News South Africa

R7.7bn 'green' projects to create thousands of jobs - Molewa

According to Engineering News, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa told lawmakers that the R7.7-billion budgeted for environmental programmes between 2012/13 and 2014/15 will provide 205 877 work opportunities and 102 603 full-time equivalent jobs.

During her Budget vote address, Molewa said it is important to "debunk the myth that environment management hinders development" - especially in view of the New Growth Path, which sets out to create five-million new jobs by 2020.

Molewa's statement was in line with A recently published 'Green Jobs' report said there was an opportunity to create 98 000 new direct jobs in the short term and around 462 000 employment opportunities in the formal economy by 2025 by pursuing efforts to green the South African economy. "This green economy," she noted, "offers substantial opportunities for job creation [...] particularly in biodiversity, waste and natural resource management services." 232 926 jobs, or 50.4% of the total, could be created through employing people to conserve and restore ecosystems, such as grasslands and wetlands, or to improve soil and land management.

Read the full article on www.engineeringnews.co.za.

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