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|CES NEWS|

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

Addax integrated renewable energy and agriculture project, Sierra Leone

On June 17th 2011, Addax Bioenergy Sierra Leone signed a  €258 Million loan agreement with seven European and African Development Financing Institutions (DFI’s – including the Durch Development bank, the FMO and the African Development Bank) for an integrated renewable energy and agriculture project near Makeni, in Sierra Leone. This followed an extensive three year environmental, social and health impact assessment process where CES were the lead consultants. Several innovative solutions to challenges associated with meeting international best practice in biofuel production and lenders’ requirements were developed to ensure negative impacts on local communities could be sufficiently mitigated. This is the first biofuel project to be funded by DFI’s in Africa.

CES has since been contracted to prepare and implement the environmental and social monitoring programme for the project. The programme consists of several plans which will initially gather a robust baseline of data against which future monitoring results can be compared. Following this monitoring activities will shift to monitoring project related impacts. Several teams of specialists will be going to the site between now and the end of 2011. Since the project is located in a remote rural part of Sierra Leone, innovative solutions to dealing with potential equipment and reagent shortages have been developed.

Grown Energy Bio-fuel full ESIA

CES in association with Bioglobal, its partner in Mozambique, has initiated the full ESIA phase of the Grown Energy Zambeze project.  The project proponent Grown Energy, with its funders, would like to establish a bio-ethanol plant using a 36 000 ha concession within the Sofala Province, along the banks of the Zambezi River. The crops used will include both sweet sorghum and sugar cane. With regards the ESIA, all the relevant social and biological specialist site visits have been conducted, with report preparation in hand.  Once complete the impact assessment report will be released for authority and public comment towards the end of June 2009. 

Round Table on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB - Guidelines)

Sierra Leone Palm Oil

Trident Copper/Nickel Project, Zambia

Through 95% owned Kalumbila Minerals Ltd, First Quantum Mining Ltd (FQM) intends to develop the Trident Copper/Nickel Project which is located 140km west of Solwezi, Zambia. The Trident Project covers a series of prospecting licenses that comprises three distinct areas of mineralization, named Sentinel, Enterprise and Intrepid. Geological drilling and evaluation continues at each of these target areas and it is proposed that Sentinel will be developed initially followed by Enterprise and finally Intrepid. Each target is seen as a significant mine development which will likely extend over a period in excess of 22 years. Coastal & Environmental Services (CES) and Resettlement & Development Solutions (RADS) have been appointed by Kalumbila Minerals Ltd. to prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment for the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ).

SOUTH AFRICAN PROJECTS

Cookhouse Wind Energy Project (aka Golden Valley Wind Energy Project)

In September 2009 CES were commissioned by Terra Wind Energy Golden Valley (Pty) Ltd to undertake a full scoping and EIA assessment of a proposed wind energy facility (wind farm) in the Cookhouse area of the Eastern Cape.  The facility spans eleven farms in the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality, an area of about 29,400ha. The total generating capacity of the entire wind energy project is estimated to be 500MW. A range of specialists were commissioned to assess the potential impacts on the ecology of the area, avifauna, noise, visual, archaeology/heritage and palaeontology. These impacts were presented to national Department of Environmental Affairs, together with an EMP for authorisation. Environmental authorisation was granted in April 2011 with strict conditions for pre- and post-construction monitoring of birds and bats. CES will undertake various other services during the construction and operation phases of the project such as: botanical and faunal ground truthing, including monitoring and reporting to DEA.  

Kalagadi Manganese Smelter Project - Coega INdustrial Development Zone

The Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs (DEDEA) issued an Environmental Authorisation to Kalagadi Manganese (Pty) Ltd for the construction of a manganese smelter in Zone 5 of the Coega Industrial development Zone in May 2011. A copy of the authorisation can be found by following the link to Public Documents. No appeals were lodged against the authorisation in the time period specified in the National Environmental Management Act regulations for  environmental impact assessments. The detailed design of the smelter is therefore proceeding, and construction is expected to begin early in 2012.

Waainek Wind Energy Project (aka Grahamstown Wind Farm)

In September 2009 CES were commissioned by InnoWind (Pty) Ltd to undertake a full scoping and EIA assessment of a proposed wind energy facility (wind farm) in the area known as Waainek just outside Grahamstown (Eastern Cape Province, South Africa). The original project description proposed up to 11 turbines, with a cumulative generating capacity of 33MW. A range of specialists were commissioned to assess the potential impacts on the ecology of the area, avifauna, noise, visual, archaeology/heritage and palaeontology. These impacts were presented to national Department of Environmental Affairs, together with an EMP for authorisation. Environmental authorisation was granted for 8 turbines (16-24MW) in March 2011 with strict conditions for pre- and post-construction monitoring of birds and bats.

