After more than a year in the planning and extensive training at the University of Fort Hare Animal Traction Centre (ATC), 6 young draft oxen arrived at Eric Swarts’s farm on Tuesday the 27th of January 2009. As part of a research programme to assess the potential of Draft Animal Traction in Sustainable Agriculture, the Sustainability Institute initiated the Animal Traction Research Programme early in 2008.

The team in action on Eric’s farm

Eric ploughing his field and no longer having to be concerned about the fuel price increases or compaction

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Stakeholder comment has been requested by The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) on the latest Feed-In Tariff (FIT) Guidelines and financial models.

The Sustainability Institute and the Centre for Sustainable and Renewable Energy Studies
support the work being done by NERSA towards a FIT and believe that a FIT is a key element required to stimulate a vibrant renewable energy industry in South Africa. However we are concerned that the proposed FIT and associated guidelines will not provide this impetus required to start this market and achieve the goal.

The document below has been prepared in order to highlight some of the concerns of Centre for  Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies (CRSES) and the Sustainability Institute (SI) over the latest draft Feed‐In Tariffs.

As per the request for comment, this document addresses the following three areas:
1) Renewable Energy Feed – In Tariff;
2) Adequacy of the assumptions used in the pricing model;
3) Other comments or proposals to the National Energy Regulator related to the Renewable Energy Feed – in Tariff guidelines.

NERSA REFIT Framework Consultation Comments(SI&CRSES)

During 2007 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) decided to set up a new international panel of experts that has come to be known as the Internatioal Panel for Sustainable Resource Management (IPSRM). This was partly in response to the 4th Assessment Report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that concluded that major economic changes are required if the global economy and humanity as a whole is to avoid the consequences of global warming. A small group of UN member-states agreed to be founder members of teh IPSRM, the South African Government being one of these. Each founder member nominated an expert onto the IPSRM. The South African Government nominated Mark Swilling who is Academic Director of the Sustainability INstitute, and Programme Co-ordinator for Sustainable Development Planning and Management in the School of Public Management and Planning, Stellenbosch University.

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Yes, fellow development practitioners, the development practice project is working hard on its own website. The Development Practice website will be up and running at the end of December 2008, loaded with all the project history, intrigue you can stomach, the complete low-down on the project interaction with SAQA, and all the learning materials needed for a competent development practitioner, will be available ‘free of charge’. The project will be applying the creative commons open source licensing to all the materials and it will be available to all NPO’s subscribing to similar open source licensing.

Feel free to contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Mariette and Premilla, at 021 8813196, if you are curious and want to know more or want to visit the re-vamped farmhouse and have a biscuit!

Till then...
Mariette