Musgrave/October 18 2005 support 1

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE MOUNTS TO SAVE WILD COAST

International pressure is being coordinated against unsustainable development on the Wild Coast, with a deluge of letters from across the world calling on the South African government to look at alternatives to “highway construction, strip mining and related settlement”.

The call, co-ordinated by Euronature, Europe’s leading environmental ngo, follows the adoption of a resolution on the subject by the World Wilderness Congress, proposed by internationally renowned conservationist Ulf Doerner.

In addition to European partner organizations, international organisations across the world are writing to Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk and President Thabo Mbeki. Euronature president C-P Hutter, who recently headed a fact-finding tour to the Wild Coast, has sent personal letters to Minister van Schalkwyk and the President, and also to IUCN chief Valli Moosa.

Save the Wild Coast, who hosted Euronature’s tour, said that support was pouring in from organizations around the globe. SWC is receiving messages of solidarity from a number of national and international bodies, as well as individuals.

Details of the Euronature campaign, and contact information for SWC can be found on www.safcei.org.za., the website of the South African Faith Communities Environmental Institute.

Ulf Doerner is a businessman based in Germany who has been supporting conservation projects in South Africa for over 15 years. His philanthropic conservation work has been internationally recognized. His merits include the prestigious Order of the Golden Ark (Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands), the Order of Merit (by German State President). He is a member of the Club of Rome (EU Chapter) and president of ECOROPA, a Swiss-based NGO. He is also advisor on African affairs to the President of the German Conservation Association, an umbrella body for 107 NGOs representing over five million members.

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Issued by Kibao Communications

On behalf of SWC

Contacts: Lylie Musgrave 27 (31) 261 5867 or 072 297 0974