COP17 plan puts wind up wildlife groups
KEEN to show off its environmental credentials, the eThekwini electricity department is rushing to install wind turbines at the Bluff military base ahead of the UN COP 17 climate change meeting, placing a crucial bat roosting area in jeopardy.
The department has come under fire over its plans to showcase the “green energy” turbines close to one of South Africa’s largest colonies of slit-faced bats.
It is racing to install the second-hand turbines in a prominent spot above the Durban harbour entrance so the project would be visible to the thousands of delegates attending the climate change meeting, which starts on November 28.
However, the project site at the military base is close to a colony of about 400 Egyptian slit-faced bats (Nycteris thebaica), raising fears that the nocturnal insect eaters would be decimated by the spinning blades.
Holy flying fox! It's a nursery for orphaned bats