SA launches biodiversity institute
3 December 2004
Government has announced a R70-million grant to the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) to help protect and raise awareness about the country's biodiversity.
Launched on Thursday at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden, the SANBI replaces the National Botanical Institute (NBI) that has existed for over 15 years.
Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the grant will be used to develop a "Greening of the Nation" project, which is aimed at rehabilitating degraded land, developing indigenous gardens at schools and public spaces, as well as combating air pollution by greening urban areas.
The new institute will also use the funds to preserve medicinal plants, and undertake a large-scale planting of indigenous trees countrywide, said van Schalkwyk, adding that this marked a new era in the promotion and protection of the country's living resources.
The SANBI board chairperson Bongiwe
Njobe said the major challenge for the institute was to ensure that communities had access to biodiversity since they interacted with the ecosystem daily in rural areas.
She said preserving biodiversity was vital for ensuring the ongoing provision of ecosystem services such as the production of clean water through catchment management, prevention of erosion, carbon storage and generating clean air.
Among SANBI's mandate is to monitor the ecosystem and report to the minister on the status of the country's biological diversity, conservation status of threatened or protected species.
It will also establish facilities for horticultural display, environmental education, visitor amenities and research. It may also allow, regulate or prohibit access by the public to protected areas.
Source: BuaNews
| 
