HOW the negative effects of providing humanity with electricity impact on the animal kingdom is receiving close attention by Constant Hoogstad of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) the speaker at Modderfontein Conservation Society’s May evening meeting.
Hoogstad is the EWT’s programme manager: wildlife and energy programme and works closely with Eskom in implementing an integrated management system to minimise negative impacts.
The meeting takes place at Modderfontein Town Hall, 1 Casino Road at 7.30pm on May 18.
“Eskom and the EWT formalised their already long-standing relationship by entering into a partnership in 1996 to address the problem of wildlife interactions with electrical infrastructure in a systematic manner and on a national basis,” says Hoogstad.
The partners are celebrating 21 years of being world leaders when it comes to responsible wildlife and electrical infrastructure management.
“The development of mitigation devices like the world-renowned OWL nocturnal device for birds was developed as a result of the partnership,” continues Hoogstad. “The EWT also assists Eskom Generation with biodiversity management at all power stations, Eskom Renewables Energy to do post construction monitoring of bird and bat impacts at renewable energy sites like wind farms and concentrated solar plants.”
Over the past five years the Eskom/EWT partnership has trained more than 10 000 Eskom employees on wildlife and electrical infrastructure interactions.
Visitors are welcome. An entrance fee of R30 is charged to help cover expenses. For info, contact Jenny Gough on 011 452 2201 or 082 685 0959.
