Prof Mark Swilling spoke about political obstacles to a mass renewable energy transition at a recent Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) gathering in Cape Town, which formed part of AIDC’s Million Climate Jobs Campaign. According to AIDC, the legacy of extractivism results in South Africa suffering widespread resource depletion across a wide range of key resource sectors, for instance: (a) estimates of coal reserves have been revised downwards to a mere 20% of original estimates; (b) by 2004, 98% of South Africa’s total water resources had already been allocated; (c) degradation of soil fertility is confirmed on 41% of cultivated land. For more information, please visit Prof Swilling’s blog.
