which can result from things like a major emission, fire, or explosion, and which has already caused or may cause significant harm to the environment, human life, or property. Whereas Section 30A of NEMA defines a situation that has arisen unexpectedly and poses an imminent and serious threat to the environment, human life, or property, including Act 57 of 2002, but excluding an incident envisaged under section 30 of NEMA.‍

Dr Riaan Cedras explained that iSimangaliso notified the department (DFFE) of the above events and associated effects and requested to undertake the following activities:‍

• Excavation of a channel to a base level of 0msl (mean sea level) with a base width of 7.5m and side slopes of 1 in 1 (gradient) to drain down the back flooded waters within a reasonable time.

• The most suitable excavation method is the excavation of the beach channel (1.2 km in length) using excavators and amphibious dredger and the lower Msunduzi river (2.3km) blockage using a specialized multi-purposed dredger called an amphibious dredger with a cutter and suction head.

• The clearance of a beach channel and the lower Msunduzi using the combined methods of an excavator and the specialized multi-purpose machinery would take a minimum timeframe of 6.5 months to be completed as of the date of the Umfolozi Sugar Planters proposal dated October 2022.

• The intention of the farmers however is for the project implementation to allow them to be ready to replant in September 2023 this means if the timeframe of 6.5 months provided by the farmers is considered, this intervention needs to commence immediately or as soon as possible.‍

Dr Cedras also reported that the outcome of the NEMA 30A legislation application was further denied on the 3rd of April 2023 on the basis of the following:‍

• The proposed measures will require the procurement of equipment, specifically the specialized amphibious dredge. Details on its availability were not available at the time of receipt of the Section 30A directive request and it is envisaged that approvals for procurement will be required and will further delay the implementation of proposed interventions and actions.

• On Site surveys of the subject area are required to be able to identify and assess potential impacts and this will be finalized once the appropriate engineering team has been appointed and is on site to conduct the necessary assessments and provide technical details of how the proposed work will be undertaken. As no clear timelines are available at this point in time, the appointment of the team and specialist may cause further delays with the implementation of the said activities.

• The 26 250sqm vegetation which is proposed to be cleared within the critical biodiversity area and the 86 300cm3 of the sediment to be removed are estimates. No information has been provided indicating the proposed mitigation for the impact associated with the proposed intervention, the method to be used for the removal of sediments from site or where the sediments will be disposed of. The impact of this on the system, system functionality, and overall impact on the surrounding environment has not been established. This is regarded as fundamental information required before a directive in terms of section 30A can be favourably considered.

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Dr Riaan also stated that the solutions to mitigate the impact on the environment to maintain the environmental integrity of lake St Lucia estuarine system, in terms of forecast, and the monitoring of suspended sediment yields into the St Lucia estuary system. This will assist iSimangaliso to do the monitoring and management of the dredging process which will enable iSimangaliso to take timely decisions and implement adaptive and corrective measures for the maintenance of a free-flow river channel. ‍

Following the refusal of the Section 30A, the next approach is to conduct a Basic Assessment and the public participation process, which must be carried out and concluded within next three months. iSimangaliso must appoint the specialist who will work with the appointed Environmental Consultants in delivering at least 4 assessments being the Geotechnical/Engineer to assess the hydraulic performance and the ecological circumstance in the catchment system, Sedimentologist to study the constituents, textures, structures, and content of the deposits in order to identify the best approach to dredging and mitigating post-dredging impacts, the Vegetation/wetland specialist to document how removing excess sediment and alien vegetation impacted hydrology and plant assemblages both prior and post excavation, the Social-ecologist must be included to assess the impact and adverse effects on the social users and include the Marine biologist who will assess the abundance, diversity and biomass of key marine taxa in relation to environmental parameters.‍

The St Lucia estuary stakeholder meetings are held quarterly and attended by various stakeholders. The next meeting is set to be held in June 2023.‍

Statement issued by iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority

Media enquires contact:
Mr Bheki Manzini
Call/WhatsApp: 060 533 2082
Email: bhekimanzini@isimangaliso.com‍