HESSEQUA NEWS - There is a call to commemorate devastating fires in the Southern Cape with an annual event.
In 2018, some 100 000 sq hectares along the Outeniqua Mountains, Stilbaai and Vermaaklikheid claimed lives and caused untold damage to the regional economy.
This followed on the out of control fires that caused widespread destruction in Knysna and Plettenberg Bay in 2017.
The Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM), incorporating the Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF), is looking at the establishment of an annual commemoration event for the 2017 and subsequent fires.
"The forum is currently planning to host a seminar on Friday 7 June to review the environmental preparedness of the Southern Cape regarding risks associated with fire and drought," says Nina Viljoen, Manager: Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation at the GRDM and a spokesperson for the GREF.
"Much has happened in terms of regional disaster prevention and management since those fires," says Viljoen. At a recent workshop hosted at the Nelson Mandela University's (NMU) Saasveld Campus, options were discussed to generate sufficient funds to address and reduce risks associated with invasive alien biomass in the Southern Cape landscape.
Memory Booysen, Executive Mayor of the GRDM was quoted as suggesting a tax on landowners to generate funds for invasive alien plant biomass reduction on the landscape. According to Viljoen, what he meant was that we should be open for a debate on how we, as a collective, can become more prepared for future disasters.
Booysen pointed out that there was general agreement that much more must be done by both landowners and authorities to reduce risks if we were to safeguard the region from a recurrence of the 2017 and 2018 fires, and fire-risk reduction is but one of several environmental matters hitting the GREF spotlight.
The proposed Fire Commemoration seminar will look at the overarching research and strategy development that has taken place over the past two years regarding environmental risk reduction in the region, and the physical measures that have been implemented. The seminar will also provide a roadmap of what is planned for the region in the coming months.
Na die vernietigende brande in 2017 en 2018, waartydens groot dele van Hessequa ook in puin gelê is, wil die Garden Route-distriksmunisipaliteit in samewerking met die Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF) die 2017-brande met 'n seminaar op 7 Junie gedenk. Daar sal onder meer gekyk word of die Suid-Kaap gereed is vir nog sulke brande en na maniere om die brandrisiko's te verminder.
'Ons bring jou die nuutste Hessequa nuus'
