Halfway through the United Nations' push for sustainable development, there is backsliding on the goal of "clean water and sanitation for all." Water experts and stakeholders are out to change this.
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The government and the forestry industry have locked horns in a court case that may have far-reaching implications for South Africa’s water laws and “threaten the entire basis of water-use allocations” to the forestry industry and other major water users.
In simple terms, the dispute involves the large volumes of water sucked up by different plantation tree species and the timber industry’s recent drive to convert more of its plantations from pine trees to gum trees because of changing commercial demand.
Swapping one species of plantation tree for another may not seem like a big deal, but in a water-scarce country like South Africa, water regulators insist that every drop needs to be counted and allocated carefully.