Water and Environmental Affairs Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi is expected to visit a project in Nkandla to give a report back on progress of the implementation plan to alleviate the water scarcity.

PetroSA, South Africa's national oil company has announced an R8.5 million initiative to improve environmental management and community development in the Mossel Bay area of the Southern Cape.

South Africans may not be aware of just how destructive invasive alien species are and not just to our environment.

The ripple effect of this worldwide problem is too immense to ignore. But government is killing two birds with one stone by turning this problem into job creation opportunities. BuaNews zooms in on KwaZulu-Natal's Invasive Alien Species Programme (IASP) to understand this problem better.

Four of seven elephants outfitted with GPS tracking collars have been killed on the forested slopes of Mount Kenya in recent months only a short hike from the rustic cabin where Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton, conservation officials say.

THE INSURERS of the bulk carrier MS Oliva that ran aground at the Tristan da Cunha archipelago last month, causing a conservation disaster for the endangered northern rockhopper penguin, should pay punitive damages, according to bird conservation group BirdLife SA.

Planing Minister Trevor Manuel is set to take up another international role after being appointed co-chair of the 40-member committee briefed by the Cancun climate summit to design a $100 billion (R674 billion) green fund.

Food acidity tests are being conducted on three brands of locally produced dog food believed to have caused the deaths of a number of pets in Gauteng, the agriculture, forestry and fisheries department said on Thursday.

The Department of Environmental Affairs is set to speed up its contributions towards job creation by implementing the Natural Resources Management and Social Responsibility Programme.

Minister in the department, Edna Molewa, said the "Working for" projects, which used to be under the Department of Water Affairs, had been integrated along with other programmes in the Department of Environmental Affairs.

South Africa does not want the next UN Climate Change Conference, which it will host in Durban in November, to be the “death” of the Kyoto Protocol, says Environment Minister Edna Molewa.

Briefing the media at Parliament on Wednesday, ahead of debate on her department's Budget vote, she said government viewed continuation of the protocol as critical.

If the environmental movement has a high holiday, Earth Day is it.

The annual effort to raise public awareness about the environment and inspire actions to clean it up marks its 41st anniversary last Friday, coinciding with the Christian Good Friday and Judaism's celebration of Passover.

In an effort dubbed “A Billion Acts of Green”, organisers encouraged people to observe Earth Day 2011 by pledging online at http://act.earthday.org/ to do something small but sustainable in their own lives to improve the planet's health - from switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs to reducing the use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals.

“Millions of people doing small, individual acts can add up to real change,” said Chad Chitwood, a spokesperson for the umbrella group co-ordinating efforts.

There will be hundreds of rallies, workshops and other events around the United States, where Earth Day was born, and hundreds more overseas, where it is now celebrated in 192 countries.

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The Department of Water Affairs has promised to work together with South Africans in order to make more water available for communities and economic growth.

Minister in the department Edna Molewa said that they were building on the significant progress they had made in commissioning key water projects of strategic economic importance to the country.

The South African government wants to use the upcoming United Nations climate change summit, scheduled to take place in Durban later this year, to convince the country's business sector to take a leading role in the global efforts to slow climate change.

Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa on Friday met with Business Unity South Africa (Busa) for a two-hour discussion on how the sector can assist government pass policies that promote green growth.