Cobus Coetzee
CAPE TOWN is home to the country’s best eco-warrior, eco-innovation and the best municipality that cares for the environment.
Judges awarded the prestigious 2014 Eco-Logic Awards – that recognises new approaches to addressing environmental challenges – at a ceremony at the Cradle of Humankind, Maropeng in Gauteng yesterday.
Grassy Park resident Kelvin Cochraine was recognised as the best eco-warrior, the Shark Spotters as the best eco-innovation and the City of Cape Town as the best municipality when it came to social upliftment while looking after the environment.
Cochraine spearheaded a fight that took years to prevent a shopping mall and taxi rank from being built on the banks of Princess Vlei – one of the few remaining green lungs on the Cape Flats.
A baker by profession, he rallied neighbours and conservation managers to rehabilitate fynbos and establish what became recognised as the Bottom Road Sanctuary.
Cochraine’s work formed a blueprint for the Dressing the Princess project at Princess Vlei.
He first became interested in the wetland in 1975 when he turned 16.
An ecstatic Cochraine said he was fascinated by birds, vegetation and wetlands.
“The award is for the people of the Cape Flats,” he said.
The judges said Cochraine defined the word eco-warrior and he took on challenges no ordinary person would.
For their shark exclusion barriers in Fish Hoek, the Shark Spotters, won the best eco-innovation award for their “financially practical and responsible solution to a highly emotive problem”, the judges noted.
Since 2004 Fish Hoek beach has experienced a high white shark presence and there had been three shark attacks – two of them fatal.
During March last year the city and Shark Spotters began a trial to design an environmentally responsible shark barrier at the beach.
The barrier differs from shark nets in that it is engineered to have minimal impact on marine life.
It is deployed and retrieved daily.
Since March last year and May the shark barrier was deployed 130 times over weekends and public holidays and school holidays.
White sharks, bronze whalers, hammerhead sharks and rays were prevented from coming close to the beach.
Shark Spotters spokeswoman Sarah Waries said the award showed there was an alternative “to prevent shark attacks without killing sharks”.
The city was also commended for being the best municipality for the Mayor’s Portfolio for Urban Sustainability’s approach to promoting economic growth, ensuring social uplifting but looking after the environment.
The portfolio profiles 34 key projects in the city – each featuring elements of sustainability.
Some of the projects include the Kraaifontein Integrated Waste Management Facility, MyCiTi and the Witsands low-cost housing project.
Projects leader Stephen Granger said the award was an incentive for the city and the projects to work harder.
“As Cape Town we realised that without the sea, mountains, fynbos we would not experience such growth. That is why we ensure we have growth that is sustainable and considers our greatest asset, the environment,” he said.