Paradise lost! - Sept 14, 2008

There’s an African proverb that says: ‘Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents; it was loaned to you by your children.’

And surveying the breathtakingly beautiful landscapes of the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast I’m reminded again and again of our responsibility to a sustainable future.

This is a paradise with remote beaches butting up against rolling green hills and jagged cliffs, and mostly there is not a soul in sight, your footprints the only ones in the sand.

But all is not well in paradise with avaricious mining companies again focussing their beady eyes on this coastline while attempting to con impoverished locals into believing they’ll bring a bright, long-term future. Their track record says otherwise.

The reality is that they are smash and grab operators with all the ethics and social responsibility of your average opportunistic burglar, caring little for the wasteland they create in places of former beauty.

Chatting to hotelier Conrad Winterbach at Wavecrest Resort Hotel I meet a kindred soul who is passionate about the environment and alarmed by plans to dramatically degrade it.

He echoes the sentiments of the proverb I quote: “We are the custodians on behalf of future generations,” he insists. “For this reason, no group, individual or currently incumbent political party has the right to enrich itself, or its generation, at the expense of the planet and those who will occupy it in the future.”

The resort itself is a gem situated on the pristine mangrove-lined Nxaxo estuary, surrounded by magnificent dune forests and endless expanses of beach. But there has already been uncontrolled chopping of mangroves in the estuary and young hardwoods in the forests and untold harm has already been done by ill-considered actions, or a lack of action by the authorities.

He argues eloquently against mining as an even greater evil, scoffing at suggestions that the mining companies will rehabilitate the land they ravage. We all know that is at best PR-speak and at worst a wicked lie. You cannot recreate a pristine mangrove forest and estuary. Not in a thousand years!

Instead he campaigns for a carefully orchestrated tourism model that will create opportunities for locals, with the potential to develop games parks and nature reserves in the uninhabited coastal zone.

Spin-offs would include the further development of horse and hiking trails; whale and dolphin watching and deep sea safaris.

Fertile soil, a moderate climate, reliable rainfall and an abundance of rivers, streams and springs also make this coast a potentially rich farming area, instead of being laid to waste by over-grazing.

It is time for all us to look deeply inwards, examining our consciences and finding ways to ‘tread lightly’ upon Planet Earth, the endangered home we share with a multitude of other species. We need more Conrad Winterbachs to stand up and be counted.