Abstract
There is a significant environmental risk posed to the region in which one of the most important and richest archaeological and palaeontological resources is located in South Africa. This area, known as the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage (COHWHS), is situated adjacent to one of the richest gold bearing geological sequence in the world. The mine pollution which is emanating from the mines in the form of acid mine drainage (AMD) is threatening this remarkable resource which has yielded the biggest collection of hominin fossils in the world. The environmental degradation of the COHWHS will have a major impact on the archaeological and palaeontological heritage of not only South Africa, but the world, as well as the tourism, hospitality and education sectors of South Africa. If monitoring, mitigation and management measures are not implemented effectively with immediate effect to avoid or minimise the negative effects, the COHWHS may stand the risk of losing its status and be demoted to the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger. Ultimately, if the site loses the characteristics that determined its inscription in the World Heritage List, the World Heritage Committee may decide to delete the property from its list.
Highlights
The Cradle of Humankind to the north of Krugersdorp on the West Rand in Gauteng was awarded World Heritage Site status by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural * **Department of Geography and Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of Johannesburg. ***PhD candidate in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of Johannesburg.TD The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 6(1) July 2010, pp. 73-92.Durand, Meeuvis and FourieOrganization (UNESCO) in 1999
Environmental management is a multi-disciplinary concept that is especially important in large scale industrial developments such as gold mining, that have the potential to negatively affect the environment and its resources
South Africa possesses some of the world’s most progressive environmental guidelines and legislation, the practical implementation of these guidelines and recommendations by specialists are often constrained by limitations such as a lack of authority, lack of funding, lack of human resources, a lack of proactive environmental management and pressing time constraints (Deacon, 2007; Fourie, 2007)
Summary
The Cradle of Humankind to the north of Krugersdorp on the West Rand in Gauteng was awarded World Heritage Site status by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural. The acidic water decanting from the West Rand pose the most severe immediate threat to the sensitive and soluble dolomite rock which contains most of the important palaeontological and archaeological sites of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site (Van Eeden et al, 2009). If these negative impacts are not mitigated in time or become more severe, the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site could be placed on the list of world heritage sites under threat or even may lose its UNESCO status. This could lead to the loss of irreplaceable archaeological and palaeontological resources (Durand, 2007; Boyd, 2008)
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