Kommetjie:
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You
want to be up to speed with what's threatening the hamlet? |
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A new feature on our site: Added 2005. Expect more to follow... |
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| Over development | |||||
| The boom in the South African property market and the limited land available between the mountains and the sea is rapidly eroding the character and environment in and around Kommetjie. | |||||
| Undeveloped land is being subdivided and sold as individual plots at wholesale rate and unless this fanatic expansionist drive is slowed and tampered, Kommetjie as it is now, will soon be a memory only. | |||||
| The local ecology is visibly collapsing - Wildevoelvlei is a prime and very sad example. Instead of urgent intervention to halt this tragedy, waterside developments are pumping away full speed ahead. Unbelievable. | |||||
| The existing infrastructure is barely coping with the load, but planners are so blinded by the increased short term revenue produced by development that they seem unconcerned. | |||||
| Unless adequate land is left undeveloped the ecology can not survive. | |||||
| The local authority also has the enormous task of providing adequate infrastructure and homes for the thousands of homeless people living in the Kommetjie environment. In this context great need and limited resources regularly provide the ingredients for recipes that are major environmental disasters. | |||||
| What to do? | |||||
| The
Kommetjie Rate Payers and Resident Association (KRRA) are persistently and
diligently challenging developers and the local authority and doing what
they can in an effort to stifle the onslaught in the area. Every effort should be made to support them. |
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| Eco-tourist developments, through the very market that they target have an active and vested interest in maintaining the ecology. Rather than destroying the ecology the eco-tourist operator seeks to not only sustain the ecology but actively market it, thereby not only promoting awareness but also invariably actively contributing to conservation in some way or another. | |||||
| Although, on the one hand, the inherent benefits to the community of eco-tourist developments is clearly not enough, failure of environmentalist groups to recognize those elements in development that benefit the environment, as opposed to those that are likely to be detrimental or at best neutral to the ecology, would be un-clever. | |||||
| Suggestion: Eco-tourism can generate enough capital to contribute substantially to the environment. |
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| We
believe that eco-tourism can significantly contribute to maintaining
undeveloped land as an investment in the ecology and indeed its own
future. Certainly all those involved in eco-tourism will be receptive to
the concept. Tourism generates enormous revenue and eco-tourism remains one of the most sustainable developments available. Mechanisms and structures need to be set in place to ensure that tourism works towards improving and maintaining the ecology in the face of ever increasing demands for development. |
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| There is little doubt that most, if not all, tourist establishments will be more than willing to make a positive contribution to the environment. | |||||
| Tourist
facilities charge a 1 % levy on accommodation that is paid into a
central fund that is used to promote tourism in South Africa. It is appropriate that tourist facilities directly contribute financially to maintaining the local ecology. Charging a 2 % levy on all tourism sales, be it bed nights, food or tours hold the promise of generating adequate funds to enable projects of substance. With local tourism activities increasingly becoming organized this is definitely achievable. Imagine having a local environmental fund that has enough resources to buy key pieces of land in the Kommetjie area and donating it to the Cape Peninsula National Park! |
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| For
eco-tourism to contribute substantially to the local environment the
industry would have to be mobilized and organized to affect this. Organizations like the KRRA would be instrumental in bringing this about and will be essential to applying the funds appropriately. It will require the wisdom on the part of the KRRA to recognize those elements in development that can contribute to the KRRA's goals and ensuring that the KRRA a ligns their resources with its struggles. |
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Can it happen? Watch this space for more...We will update from time to time. Sunset Beach Guest House will attempt to introduce an environmental levy in the near future. |
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13 February 2005 |
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| Any comments? Send them to info@sunstebeach.co.za and we will pass them on. | |||||
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The
views on this page are not necessarily those the KRRA or for that matter
the staff of the Beach House. |
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Where to go? |
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Janthina |
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Contact:
info@sunsetbeach.co.za |
Sea
Food Lunch |
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Siffie for Beach Hotel Rates | |||||
