“Managing the Impact of Wind Energy Development on Birds and Bats”
Johannesburg, South Africa
September 14th and 17th, 2012
Following up the consultation meeting held in May 2012 in Washington D.C., a meeting with South Africa’s public utility, Eskom were held on September 14th, 2012 to learn Eskom’s experience on biodiversity management. Also, a roundtable discussion was held on September 17th, 2012 to capture experiences and lesson related to birds and bats protection in wind energy development in South Africa.
Key stakeholders such as Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)/Civil society organizations (CSOs), Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and the private sector discussed main challenges on biodiversity management in South Africa. Key findings and areas for future improvement include;
1. Eskom and Endangered Wildlife Trust (NGO) formalized a partnership in 1996. Since then, EWT does capacity building and technology transfer for field services staff of Eskom.
2. BirdLife South Africa developed a Best Practice Guidelines for Monitoring and Impact Mitigation which incorporated international standard of monitoring. Also, sensitivity mapping which indicates the likely sensitivity of avifauna to the impacts of wind farms in a geographic area.
3. South Africa has experiences on managing the impact of wind power although the wind deployment is still at the early stage. The real effects of these works will be foreseen as project implementation mature.
September 14th, 2012
Session 1 / Eskom environmental management system
Session 2 / Enrionmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Sere Wind Energy Project
Session 3 / Situation in Lesotho
- Hanneline Smit, Conservation Manager, BirdLife South Africa
Session 5 / Ingula Partnership (Eskom-BirdLife South Africa-Middelpunt Wetland Trust)
- Hanneline Smit, Conservation Manager, BirdLife South Africa