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State of the Coast: KZN
State of the Coast: KZN

State of the Coast: KwaZulu-Natal Chapter 1: Introduction & Background Chapter 2: Overarching Drivers Chapter 3: Climate Variability
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The Profile of the KZN Coast

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03 Dec 2020

Plans to bulldoze Lake St Lucia raises concerns

Lauren Beukes (ECR News) Picture: Nicolette Forbes

Bulldozing results in an artificial breach or a temporary opening of the estuary mouth.  But estuarine scientist Nicolette Forbes warns that this interferes with the natural process as well as restoration projects taking place at the lake.

“Now this wasn’t a good thing for the estuary, though it suited a certain sector of the animals that use the estuary like the fish, it wasn’t necessarily a good and natural functioning of the estuary. So the project I was involved in took in account all of those estuaries and the different user groups around it to get it back to a much more natural dynamic and not interfering with the mouth is a part of that.”

The Lake St Lucia is Africa’s largest estuarine lake. A serious drought in the area has hampered the lake. Back in 2014 it went completely dry.

Forbes says bulldozing is a quick-fix solution that threatens conservationists’ restoration project – pushing it back 10 years.

“The whole idea was to let this estuary find its own way back to what it does naturally where the Umfolozi River is linked to the estuary and it is able to open and close the mouth naturally so that they will take that back another 10 years by interfering.”

 

*A recording of the interview can be found in the online article.

Online Article