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA)

Coastal & Environmental Services (CES) has recently been appointed to develop a Climate Change Risk Assessment and Strategy for Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA).  Climate change is likely to have affects will impact across environmental issues, economic performance, social behaviour, infrastructure and other aspects of human existence.  The manifestations of climate change in South Africa are likely to include:
* Higher temperatures
* Altered rainfall patterns
* More frequent or intense extreme events such as heat-waves, drought, and storms. 
*Rise in sea levels
The global climate will continue to change in ways that affect the planning and day to day operations of businesses, government agencies, etc.  Organisations such as the TNPA will need to understand the nature of the risks associated with climate change impacts and to know that these are identified and incorporated into processes for management and strategic planning; and apply risk management frameworks to ensure their organisations have identified and considered the risks of climate change impacts. 
CES will assist TNPA in developing an effective response to the risks associated with climate change.  This requires an awareness of the risks posed by climate change and, more importantly, an understanding of the relative significance of those risks to TNPA business and operations.

Knysna N2 Toll Highway

CES has been appointed by SANRAL to undertake the EIA for the Proposed Knysna N2 Toll Highway, which will bypass the CBD of Knysna. Due to the nature of the project, extensive Public Consultation has been undertaken. Consultation for the scoping phase of the EIA was initiated in early 2005, and in December 2005. Consultation for the EIR phase of the project was initiated in May 2009. This was undertaken by means of a series of meetings and open days with IAPs in Knysna, Plett, George and Sedgefield. During this process over 1000 stakeholders have either registered and/or attended meetings. The Scoping Phase has been completed; the draft report was available for review in July 2006. The response to the report was considerable with much concern over the need to investigate a ‘Northern’ route as an alternative to the proposed routes. After much discussion between DEAT, SANRAL and CES around a whether the EIA should investigate a Northern route, the Scoping Report was finalized in May 2007. In this report DEAT were asked to make a decision on whether a Northern route should be investigated in the EIA. In August 2007 DEAT approved CES’s plan of study for the EIA and indicated that the ‘Proposed’ and ‘Short’ routes for the highway be investigated further along with the No-go Option (which is essentially the Municipality’s Traffic Management Plan). CES and SANRAL are contracted eight specialists to investigate and assess the potential impacts of the project alternatives. These specialist studies include assessments of the visual, noise, erosion, social, economic, traffic and ecological (terrestrial and aquatic) impacts. The specialists have completed their studies, and the integrated Draft Environmental Impact Assessment report has been released for public review, until the 8th June. CES anticipates that the EIA will be complete by the end of the year.

Eastern Cape Parks Board Forestry Survey - Boundary Survey and Demarcation of Indigenous State Forests in the Wild Coast

CES was appointed by Eastern Cape Parks (ECP) - Wild Coast Project (WCP) to undertake the project titled “Boundary survey and demarcation of indigenous forest in the Wild Coast, BID NO 2/FY/09”. This project comprises three interrelated components: (1) Desktop study - to evaluate the available data (shape-files) from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry (DAFF) with recent aerial photographs to establish inconsistencies / changes in forest margins, (2) State forest surveys; and (3) the creation of a GIS database for the above mentioned surveyed forest areas. This CES project is restricted to the coastal zone defined in the Wild Coast Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (WCBSAP). 

The project reports, in detail, on the following:

• The findings of the Wild Coast forest estate survey,

• Reports on the accuracy of the existing DAFF spatial data,

• Gives the actual extent and quality of the existing Wild Coast forests

• Provides an overview of each forest estates new forest layer in terms of the GIS database with regards to:

  - Forest type

  - Invasive alien plant (IAP) species

  - Canopy condition

  - Adjacent land use

  - Resource use (Direct and Indirect)

  - Forest Ecological Condition

Tsitsa River Basin - Land Use and Environmental Management Plan
 

CES has been appointed by ASGISA Eastern Cape to produce a Land Use and Environmental Management Plan for the Tsitsa River Basin (TRB). Ultimately, this study seeks to identify and support sustainable land use practices within the TRB, and in particular, to identify those areas that may be suitable for new land use developments. The primary objective of the TRB study is to provide an assessment of the environmental constraints and opportunities and integrate this information into the formulation of sustainable land-use plans and programmes for both the Elundini and Mhlontlo Municipalities. It is important to note that this study will not provide a blueprint for any specific land use. It will however explore practical land use options and how they can be implemented.