The status of coastal zone management in South Africa
Abstract In this article, an overview of the status of coastal zone management (CZM) in South Africa is presented. Firstly, it provides background to the development of various initiatives to promote sustainable use of coastal resources within the context of sociopolitical changes in South Africa. Thereafter, it examines the progress made with respect to key attributes underpinning most CZM programs. Finally, it identifies obstacles to achieving effective CZM in South Africa and makes recommendations to address these shortcomings. The review reveals that whilst considerable progress has been made in certain areas of program development, such as resource conservation and pollution control, there are several gaps and inadequacies within existing efforts. These include the absence of a clear policy to guide efforts, lack of coordination amongst government departments involved in CZM, as well as inadequacies in our legal and administrative system. The promulgation of a Coastal Zone Management Act and the esta...
Principles for Coastal Zone Management in South Africa
The southern tip of the African continent is characterized by a wide variety of coastal environmental conditions, ranging from a steeply tilted topography with sub-tropical summer rainfall conditions in the east to coastal mountain ranges with winter rainfall in the south and a much flatter topography with semi-arid climatic conditions in the west. Imposed on this varied coastal environment are human impacts ranging from minimal to severe. Application of effective coastal zone management principles is of vital importance due to pressures caused by a rapidly increasing human population with numerous economic, recreational and social demands.
Assessment of Ground Regeneration around Borehole Heat Exchangers between Heating Seasons in Cold Climates: A Case Study in Bialystok (NE, Poland)
Based on the experimental studies, the process of ground regeneration around the borehole loaded with brine-water heat pumps working exclusively for heating purposes in the period of four consecutive heating seasons in a cold climate was presented. The research was conducted in north-eastern Poland. The aim of the work is to verify the phenomenon of thermal ground regeneration in the period between heating seasons on the basis of the recorded data and to check whether the ground is able to regenerate itself and at what rate. It was noticed that the ground does not fully regenerate, especially during heating seasons with lower temperatures. In the analyzed period, from 22 September 2016 to 12 October 2020, the ground probably cooled irreversibly by 1.5 °C. In order to illustrate and evaluate the speed of changes in the ground, the one’s profile with an undisturbed temperature field was presented for each month of the year. The presented results can be a very important source of information for the analysis of geothermal conditions occurring in the ground. They can be used to verify mathematical models and conduct long-term simulations that allow us to see the complexity of the processes taking place in the ground.